NHS Hospitals

viv1969

viv1969

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A friend had a bad motorcycle accident yesterday evening, (an evening trying to find if they were alive or dead was NOT one I'd recommend.....and I drove past the accident!), and wen to Medway Maritime hospital today to see him.

I have to say I've had occasion to be treated as an in-patient in there a few times, and have nothing to complain about as far as the care goes - although trying to spot a British nurse is a game unto itself :)

The friend is having surgery tomorrow to pin him back together, and is quick hocked up on morphine, so in his napping times, I was just staggered to see the state of the ward!!

Bed curtains and window curtains are hanging off railings, the floor was not remotely clean....A drugs trolley was unattended and open in the middle of the bay.....My friend's lunch had been forgotten and all they could offer was toast (I went to get him a sandwich :lol:), and dirty dishes were all over....and this was almost 3pm.

Now granted, this is a post-trauma, pre-surgery unit, but should that matter?
It was horrible. No wonder so many contract infections in hospital.
 
Did you complain or bring it to the attention of the ward matron?
 
Dave1 said:
Did you complain or bring it to the attention of the ward matron?
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There is no ward matron, and the senior staff nurse was "unavailable".
I left a letter of complaint addressed to her, and have since emailed a complaint (with pictures) to the appropriate department.
 
viv1969 said:
There is no ward matron, and the senior staff nurse was "unavailable".
I left a letter of complaint addressed to her, and have since emailed a complaint (with pictures) to the appropriate department.
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They make a big difference, (my wife is ill and currently in and out of our local hospital who does have them).

A quick search finds Medway to be in the list of the worst hospitals in the country, so I suppose it figures they won't have staff putting patients first :shrug:.

Kent’s biggest hospital has been placed in special measures amid a vast catalogue of failings.

Medway Maritime, Gillingham, is one of 11 which will be probed over the next year by the new chief inspector of hospitals, Sir Mike Richards - who starts today.

It comes after a review by NHS medical director Sir Bruce Keogh, which probed the 14 hospitals with highest death rates in England, slammed aspects at Medway Maritime.

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt told MPs: “A public consultation [in Medway] heard stories of poor consultation with patients, poor management of deteriorating patients, inappropriate referrals and medical interventions, delayed discharges and long A&E waiting times.”
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Yes I know it's in special measures.
I just wasn't expecting it to look like a doss-house.
 
viv1969 said:
Yes I know it's in special measures.
I just wasn't expecting it to look like a doss-house.
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Sadly some do.

Add to that patchy infection control and MRSA, C-Dif and inevitable Norovirus abounds. My local hospital is constantly being cleaned and ward support staff are daily cleaning the bits contract cleaners do not (when I was in the Cardiac Ward for 10 days last year they were cleaning the suspended bed curtain fittings every day. The ward is managed by a fantastic matron who is on her toes all the time - as Dave says they make a difference. Said matron has been there a long time, I met her afte my admission ther in May 2006, very tough but fair. Visitors sitting on beds etc a big no no then and just as strict now. She puts her chain of responsibility in simple and unequivocal terms - no breaches by anyone).
I think the point about non British nurses should be taken into the context that, for Phillipino nurses, they have, and still are, actively recruited and brought here on very strict licence. Seen many, including the male nurse who attended me in the Coronary ICU on a one to one basis, as fantastic dedication to doing the job properly. They generally get the shifts others won't do and are sent back to the Phillipines if they fail to meet the standards required.

The situation in Medway is utterly avoidable and unacceptable and I applaud your making your views known. Trouble is the rot starts at the top and, from your description, I would hope that an intervention team must be flown in if they are not already.

I now worry about friends who live in that catchment who use that hosputal. I wil ring them and suggest they get involved if they have seen a fraction of your experience.

Steve
 
Surely basic cleanliness and maintenance isn't asking a lot, especially in a hospital?

Typically it would be down to outsourcing cleaning to companies who pay their cleaners peanuts and give them little or no time to complete the work. Profit before people, but that's only me surmising, I've no facts to back this up.

