Hospital and cleanliness - or the lack thereof

WillowTheWhisp · 22-06-2008, 17:20

This afternoon I visited a friend who is seriously ill in hospital.

There was a spoon under her bed. It was a spoon which she'd had on Friday when eating an icecream dessert and had dropped. She told them on Friday that she'd dropped it. WHY on EARTH was it still there for me to pick up this afternoon? It had traces of dried up icecream and mould and fluff on it.

But worse even than that, under the next bed was one of those things they attach to a needle to take a blood sample. It was lying there on the floor and there were a couple of splatters of what looked like dried blood near it.

Is that bad enough? Well, brace yourself because it gets worse. My friend told me that she'd been to the shower room and someone had used the shower tray as a toilet and the solid waste was there all day. She'd reported it in the morning and it was still there when she went in there in the evening.

Words fail me.

Busman is due to go in for a pre-planned op on Tuesday. How many germs is he going to encounter whilst in there????

blazey · 22-06-2008, 17:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

This afternoon I visited a friend who is seriously ill in hospital.

There was a spoon under her bed. It was a spoon which she'd had on Friday when eating an icecream dessert and had dropped. She told them on Friday that she'd dropped it. WHY on EARTH was it still there for me to pick up this afternoon? It had traces of dried up icecream and mould and fluff on it.

But worse even than that, under the next bed was one of those things they attach to a needle to take a blood sample. It was lying there on the floor and there were a couple of splatters of what looked like dried blood near it.

Is that bad enough? Well, brace yourself because it gets worse. My friend told me that she'd been to the shower room and someone had used the shower tray as a toilet and the solid waste was there all day. She'd reported it in the morning and it was still there when she went in there in the evening.

Words fail me.

Busman is due to go in for a pre-planned op on Tuesday. How many germs is he going to encounter whilst in there????

My friend used to clean a hospital and he took it very seriously, probably because he'd worked in a dentist before too as a dental nurse and hygiene is really important, but he said a lot of the cleaners were lazy and didn't do their jobs properly. I worry about the state of the NHS hospitals and I hope things drastically change in the near future.

panther · 22-06-2008, 17:31

My mum was in hospital with slight pneumonia, luckily she recovered....but since she come home she has has nowt but illnesses,,,,did she get them while in there?, or is it the after effects of the pneumonia?......
I hate hospitals!!

But i must admit when i went to see her, it did look clean.

jaysay · 22-06-2008, 17:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by panther

My mum was in hospital with slight pneumonia, luckily she recovered....but since she come home she has has nowt but illnesses,,,,did she get them while in there?, or is it the after effects of the pneumonia?......
I hate hospitals!!

But i must admit when i went to see her, it did look clean.

Trouble is panther you can't see germs

panther · 22-06-2008, 17:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaysay

Trouble is panther you can't see germs

very true

derekgas · 22-06-2008, 18:02

Did you neglect to say which hospital on purpose willow? sounds like you didnt need to SEE the germs in there, they were blatantly obvious and disgraceful.

Margaret Pilkington · 22-06-2008, 18:59

I just hope you put your concerns in writing...to the Ward Manager and also to the Chief Exec.

polly · 22-06-2008, 19:02

Shocking, but sadly not surprising.

I had occasion to visit our New Super Hospital soon after it opened. In the 5 hours I spent in A&E the bins were not emptied once although they were over flowing. Neither was the floor mopped even though there was dried blood on it.

emamum · 22-06-2008, 19:05

the childrens day ward was spotless and was cleaned while i was there....

Margaret Pilkington · 22-06-2008, 19:06

It was a better system when the cleaners were 'in house' rather than lowest tender....and also better when the cleaners had their own allocated wards......they felt part of the ward team and were very conscientious.......I'm not sure if the same systems are in place anymore...but Lettie would know.

Neil · 22-06-2008, 19:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

I just hope you put your concerns in writing...to the Ward Manager and also to the Chief Exec.

Why so they can ignore it? It is their fault, especially the ward manager for the state of the ward. Do ward managers not inspect the condition of their areas of responsibility?

emamum · 22-06-2008, 19:12

I think the childrens ward had its own cleaner... she was pottering about all day.

West Ender · 22-06-2008, 19:15

I was in Warrington hospital for 2 weeks, just after New Year, with pneumonia. The ward I should have gone to was closed, initially, because they had been ordered to deep-clean it. I, along with my fellow chest patients, was moved to the newly cleaned ward 4 days later (after we'd all had sickness and diarrhoea - as if we weren't ill enough to start with).

I was only discussing with my daughter, yesterday, that I never saw the cleaner mop into the corners of the ward floor and she never pushed that mop underneath the head of my bed - just wiped around the other end. My bed was next to the window and the only time the sill got wiped was when when I did it myself, trailing my oxygen canula, with a wet paper towel. The same applied to my locker.

The cleaner was a tiny woman who looked about my age but was probably younger. I would like to be able to at least partly excuse her on the grounds that she had too much to do in too short a time but I can't. There was no urgency about her, she certainly didn't rush, and she didn't apear to have any more energy than I had. She also didn't appear to have any supervisor making sure she did a proper job.

Neil · 22-06-2008, 19:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by emamum23

I think the childrens ward had its own cleaner... she was pottering about all day.

Its a shame she was not cleaning all day

Margaret Pilkington · 22-06-2008, 19:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neil

Why so they can ignore it? It is their fault, especially the ward manager for the state of the ward. Do ward managers not inspect the condition of their areas of responsibility?

It cannot be ignored if it is put in writing - the hospital is required to respond to written complaints to acknowledge them within two working days.......they then have to investigate the background of the complaint.......statements are taken from all the staff involved......and then they have a time limit in which to let the complainant know what is happening in respect of that complaint.
Verbal complaints can be ignored, but there is a procedure to make note of and respond to even verbal complaints.

If no-one says anything then it is pretty sure that nothing will happen.
Hospital staff(in my experience) try to do their best for patients.......they do not go out of their way to be nasty and unhelpful, or for that matter put patients at risk...they are accountable for everything that they do.

And I was ward manager......though I preferred the term Senior Sister, and I did inspect the ward areas many times a day during my shift, I was ward based and I kept my eyes and my ears open so that situations were spotted before they became problems.