Queens Park.

cashman · 27-06-2006, 00:00

anybody seen the news tonight? apparently bodies have been left on the wards@ siderooms overnight cos theres only 1 porter on due to staff shortages,think its disgraceful and is surely due to our hospitals being run by money, must be very distressing for relatives etc also not too appealing to the patient in the next bed, a stiff next to them with a curtain round. also occured to me that any abuse/ grief etc going round will not be directed at the SUITS who are responsible,but probably the staff, don,t know what you lot think but cashy is blazing.

garinda · 27-06-2006, 00:08

I did see it on the local news. Queen's Park said it would only happen if there was only one porter on the over night works rota, otherwise they would be transfered as normal to the mortuary. They did say it also hasn't happened yet.

It would be distressing if it happened to someone you loved, but would probably prove to be very expensive if you had a team of mortuary porters on stand by 24/7, waiting for people to perhaps pop their clogs.

cashman · 27-06-2006, 00:11

[QUOTE=garinda]I did see it on the local news. Queen's Park said it would only happen if there was only one porter on the over night works rota, otherwise they would be transfered as normal to the mortuary. They did say it also hasn't happened yet.

must have watched the news on the opposite channel? the one i saw said they had.

garinda · 27-06-2006, 00:29

[quote=cashman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by garinda

I did see it on the local news. Queen's Park said it would only happen if there was only one porter on the over night works rota, otherwise they would be transfered as normal to the mortuary. They did say it also hasn't happened yet.

must have watched the news on the opposite channel? the one i saw said they had.

ITV/Granada I watched.

junetta · 27-06-2006, 00:55

How could it get like that? I was born there for goodness sake, after it was a workhouse though!!

chav1 · 27-06-2006, 06:46

if there is only 1 porter on duty wouldnt it make sense to wait for the bodies to become rigid so that they are easier for him to move about

lettie · 27-06-2006, 07:28

I don't know if bodies have actually been left overnight on wards yet but if this continues, they will be. I have been on night shifts when we have had only 1 porter on duty for the whole hospital. We don't have special mortuary porters, our general porters do everything and believe me, they work extremely hard.

When we have only one porter and somebody dies, a nurse has to help the porter to move anybody who may die. This involves leaving the ward and taking the body to the mortuary which is in a completely different building. There are limited nursing staff around at night so therefore, a busy medical ward may be left with only 2 staff in some cases whilst someone helps the porter.

The reason we may have only 1 porter is due to poor staffing in all departments. The porters are not the only ones suffering, we are losing nurses, midwives, admin, pharmacy, management and medical staff throughout the Trust. This is in order to save money but will it save lives?

We are informed that most staff losses will be through natural wasteage, so people who retire, emigrate or leave because they have had better offers elsewhere will not be replaced. This means that existing staff will have to cover the shortfall by working twice as hard as before. It beggars belief...........The NHS would not function at all if it were not for the good will and camaradarie of the staff. Many of us already go without meal breaks rather than leave patients waiting, many stay on at the end of shifts to help with emergencies but never get paid for it or get to take their time back. There are some shifts which are so busy that you don't even get a cup of tea for the whole shift and I can tell you..... an 11 hour night shift without any food or drink is no fun...

garinda · 27-06-2006, 08:20

Nice to have it from the horse's mouth, so to speak Lettie.

Looks like I've changed my mind completely, after watching the bit of spin from the administrators on the news.

jaysay · 27-06-2006, 09:23

If this is just about saving money I've a better idea, sack all the suits and bring back the matron, everything would be better all round, and whats more the hospitals would be stotless

Margaret Pilkington · 27-06-2006, 13:14

People are under the impression that bringing back the Matron would fix everything......sadly it doesn't. In the days that Matron was in charge, there was only one of her...and she was like the head of a school. The re-organisation sometime back in the sixties did away with Matron and brought in Nursing Officers....I can never remember whether it was Briggs or Salmon that was responsible for the changes in the hierarchy....but once the Matron had been done away with, that was it. The Government brought in what they laughingly call 'Modern Matrons'...that was about 4 or maybe 5 years ago....hasn't worked then has it?

The hospital tells us that it will all be better when the two sites amalgamate on the 8th of July.......and reason tells me this should be true in respect of the portering service...but as a whole I don't think the situation will improve until the finances are in some sort of order...which may be a long time!

cashman · 27-06-2006, 23:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

People are under the impression that bringing back the Matron would fix everything......sadly it doesn't. In the days that Matron was in charge, there was only one of her...and she was like the head of a school. The re-organisation sometime back in the sixties did away with Matron and brought in Nursing Officers....I can never remember whether it was Briggs or Salmon that was responsible for the changes in the hierarchy....but once the Matron had been done away with, that was it. The Government brought in what they laughingly call 'Modern Matrons'...that was about 4 or maybe 5 years ago....hasn't worked then has it?

The hospital tells us that it will all be better when the two sites amalgamate on the 8th of July.......and reason tells me this should be true in respect of the portering service...but as a whole I don't think the situation will improve until the finances are in some sort of order...which may be a long time!

the lady i saw interviewed said when the sites amalgamate HOPEFULLY it will be better! better for who? bet its not the staff. it shouldn,t be better we should not be in this position in the first place.

garinda · 27-06-2006, 23:16

You were right Cashy.

It said on the news tonight it has already happened.

cashman · 27-06-2006, 23:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by garinda

You were right Cashy.

It said on the news tonight it has already happened.

whats new?

Doug · 27-06-2006, 23:37

It’s a dreadful thought for anyone hearing or reading about this and knowing that they might be going in and not coming out.

We always made sure that people where taken off the Ward at the first appropriate opportunity. Being a small unit we would pull other Nurses off the quieter wards if we didn’t have a porter on duty or when we where short staffed, which was nearly every night and this was 24 years ago.

Our Mortuary was outside of the main building and across a small car park so it would often require three or four people to remove a body. Usually one would go ahead and ensure that there was nobody around to compromise the girls with the trolley and to open the doors.

The fourth would guard the main exit of the hospital to ensure we could get back in if there was an incident. In the eight years I was there we had at least five separate incidents where we had been challenged, usually by drunks. Come hell or high water we never abandoned a body and we never left a deceased person on the ward longer than was necessary.

God forbid that matters should get any worse.

Margaret Pilkington · 28-06-2006, 13:56

I'm sure that the dead bodies don't mind being left where they are, but the remaining patients in the Ward DO mind...and I'm sure the relatives of the deceased and the relatives of the patients in the ward mind a great deal.

It doesn't matter how sensitively you handle a death on the ward....the other patients are most certainly aware even when the patient who was dying is moved into a side room prior to their demise.

If I was in charge of a ward and a patient died I would insist that the appropriate resources were made available for the movement of the body...even if it meant drafting a porter from the other site. I am glad that the porters have highlighted this dire state of affairs.