18 month old staying in hospital...any money saving tips?

hannahsmummy1

I would second what everyone else has already said! Hope everything goes well for your daughter! My auntie works in the kicthens at BCH too!!

bylromarha

Thanks for all the tips. Just wanted to update this thread for future users.

BCH does have parent kitchens in every ward. I was in ward 11 and it had a microwave, no toaster, cups, knives, forks, plates and bowls. So I took cupasoups and Heinz pot meals. Saved a fortune, so thanks! :money:

No food given to parents. Canteen in the basement is around £3 a meal, though the food is tasteless and bland (hannahsmummy-don't mean to offend your aunt, but you can tell it's mass produced!). Sandwiches about £1.80 in shop near entrance. Tesco a 5 minute walk away as is Yates/Wetherspoons/Subway/KFC and lots of independent takeaways.

From a medical point of view everything went smoothly for my daughter and the nurses did a great job...however she's 18 months old and ward 11 is set up for babies. Logistically it was not a good experience...no toddler cutlery/bibs/toys/nappy change area. Thanks to all the above I took my own in case.:D

This frustration was added to by the fact that the nurses really understand babies and don't seem to understand about toddlers. A few examples are that I had to continually ask for her meals...babies don't need them, do they? I received a shocked look when I asked for cows milk, she was never given a drink or snack the entire time I was in there. Due to your tips, I'd taken some with me without needing to run down to the expensive shop;)

Wires within easy reach were trailing behind her cot and I was treated like I was being overcautious when I pointed out how easy it was for her to reach for them and potentially strangle herself. :mad:

The side of her cot kept being left down by a nurse the night after her op as she needed hourly checks. I told the nurse how easy it would be for her to fall or climb out but apparently that was okay as "I'm in here every hour to take her blood pressure".

I left her in the care of the nurses once. I returned 45 mins later to discover she'd removed the bandage covering her cannula, and her cannula was in her mouth and she was trying to tug it out. :eek:

Have written to PALS and the ward manager informing them that I don't believe ward 11 is ready for toddlers yet. I'm a pretty bolshy person who keeps calm in hard situations, but even I felt like I was fighting a continual battle to get all my daughters needs met. I fear for the toddlers parent who comes after me that is just overwhelmed by the stress of their child having a heart op to the extent they don't see all the potential problems around their child.

Gingham_Ribbon

That sounds like an unnecessary ordeal, bylromarha. I'm glad she's over it now though and you can hopefully put it all behind you.

I'm glad you contacted PALS.

haylibo

bylromarha

Glad to hear your daughter is on the mend and all went well. It's also good news for other parents of toddlers who may have to attend the ward that you are such a proactive parent and should get something done about the dangers and lapses there. Hope it works!

BW

Hayles

Ellie2758

I'm glad it's over and hope all is well with your daughter. I was shocked to read about their attitudes towards toddlers though. SURELY somebody has to carry out a risk assessment on the ward's suitability? Mind-boggling.

Savvy_Sue

It's probably less that no-one cares, more that there's an age cut-off on the children's ward which means that it's not thought appropriate to treat very young children - babies and toddlers - there. However, if adequate thought hasn't been given to treating toddlers on a ward designed for babies, that makes it inappropriate to treat toddlers on that ward. But since babies develop into toddlers at different ages, that makes it difficult to make a rigid division.

I'm sorry it was all a bit traumatic, bylromarha, but agree that writing to PALS was the best way to go. Hope your DD makes a good recovery at home!

bylromarha

I agree Savvy. The nurses did a great job medically and I can't emphasize that enough. It's just they seemed to have no understanding of how a toddlers needs differed from a babies. So a toddler at 6 months would still be able to reach through and strangle themselves on wires...therefore the staff should understand this as a real risk. Some of the staff thought and treated my daughter like a large stationary baby. I could see the nurses had lots of needs to attend to, which is why I felt I couldn't keep asking for things, but in the end I just had to keep asking and asking.

My daughter was supposed to be in ward 12 according to the letter, but on admission we were told ward 11 Apparently, ward 11 is just starting to take under 2's to ease the pressure on ward 12...we went into ward 12 to use their playroom (note, entire room full of toys to play in) and was so dismayed thinking that we should have been in there. beds away from the walls, a nappy changing facility, people walking round giving food and drink to patents, DVD/TV combis to every bed. Even the chapel had more toys than ward 11!

On the day of discharge we had to wait in ward 11 for 6 hours for a doctor so my poor little lady was stuck with a big pile of duplo (which isn't her sort of stuff) a lot of broken toys and a big red box holding them all, which was so big she couldn't even reach into the bottom to reach the few toys there were. This was all shoved in a corner of the parent kitchen, so no room to play with them either even if she was so inclined.

If my daughter being in ward 11 was just a one off, then I would have just grinned and beared it, but the staff were clear that my daughter was one of the first of many under 2s who would be on ward 11. Hence my letter to PALS as I really think this is a waiting list reduction exercise rather than a patient care exercise.

getcarter

Thank you so much for this thread, my son will (funds allowing) be going into B'ham for a week, so this is all very interesting, I'm familar with the general area after countless appointments but the actual stay is worrying.

Carter

Sazere

Just wanted to add my DD has stopped on Ward 8 in the last couple of years and I have found it gets cold at night. She would wake up crying (baby) and I would find she was cold. We were in an isolation room near the entrance to the ward. I had a fold up cot on the floor by the side of her cot and a chair to sit on. The room had its own toilet and shower.

I found it difficult to leave her alone to go and get food for myself as she was so far away from the nurses station and in a sealed room no-one was able to keep an eye on her. The few times I left her asleep and asked her nurse to keep an eye on her while I went to the canteen I came back to find her screaming alone. Again I also found it could take awhile to get back onto the ward through the locked doors.

Once DD was on the mend we were allowed to take her off the ward and down to the restaurant so we could eat. We even took her into B'ham for an hour one afternoon to get passport photos done.

In the end I found it easier to get hubby to bring in packed snacks and sandwiches that I could eat on the ward. I never used the parents room at BCH although at other hospitals I have found it invaluable.

getcarter

Hi I wanted to reserrect this thread for myself.

Just got the go ahead for my DS (11) to go into B'ham for a week for telemetry, so he can't move around much. A lot of the advice above is suitable for us (I have to stay with him!!!!) but I was wondering if any one has any more advice on what to take.

getcarter

Ps we go in on Sunday