I remember as a child aged about 10 years old, I was in hospital for several weeks with appendicitis. The hospital was about 12 miles from my home and, with far fewer cars on the roads then, visitors were fairly infrequent. My sojourn in the Ward included the whole of Christmas, and how well I remember the underwater scene that the nurses created throughout the Ward, with blue mesh net hung across the upper reaches to suggest the surface of the sea, silver fish scattered across it, and even a life-size diver in full diving-suit emerging from a papier machéI rock formation, built to look like the entrance to an underwater cave.
Things were very different then in hospitals. The Ward was run by Matron, and the nurses made sure that they didn’t incur her wrath! Children were not allowed on the Wards as visitors, and I recall the occasion when my sister was brought down by my mother and made to stand outside the Ward looking at me through a window. Visiting times were very strict indeed, and Matron was always around to ensure that nobody overstayed. I think that, generally speaking, visitors were considered somewhat of a nuisance really, because they upset the nursing routine. If a visitor dared to sit on a bed then Matron’s wrath would be poured out upon them from a great height, albeit through the Ward Sister. Rules were in place to be strictly obeyed, and obeyed they were.
How times were changed a few years later! The pendulum swung in the opposite direction. In many hospitals visitors of all ages were admitted with little or no check upon them. As the visitors considered it was their right to be there anyway, any nursing staff who queried their suitability would often get an abusive retort in return. Hence, relatives and friends would often turn up to visit with colds or other infections, bringing their herms onto the Ward to share with everyone. People sat on beds and large numbers would gather around the patient, often laughing and joking so loudly that they were disruptive.
Due to the various policy decisions made by Government over the years, people pushed their ’rights’ forward and their ’responsibilities’ were placed as far back as to often become an irrelevance. Matrons had long been consigned to the annals of hospital history books, and in throwing out the bath water the baby had gone as well, metaphorically speaking. Cleanliness on the Wards was left to the often underpaid staff of contract cleaning companies whose prime concern was how to increase their profits from the contract. The results soon spoke for themselves. Dirtier and dirtier Wards, unchanged bed-linen, reports of cockroach and rat infestations, and, of course, the superbugs such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile.Patients might well go into hospital for a relatively minor procedure and come out with a major superbug problem. So major in many instances, that they would die from it.
Change was obviously necessary, and so in our hospitals today there are bottles of gel for patients to swab their hands with both prior and after visiting. Visiting times are more strict on many Wards and patients limited to no more than two visitors at a time. Once again there is talk of reintroducing Matrons. Cleaning, by and large, is still done by contract cleaning companies who are in the business of maximising profits, and so the Wards are still not as clean as they should be, although many are better than they were.
It was long the habit of visitors to bring flowers to cheer up their hospitalised friends and relations, but this is often frowned upon by many hospitals today. The reason for this is often given as being that the flowers use up oxygen on the Wards. It was customary for flowers to be removed from patients’ bedsides at night in the past, but now they can be banned altogether for reasons of Elf ‘n Safety. I can appreciate the problems that vases of flowers might pose in terms of the danger of their being knocked over and so on, but the banning of another item brought in to give a little cheer to the patient baffles me completely, and that is the ban placed by some hospitals, or at least by some Wards, on ‘Get Well’ cards.
The ‘Get Well Soon’ card wit its cheery message has long been accepted as a way of cheering up friends and family unfortunate enough to be in hospital. Some time ago there were reports in the Press about a man who had sent his elderly aunt one of these cards when she was in hospital, only to find it conspicuous by its absence when he went to visit her. Enquiring about its whereabouts he was informed that cards were not allowed on Elf ‘n Safety grounds. Further enquiry elicited the information that they posed a problem of clutter for the cleaners.
Finally I now understand why there are often items of rubbish underneath a patients bed — it’s because there are ‘Get Well Soon’ cards on their lockers!
