Hospital visiting all hours (please be kind 😂 )

It’s practicable to have set visiting hrs to give patients the rest they so need I agree with you Baggs

Some years ago I was in hospital, visiting was 2-4 and 6-8.00pm.
Unfortunately a lady in the next bed to me had visitors from late morning until the staff told them to leave at lights out.
One morning my consultant asked them all to leave as he was trying to examine me and their chairs were impinging on his space through the curtain.
They claimed not to be able to understand English and remained.
It was truly awful, I spent a week with the curtains drawn listening to them all talking, she would also have her television on whilst they were there.
I was desperate to get home.

Jolly Jilly, As a former nurse in the days when when the nursing hierarchy was run on military lines as per Florence Nightingale, I'd welcome visitors such as you husband only iff the proposed visitor were vetted as if he were a temporary auxiliary worker.
I am liberal by nature, and we all must know the time has come for the NHS to rely partly on the help of volunteers.
However volunteer workers such as your husband must be controlled by efficient ward managers whose first duty is to their patients.

Many years ago my SIL became very ill while we were all on hols in Yorkshire. She ended up in Scarborough hospital. There was a very strict Sister in charge and she insisted all the women got plenty of rest. The morning was busy with Doctor’s rounds, treatments etc, then lunch.

As soon as lunch was over the ward was closed, curtains shut, everybody in bed and they were all encouraged to sleep for an hour or so before visiting time. My SIL said it was lovely and she looked forward to her quiet hour.

I spent a couple of weeks in hospital earlier in the year, initially in an HDU and then later on a ward, fortunately both were 4 bed rooms. Visiting hours were pretty flexible because it was almost impossible to park. My husband took at least half an hour to find a parking space and a friend who visited had to queue for over half an hour to get out and it was also very expensive. tbh visitors didn't bother me and because they seemed to come at different times it didn't make the place feel crowded. It was the constant noise at night and lights going on and off that bothered me most but I could be the cause of that as I had a couple of machines attached that beeped when they needed attention and the night staff were always rushed off their feet.

Primrose, that is what I like to read! These days when the NHS is on its last legs, it's time for ward managers as CAN manage. These strict efficient women and men are capable of controlling visitors and staff.

I think the biggest change since I was a ward sister many years ago is the lack of respect and consideration for other people. Years ago visitors walked in quietly, sat by the bedside and spoke quietly to whoever they were visiting. We shouldn’t be able to hear conversations from several beds away because folk are too inconsiderate to lower their voices.

I recently spent a week in hospital with a close relative with a severe learning disability who would have been too distressed to be left alone. It seemed many of the men and their visitors had lost the ability to speak at a normal level. Even overnight there was no peace.

As well as the unavoidable noise from beeping monitors there were mobile phones ringing, patients chatting loudly on phones etc. Absolutely zero consideration for other patients who were ill and trying to sleep. After 7 nights of it my sanity was beginning to slip.

I spent a week in hospital with a lady with a learning disability in the bed opposite me.

She would tell everyone "ahhhh, look at that beautiful woman - she is going to try and have a poo poo because she hasn't "been" for nearly a week"

I’m sorry you feel differently Grams2five but I think a hospital stay is for treatment and rest, with the aim of getting the patient discharged and home asap.
On one of DH’s many admissions, the young chap in the next bed often had up to 10 of his mates around his bed for hours as a time (using all the chairs they could find) loudly recalling nights out, when they’d been blind drunk or off their faces! The nurses just tutted, while I felt ‘rules’ should have been better enforced.

Irrespective of how many visiting hours there are I think the most important thing would be to enforce the two visitors per bed rule. Hospitals should stick to it for the benefit of all.

My daughter had to ask nurses to stop racing up and down the corridors, pushing each other in wheelchairs and an office chair when she was in hospital.

It was in the middle of the night, by the way.

Doodle

Irrespective of how many visiting hours there are I think the most important thing would be to enforce the two visitors per bed rule. Hospitals should stick to it for the benefit of all.

I remember when the open visiting policy started many years ago. The hospital policy was still a limit of up to one hour visit during that time and strictly 2 per bed. It seems to have descended into chaos since then.

