During last week so many things got to me I thought I would be writing for weeks but then as the week rolled on I found that a day later there was another side to the headline that had caught my eye, as is often the case we are not always privy to the full facts this leads me to the story of Nurses letting people starve to death in hospitals. I find it horrific to even think we could have people suffering malnutrition in our hospitals but the issue of our Nurses letting them starve has got be another element of misunderstanding.
I am co-funded and working for the NHS I am fortunate to work with some of the best nurses you are likely to come across these people, women and men are truly dedicated to looking after the patient, they are not based on a ward but work in the community like myself, I was on duty on Thursday evening and at 18.30 working with a nurse who should finished at 16.30 but was still going strong, there is no over time either as we are all salaried but our team never walk away from someone in need.
On the wards it is different, sometimes there will only be a Sister, a staff nurse and one other fully qualified nurse after that it is the support workers. The support worker are the people who do most of the feeding, bed changing, fetching commodes and bathing they also feed back to the Sister as to who is eating who is not, some support workers are truly wonderful, but some should not be in hospitals at all.
I myself was admitted to our local hospital, the qualified staff were rushed but very good, the support workers 2 were wonderful, 2 were downright rude with a could not care less attitude, and most people thought these people were Nurses so this is the point that worried me, is it the Nurses not doing there job or is it poor support staff not reporting that someone is not able to feed themselves, I do still think we should bring back the old fashioned ward Matrons they would do a ward inspection, then the patient would get the chance to say something was wrong.
My position is that of support worker with the urgent care team and I am often called Nurse.
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