The NHS does some wonderful things but there's a hell of a lot wrong with the way it's being run.

I do hope your friend recovers.
 
All I can say is that not all NHS hospitals are like that. This time last year, I was in 2 of the ones down here and both were spotlessly clean, with cleaning staff almost constantly doing the rounds and supervisors checking several times during my 2 week stay in Derriford (Plymouth) and the week in Wonford (Exeter).

Having said that, a few years ago Mum travelled a similar route, although her transfer from Plymouth to Exeter was to get her closer to home and unfortunately didn't see her leave hospital alive. As a result of antibiotics killing off her good gut fauna, CDiff set in and they were unable to get rid of it. While she was in the special CDiff ward, we were horrified to see one of the other sufferers (who had contracted it at home) in the restaurant/cafeteria... (while on a fag break).

Although I can't recommend a stay in hospital as a fun destination for a fortnight (or even a week!), the 2 I was in were a lot better than it would appear Medway is - even the food was reasonable - not haute cuisine but certainly better than it used to be. In Plymouth, there were a lot of local nursing staff - not just white British but Plymouthian, although there were some Phillipino staff (who were fabulous). In Exeter, I think a majority were again white British, although fewer were Exonians.

Most importantly, I hope your biker mate gets rebuilt successfully and recovers completely. Done the hospital visit thing too many times, although only once in the past 10 years or so (well, one person, loads of visits!) He's a lurker here but keeps threatening to sign up - he's currently in Scotland shooting otters and ospreys. Not a bad photographer either!!!
 
Nod, I've had call to have emergency surgery at this very hospital three times, and have never had cause for complaint. To be fair my concentration was possibly in being in need of surgery and then recovery, but I certainly don't recall anything like today (except the overseas nursing staff).

Friend will be fine once they've rebuilt his shoulder and hip (thus, he thinks, making him in the running for Ironman 4.....I suspect the morphine talking lol), and he STILL walked for a pee today :eek:

The ground level care and nursing staff do the best they can with **** poor resources, I think, but I'm not sure I'd be keen to be in there right now.

Incidentally I saw the aftermath of the accident whilst driving home from work and KNEW it was him.....from what was left of the bike, I feared the worst.
 
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Get Mike Richards email address and send him copies of your pictures with details, it's the kind of thing his inspectors will probably not get to see.
 
Steep said:
Get Mike Richards email address and send him copies of your pictures with details, it's the kind of thing his inspectors will probably not get to see.
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Now there's a thought.
 
Good old (inconsistent) NHS - have had both amazing care and spectacular failures over the last few years, happily mostly on the side of good.

The best care has been from our local hospitals, on the whole. Our GP, on the other hand has been shoddy at best. Terrible (and in one case life threatening) care.

Overall, I think the system does an amazing job. Sometimes, the weaklings are far too obvious. Being a weak link costs more than money.
 
What should the hospitals spend their budget on, nurses and doctors or Decorating and curtains? Granted things often don't look good, one of the worst mistakes was contract cleaning, the wards used to have their own cleaner who had pride but now things put out to tender and pay cheap=get cheap.
The NHS is a failing system, people now live longer, the population grows, the drug users are increasing and don't get me started on the idiots who go out on Saturday night and think its a well hard thing to drink so much they are completely off their face and end up wasting valuable hospital time and resources (make them pay!)
People are quick to moan, write to him, write to the papers and all the usual cr@p.....yes do it, get a sparkling ward, clean dishes etc but don't complain then when patients suffer from lack of staff, due to lack of money! Do you know the costs of keeping a hospital running....how about writing to the minister in charge and ask about an increase in the NHS budget.
And finally "a British nurse".... What's all that about, maybe they don't have "British" accents and on what other grounds are they not British?.....without the ones with foreign accents the NHS would fail even more.
 
