Cleanliness in UK hospitals - Page 5

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  1. Oct 30, '07 by
    Quote from RGN1
    <snip>

    I also feel that the nurse training has it's place in the problem. Of course nurses are being academically well prepared (well those who aren't cutting & pasting essays from the Internet are at any rate!) but the real problem is that students are not part of the staffing anymore. when we trained we were an integeral part of the team. We all trained at one hospital (with an outreach for our psychiatry), so got to know the basic way wards were run in our 1st placement so didn't have to learn new paperwork etc each placement. Plus being part of a team does give you a sense of belonging & pride - there was friendly rivalry between many of the wards because they were on the look out for those students they wanted to employ once they had trained.
    an advantage which is also a huge disadvantage , there is a joke among staff in the unit i currently work on, which has got a fairly mobile and 'geographically expereinced' Nursing staff base that there are three ways to do something, the right way, the wrong way and the way this hospitla has always done it ...

    <SNIP>

    The main difference though was that we were the extra staff able to carry out those all important basic care tasks.
    Right, novel viewpoint , given that student s now are truely 'extra' to safe minimum staffing and Matrons and site managers face discipline if they use students to support staffing numbers

    Now there are no longer students doing this, or learning this. My more recent NHS experience since returning to practice was such low levels of staffing that we really were not able to cope with all the needs of a patient so the emphasis was on the medical at the expense of the nursing. As for teaching - no chance!
    or perhaps the fact that the rose tinted spectacles haven't yet fallen ( or been knocked off) , your comment about moving to the private sector says as much if not more aobut your viewpoint than anything else you have said
  2. Oct 30, '07 by
    Quote from ZippyGBR
    an advantage which is also a huge disadvantage , there is a joke among staff in the unit i currently work on, which has got a fairly mobile and 'geographically expereinced' Nursing staff base that there are three ways to do something, the right way, the wrong way and the way this hospitla has always done it ...

    That has, & probably always will be the case!



    or perhaps the fact that the rose tinted spectacles haven't yet fallen ( or been knocked off) , your comment about moving to the private sector says as much if not more aobut your viewpoint than anything else you have said
    Not quite sure what you're implying here?? I moved to the private sector because I couldn't bear not being able to my job safely or properly because there simply were not enough staff. When I was last in the NHS - as a student, then a staff nurse - that was not the case. We worked hard but we could manage to carry out all the basic as well as medical care. When I came back to nursing that simply wasn't the case & I wasn't prepared to risk my health, registration or sanity for managers that couldn't give two hoots.

    Nowadays I work hard still but can get my work done, have the time to talk to my patients, am supported by management, get plenty of further training opportunities & work in a reasonably nice environment. Forgive me for prefering that!

    Oh & I'm not expected to clean up anything - if there is a spill - be it blood, faeces or water then the cleaners clean it up - HOW NOVEL!! Cleaners that do what their job description implies!!
    Last edit by RGN1 on Oct 30, '07
  3. Oct 30, '07 by
    Quote from RGN1
    Oh & I'm not expected to clean up anything - if there is a spill - be it blood, faeces or water then the cleaners clean it up - HOW NOVEL!! Cleaners that do what their job description implies!!
    What? You don't have to clean up spills? What do you do with your time! It used to drive me mad when I was working in resus and we had a pretty messy room to clear up and it was us staff nurses who had to run around cleaning, whilst looking after critically ill or injured patients and getting ready to expect a trauma or resus rolling through the doors because the cleaners weren't allowed to clear up blood or bodil fluids. I remember once, standing there with an apron and wellies on, mopping the floor as unexpected resus came through the doors. I managed to strip off the apron and wash my hands quickly, but I performed the whole resus with huge white wellies on my feet which were a man size 11. Heehee...well, its funny now!
  4. Oct 31, '07 by
    LOL!! Would have loved to have seen that!!

    It is an issue though isn't it - while everyone is moaning about nurses wearing their uniforms outside the workplace they still want us to get down on our knees - in those same uniforms - & clean up blood etc - because the cleaners "won't deal with body fluids". At least that's what I got told by the cleaner on my old NHS ward!!

    No, at least where I am now I do the nursing, the cleaners so the cleaning, the waitresses serve the food & the cooks prepare the food!!
  5. Admin
    Oct 31, '07 by
    I remember a few times having to clean body fluids up as cleaners refused saying they wasn't paid for that, even had colour coded equipment so we wouldn't contaminate their stuff, agree with colour code just couldn't understand why they couldn't do it