Just confirmed my family have planned my life for me

johnswife

Completely agree not enough staff. That's why we are happy to go in and help and leave the nurses and doctors to tend to the medical side.
Was it always like this? I mean 30/40 years ago?

dianasnan

when my MIL was in Walsgrave hospital there was a policy of no visitors at meal times (unless you wanted to help feed them). This gave the nurses time to give attention to the patients without interruptions from relatives.

Mojisola

dianasnan wrote: »

when my MIL was in Walsgrave hospital there was a policy of no visitors at meal times (unless you wanted to help feed them). This gave the nurses time to give attention to the patients without interruptions from relatives.

Or to hide the fact that people weren't being helped to eat when they should have been!

Pitlanepiglet

johnswife wrote: »

Completely agree not enough staff. That's why we are happy to go in and help and leave the nurses and doctors to tend to the medical side.
Was it always like this? I mean 30/40 years ago?

We weren't allowed in out of hours when Dad was last in, so no ability to help out (despite the fact that one of the patients was chained to 2 prison offices 24 hours a day so it wasn't as if it was to not disturb the other patients!).

I think we probably like to think it was better in the past but when my Nan was in our local Cottage Hospital 30 years ago she needed help to eat and we had a family rota to make sure that there was someone there for each meal.

We're heading off topic but I've some lovely nurses and some less lovely ones but I guess that's like all walks of life and some of the patients that have been in with Dad have been hugely challenging for them to say the least so I'm not criticising but the reality for me is that I feel that I need to ensure that my Dad is being cared for when he's in hospital.

dianasnan

Mojisola wrote: »

Or to hide the fact that people weren't being helped to eat when they should have been!

In this case I believe it was genuine as my FIL stayed to help feed her and nurses were actually feeding the others.

.

Person_one

Mojisola wrote: »

Or to hide the fact that people weren't being helped to eat when they should have been!

No, its called 'protected meal times' and its to give people some peace and quiet while they eat.

There is an issue with not having enough staff or time to feed patients who can't feed themselves, but visitors don't always know the full story.

For example, its better for elderly people to stay as independent and mobile as they possibly can because for them its often 'use it or lose it', that's why little old ladies are expected to walk to the toilet and brush their own teeth if they can, even if relatives think it looks better for a nurse to wheel them and take over their personal care.

Of course, some people can't resist an opportunity for a bit of nurse bashing!

Mojisola

Person_one wrote: »

No, its called 'protected meal times' and its to give people some peace and quiet while they eat.

I know about protected meal times. Our hospital and my Dad's care home both follow the system.

As visiting times at the hospital have never included meal times, it seems like a system to solve a problem that wasn't there.

There are a few hospitals where practice has deteriorated and a small minority of nurses who aren't doing their job well. In most cases that I have observed, nurses are under so much pressure - short-staffed wards trying to look after patients who need increasingly more care because patients are moved on very quickly - that they can't give the patients the time that some of them need. There were times when Dad was in last time that we felt guilty trying to speak to nurses because they were always trying to do half a dozen things at once.

When the front line staff are under so much pressure, it's inevitable that patients won't get all the attention they need. It's not the nurses' fault - there just aren't enough minutes in every hour to get everything done.

Person_one

Mojisola wrote: »

I know about protected meal times. Our hospital and my Dad's care home both follow the system.

As visiting times at the hospital have never included meal times, it seems like a system to solve a problem that wasn't there.

There are a few hospitals where practice has deteriorated and a small minority of nurses who aren't doing their job well. In most cases that I have observed, nurses are under so much pressure - short-staffed wards trying to look after patients who need increasingly more care because patients are moved on very quickly - that they can't give the patients the time that some of them need. There were times when Dad was in last time that we felt guilty trying to speak to nurses because they were always trying to do half a dozen things at once.

When the front line staff are under so much pressure, it's inevitable that patients won't get all the attention they need. It's not the nurses' fault - there just aren't enough minutes in every hour to get everything done.

So you don't actually think they're just trying to hide the fact that they don't care for the patients as your post suggested? Glad to hear it!

Mojisola

Person_one wrote: »

So you don't actually think they're just trying to hide the fact that they don't care for the patients as your post suggested? Glad to hear it!

No, but I do think that if care does fall below the ideal, the management are very pleased not to have it witnessed.

Savvy_Sue

Interesting programme on R4 tonight, while we're talking about nursing care ...