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Martyn D said:
What should the hospitals spend their budget on, nurses and doctors or Decorating and curtains? Granted things often don't look good, one of the worst mistakes was contract cleaning, the wards used to have their own cleaner who had pride but now things put out to tender and pay cheap=get cheap.
The NHS is a failing system, people now live longer, the population grows, the drug users are increasing and don't get me started on the idiots who go out on Saturday night and think its a well hard thing to drink so much they are completely off their face and end up wasting valuable hospital time and resources (make them pay!)
People are quick to moan, write to him, write to the papers and all the usual cr@p.....yes do it, get a sparkling ward, clean dishes etc but don't complain then when patients suffer from lack of staff, due to lack of money! Do you know the costs of keeping a hospital running....how about writing to the minister in charge and ask about an increase in the NHS budget.
And finally "a British nurse".... What's all that about, maybe they don't have "British" accents and on what other grounds are they not British?.....without the ones with foreign accents the NHS would fail even more.
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well what a wonderful world you live in....good for you. I don't give a rats about the curtains but i do about filthy floors and dishes that been there fir Christ knows how long.
The would must look grand from up there on your high horse.
Sunderland unit....medway maritime hospital. Go take a look for yourself and get back to me when you have a frame of reference.
 
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As above, glad to hear friend is okay.

Hospitals vary and I've come across crap ones and awesome ones. Comes down to management and Govt interference. Speak to PALS as well.
 
Like other public services the NHS have had their budgets/staff terms, conditions raped and they are top heavy on administration and management.

Yes it's failing and it is a disgrace this is being allowed to happen and I know there are huge differences in how individual hospitals perform.

Having had two heart attacks in recent years and watched my dad die of a rather aggressive form of cancer, I have nothing but praise for my local NHS hospital and its staff. They do a difficult job in difficult circumstances on limited budgets. Get rid of some of the fat cats and use the budgets properly and things will improve but I doubt that'll happen.:shrug:
 
viv1969 said:
well what a wonderful world you live in....good for you. I don't give a rats about the curtains but i do about filthy floors and dishes that been there fir Christ knows how long.
The would must look grand from up there on your high horse.
Sunderland unit....medway maritime hospital. Go take a look for yourself and get back to me when you have a frame of reference.
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Lol....a horse.
There's was nothing in my post that wern't facts, yours were simply observations :)
Anyway....weather the curtains need updating or the floor cleaning the most important fact is your friend gets the care and attention needed, hope he does and if so you'll be sending in a thank you email to go with the other :)
 
Martyn D said:
.....................weather the curtains need updating or the floor cleaning the most important fact is your friend gets the care and attention needed, hope he does
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Correct:thumbs:
 
BRASH said:
Correct:thumbs:
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And when he does he will need proper infection clntrol and staff that can stop unfettered access within areas where staff can wander from unit to unit without exposing those with healing scars not to have their immune systems compromised through penny pinching cost svings..... maybe we just buy another nuclear xsubarine and leave bodpitals filthy?
 
Hugh Jarse said:
And when he does he will need proper infection clntrol and staff that can stop unfettered access within areas where staff can wander from unit to unit without exposing those with healing scars not to have their immune systems compromised through penny pinching cost svings..... maybe we just buy another nuclear xsubarine and leave bodpitals filthy?
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Not what I said. See my previous post.

Obviously giving somebody the best care and attention they need includes trying to prevent infection etc.

The reference to nuclear subs is irrelevant really. You could name a thousand things the that Government spend/waste money on that'd be better spent on the NHS. Just because you disagree with the investment in and maintenance of something doesn't meant the plug should be pulled and the budget redirected to something else. That's a whole different argument tho, which I'd imagine would get rather political so not really for progression.
 
BRASH said:
Not what I said. See my previous post.

Obviously giving somebody the best care and attention they need includes trying to prevent infection etc.