Now there is no privacy. Doctors pulling curtains round a bed to examine a patient or have a conversation while there are visitors huddled the other side of the curtain is just wrong.

Sadly, the staff can often be on the receiving end of aggression if they dare to challenge anyone and they just don’t have enough staff to cope . I witnessed a nurse politely ask 2 young male patients to lower their voices and “banter” as the patient a few beds away was dying. They reluctantly lowered their voices for a few mins and started again. The nurse had to leave what she was doing and came back and pointed out to them they were being very inconsiderate. The man (or I should say poor excuse for one) told her to eff off and stop picking on him. That’s the type of behaviour staff are up against on every shift.

My daughter had to ask nurses to stop racing up and down the corridors, pushing each other in wheelchairs and an office chair when she was in hospital

That’s dreadful behaviour MissAdventure

I believe she told them that.

All these accounts explain why some of us avoid hospitals like the plague and have to be dragged there.

But, the 2-persons per patient, and no kids running around is a MUST.

I didn't realise the rules had changed from that and must say it sounds dreadful, not at all good for sick patients needing peace and quiet.

Years ago when I had baby No. 2 I shared a room with a lovely young woman who'd had her first two babies in Italy (her DH was Italian). She said how horrendous it was over there, visitors allowed in all day long, whole families visiting at once, bringing in meals for their relative, the noise was dreadful.
She said how lovely it was in the British maternity home where there was peace and quiet with restricted visiting hours.

It sounds like Italy of 40+ years ago!

biglouis

All these accounts explain why some of us avoid hospitals like the plague and have to be dragged there.

Well, no-one wants to be admitted!!

MissAdventure

My daughter had to ask nurses to stop racing up and down the corridors, pushing each other in wheelchairs and an office chair when she was in hospital.

I feel for anyone recovering in hospital. I had expressed my anxiety and depression about being in hospital before my major surgery and was put on an accelerated discharge program. 27 hours was quite enough for me from start to finish. Even the consultant agreed that hospital was no place for recovery.

BigBertha1

Well I'm an old fashion nurse who believes quality rest and sleep is essential to recovery so I would say a two hour visiting slot during the day and two in the evening is more than enough. Definitely two visitors to a bed, children and animals by special permission from the Charge Nurse/Ward Sister. This allows the nursing and medical staff a much better opportunity for good care during very testing times.

Can we put you in charge of the NHS?

I fairly recently had a three day stay in hospital and think I rarely slept. There seemed to be admissions and discharges all night long because of bed shortages, beds banging, squeaky wheels, moans, groans and snores it was bedlam! The worst thing was the mobile phone conversations, why do people think they have to shout? These conversations went on to the early hours.

Then all day long the many visitors who were rammed between the closely packed beds enveloping one in an unavoidable cacophony of conversations. On the bright side they brought wth them ethnic foods for the patients who could not cope with hospital food. My bed-neighbour shared hers with me, it was lovely. However all these visitors bring a greater risk of bringing infection to the already sick and frail.

However all these visitors bring a greater risk of bringing infection to the already sick and frail.

👍

I was in hospital having a lung resection on a ward with 5 other women. Visiting was 2-8, in two hour slots. Visits had to be pre-booked and 2 hours max. Everyone was so considerate.

The hospital had its own Wi-Fi and everyone was using personal devices to listen or view. The worst disturbances were the bleeping of machines that started to drive me mad by the 8th day. I was glad to get home but I found the care I received was excellent.

ronib

I feel for anyone recovering in hospital. I had expressed my anxiety and depression about being in hospital before my major surgery and was put on an accelerated discharge program. 27 hours was quite enough for me from start to finish. Even the consultant agreed that hospital was no place for recovery.

Oh me too Ronib.. not only noisy visitors but nurses talking loudly at night and consultants in heavy shoes clomping down the ward...
and I was in a 4 bed room a few years back which was lovely when it was all women, we quietly chatted, but as soon as a male patient came in the TV was on all the time.. Peace and quiet was all I needed..