Earlier this year, parents visiting Birmingham's Children's Hospital were advised to bring new soft toys in factory- sealed boxes to prevent the spread of superbugs. The guidance stemmed from concerns that toy fabric is a breeding ground for the Superbugs. However, after the children have had the toys with them in hospital there is no ban on them taking the toys home, despite the fact that they have been around in an environment where superbugs often abound. Surely the Elf ‘n Safety gremlins have scored a home-goal there!
Things were very different then in hospitals. The Ward was run by Matron, and the nurses made sure that they didn’t incur her wrath! Children were not allowed on the Wards as visitors, and I recall the occasion when my sister was brought down by my mother and made to stand outside the Ward looking at me through a window. Visiting times were very strict indeed, and Matron was always around to ensure that nobody overstayed. I think that, generally speaking, visitors were considered somewhat of a nuisance really, because they upset the nursing routine. If a visitor dared to sit on a bed then Matron’s wrath would be poured out upon them from a great height, albeit through the Ward Sister. Rules were in place to be strictly obeyed, and obeyed they were.
How times were changed a few years later! The pendulum swung in the opposite direction. In many hospitals visitors of all ages were admitted with little or no check upon them. As the visitors considered it was their right to be there anyway, any nursing staff who queried their suitability would often get an abusive retort in return. Hence, relatives and friends would often turn up to visit with colds or other infections, bringing their herms onto the Ward to share with everyone. People sat on beds and large numbers would gather around the patient, often laughing and joking so loudly that they were disruptive.
Due to the various policy decisions made by Government over the years, people pushed their ’rights’ forward and their ’responsibilities’ were placed as far back as to often become an irrelevance. Matrons had long been consigned to the annals of hospital history books, and in throwing out the bath water the baby had gone as well, metaphorically speaking. Cleanliness on the Wards was left to the often underpaid staff of contract cleaning companies whose prime concern was how to increase their profits from the contract. The results soon spoke for themselves. Dirtier and dirtier Wards, unchanged bed-linen, reports of cockroach and rat infestations, and, of course, the superbugs such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile.Patients might well go into hospital for a relatively minor procedure and come out with a major superbug problem. So major in many instances, that they would die from it.
Change was obviously necessary, and so in our hospitals today there are bottles of gel for patients to swab their hands with both prior and after visiting. Visiting times are more strict on many Wards and patients limited to no more than two visitors at a time. Once again there is talk of reintroducing Matrons. Cleaning, by and large, is still done by contract cleaning companies who are in the business of maximising profits, and so the Wards are still not as clean as they should be, although many are better than they were.
It was long the habit of visitors to bring flowers to cheer up their hospitalised friends and relations, but this is often frowned upon by many hospitals today. The reason for this is often given as being that the flowers use up oxygen on the Wards. It was customary for flowers to be removed from patients’ bedsides at night in the past, but now they can be banned altogether for reasons of Elf ‘n Safety. I can appreciate the problems that vases of flowers might pose in terms of the danger of their being knocked over and so on, but the banning of another item brought in to give a little cheer to the patient baffles me completely, and that is the ban placed by some hospitals, or at least by some Wards, on ‘Get Well’ cards.
The ‘Get Well Soon’ card wit its cheery message has long been accepted as a way of cheering up friends and family unfortunate enough to be in hospital. Some time ago there were reports in the Press about a man who had sent his elderly aunt one of these cards when she was in hospital, only to find it conspicuous by its absence when he went to visit her. Enquiring about its whereabouts he was informed that cards were not allowed on Elf ‘n Safety grounds. Further enquiry elicited the information that they posed a problem of clutter for the cleaners.
Finally I now understand why there are often items of rubbish underneath a patients bed — it’s because there are ‘Get Well Soon’ cards on their lockers!
Earlier this year, parents visiting Birmingham's Children's Hospital were advised to bring new soft toys in factory- sealed boxes to prevent the spread of superbugs. The guidance stemmed from concerns that toy fabric is a breeding ground for the Superbugs. However, after the children have had the toys with them in hospital there is no ban on them taking the toys home, despite the fact that they have been around in an environment where superbugs often abound. Surely the Elf ‘n Safety gremlins have scored a home-goal there!
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