The reference to nuclear subs is irrelevant really. You could name a thousand things the that Government spend/waste money on that'd be better spent on the NHS. Just because you disagree with the investment in and maintenance of something doesn't meant the plug should be pulled and the budget redirected to something else. That's a whole different argument tho, which I'd imagine would get rather political so not really for progression.
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My main points were not to disagree with you points but to add weight to them.

The best clinical treatment is an absolute and should not be undone by poor support services. So no dig at your points at all.

The submarine example was not political but a wry comment on what IMO is an irrelevance in a world for which such weapon systems are now and may alwsys have been an irrelevence no matter how many jobs they create. Could easily use HS2 as an example so disagree that such points are not cogent to a service we pay for and is a jewel in the crown within the UK.

So no insult intended. I think overall we are on the same psge in different paragraphs.

S
 
Apologies for my snappiness yesterday. It was not my intent to offend anyone.
As I said, I myself have in the past received fine treatment at this hospital, and I think the staff at grass roots level do the very best they can with what they have.

Also thanks for your good wishes.
My friend is currently in surgery to transform him into Steve Austin (4 hours and counting), and his sister is madly texting everyone who knows him :lol:
 
Hugh Jarse said:
My main points were not to disagree with you points but to add weight to them.

The best clinical treatment is an absolute and should not be undone by poor support services. So no dig at your points at all.

The submarine example was not political but a wry comment on what IMO is an irrelevance in a world for which such weapon systems are now and may alwsys have been an irrelevence no matter how many jobs they create. Could easily use HS2 as an example so disagree that such points are not cogent to a service we pay for and is a jewel in the crown within the UK.

So no insult intended. I think overall we are on the same psge in different paragraphs.

S
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Apology accepted:thumbs::D
 
RE: infection/cleaning, if it were up to me, hospitals would be essentially quarantined areas. If you want to visit a relative, you would have checks done to make sure you had vaccinations up to date and were clean, you'd be made to wear a biohazard suit or similar, and you would not be allowed to bring anything in.

What peeves me off is that they took away changing and washing facilities for staff, as this is something I'd re-implement - all staff must have their clothes laundered and worn on hospital premises only.

It may ramp up costs but if you're serious about infection control, you need to address everything.
 
omens said:
RE: infection/cleaning, if it were up to me, hospitals would be essentially quarantined areas. If you want to visit a relative, you would have checks done to make sure you had vaccinations up to date and were clean, you'd be made to wear a biohazard suit or similar, and you would not be allowed to bring anything in.

What peeves me off is that they took away changing and washing facilities for staff, as this is something I'd re-implement - all staff must have their clothes laundered and worn on hospital premises only.

It may ramp up costs but if you're serious about infection control, you need to address everything.
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Your forgetting that visits from family are for some really needed...if you've spent a extended period I'm hospital you know how really soul destroying they can be, that in itself can be awful for a patents recovery no all of course...I'm easy when I'm in hospital visit don't visit it makes no difference to me...that said when I was in a local ICU for 7.5 weeks with no window no idea if it was day or night without asking the visits I got were really good...the hospital also had care assistants that had time to just sit and chat

Then because of my health or more to the point no signs of improvement I was transferred about 100 miles from home and any family to St. Thomas' in Westminster this meant that family could rarely visit but the nurses there were brilliant they put me next to the nurses station so there was always someone nearby that if I wanted I could talk to :thumbs: oh even got speaking with a priest that came round even though I'm not religious in any way shape or form :lol: not that he minded :lol:
 
MWHCVT said:
Your forgetting that visits from family are for some really needed...if you've spent a extended period I'm hospital you know how really soul destroying they can be, that in itself can be awful for a patents recovery no all of course...I'm easy when I'm in hospital visit don't visit it makes no difference to me...that said when I was in a local ICU for 7.5 weeks with no window no idea if it was day or night without asking the visits I got were really good...the hospital also had care assistants that had time to just sit and chat

Then because of my health or more to the point no signs of improvement I was transferred about 100 miles from home and any family to St. Thomas' in Westminster this meant that family could rarely visit but the nurses there were brilliant they put me next to the nurses station so there was always someone nearby that if I wanted I could talk to :thumbs: oh even got speaking with a priest that came round even though I'm not religious in any way shape or form :lol: not that he minded :lol:
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Interesting idea but we need to build resistance too.

I agree in general about staff clothing not being worn outside work bu it is inpractical in real life.

The growing number of resistant strains of infectious bacteria is a worry and a worry that they will continue to mutate and thwart anti agents, hence more barrier nursing requirements.

There does seem more sense in getting patients home earlier where the "human traffic" is much less than the average ward!

S
 
Didn't imply people cannot have visits or visit their relatives. I was speaking purely from an infection/cleanliness point of view. A fair bit of it is down to people from outside the hospital tracking stuff in. You can try and keep a hospital as clean as you want but it's an impossible task as long as there's an external source.

Until of course we get those super-duper star trek type gadgets whereby you walk through a doorway and it removes all exterior dirt/bacteria/viruses etc leaving you clean. :D
 
omens said:
Didn't imply people cannot have visits or visit their relatives. I was speaking purely from an infection/cleanliness point of view. A fair bit of it is down to people from outside the hospital tracking stuff in. You can try and keep a hospital as clean as you want but it's an impossible task as long as there's an external source.

Until of course we get those super-duper star trek type gadgets whereby you walk through a doorway and it removes all exterior dirt/bacteria/viruses etc leaving you clean. :D
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Infection transfer has always been a problem.

I had a 105 day stay for my heart attack in 2006. I was in a hospital which did angioplasty but not open heart so on day 105 I was moved to the Bristol Cardiac Centre (Since moved to a new building) and found it nowhere near as clean as my feeded hospital.

They had a problem with Mrs.A as they called it (MRSA) and so 4 days after my by-pass I went home. Another guy who had the same surgery as me died 3 weeks after his surgery never leaving the ward, as he contracted MRSA. It was difficult being home after 3 months in hospital but my mood was better, I had peace and quiet (hospitals canbe very noisy including during the night) and no transit of people by my bed.

A very efficient Community Cardiac Nurse visited every day for the first 2 weeks and was the person who removed the surgical tape on my chest and checked SATs. No infections, better food and family close. My own bathroom not shared by strangers etc.

So my feeling is that getting people home early, when daily treatment is no longer necessary, offers savings and risk. I did elect to not have visitors for a month thougg.

I have had to go back into hospital on a number of occassionsi since and am pleased to say that the "matron" still runs a very tight ship.....

Steve
 
kestral said:
NHS :thumbsdown: hope I never have to go near it :nono:
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Maybe I am lucky, having the wonderful Addenbrookes hospital within 10 miles of home, and only been in twice since being a kid. Both times were the birth of my kids, one emergency c section (cut and shut), the other another one although less urgency. Care & cleanliness was brilliant. Staff were amazing and certainly deserving of a pay increase if anyone does! Guess like anything, you get good and bad.
 
kestral said:
NHS :thumbsdown: hope I never have to go near it :nono:
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Oh here we go, care to enlighten us all why you think this way?
 
Unfortunately it can be a bit of a lottery. I've had great care both times i've been in hospital. Last time the cleaner checked in on me a few times a day to see if I could get out of bed and get it changed. On the other hand when I visited my gran in hospital once she was covered in crusty, dried blood after her head wound had opened up overnight, I visited her during my lunch hour.

Hope your friend is recovering well.
 
u8myufo said:
Oh here we go, care to enlighten us all why you think this way?
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Oh no you didn't :bonk: I'll make a mental note to avoid this thread from now on in expectation of the forthcoming reply.
 
i cant moan about them we have my wifes nan in southend for the past 6 weeks
my dad has had 6 cancer ops but last week was given 2-12 months to live even though they have kept him going for 7 years
this afternoon my father in law had his heart restarted 7 times and without the 20 people around him would have been dead today
so i say thank you to the nhs
 
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