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A Day In The Life Of An NHS Nurse: Hit, Spat At And Smelling Of Shite
I'm sick of nurses getting a bad press. We do a thankless job, get paid buttons and have been used as scapegoats for failings up the NHS hierarchy...
How many times have you been talking with a work colleague and asked, “Are these muppets on the same planet as us?” and answered with the old, “If I was in charge…” Well let me tell you in nursing it happens on a daily basis.
I’m sick of nurses getting bad press. We are the work-force, the small cogs in a very big machine (nobody blamed the bank staff in the recent banking scandal).
I’m an auxiliary nurse, bottom of the pecking order. The donkey who’s supposed to get on with it and carry on regardless. Let’s have a typical day: A ward of 30 medical elderly patients, all 70+ years. There are 3 staff nurses and 4 auxiliaries, minimum staffing numbers. Not ideal, just minimum, no frills. The qualified staff do medicines; admissions; discharges; talk to other agencies; handle relatives – some abusive; write care-plans on every patient at the end of a shift. (The admissions book is an 81 page document on its own)
The auxiliaries do washing, dressing, feeding, toileting (which in the wake of the norovirus epidemic is more frequent than ever!) They make beds, do regular pressure area checks, and fill out a form or chart for every action undertaken. Now put into the equation that more than one elderly patient needs two people to escort them to the toilet and all of the others need some kind of personal assistance. Where do you start?
Nursing used to be ‘for’ the patient, now it’s done ‘to’ the patient, accompanied by the relevant paperwork. And, while we do need a documented plan of action/care, how much of it is done in case ‘Mr Smith’ wants to sue the NHS five years down the line in this ever increasing blame/claim society.
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Now, whilst some of you may be saying, “Get the violins out”, when did you last leave work having been verbally abused, hit/pinched, spat at, and smelling of someone else’s shite?
Many hospital trusts are grossly overspent and desperately try to recoup by cutting budgets and as a result, services. So if someone in management cocks-up the spending budget, which affects the staffing budget, why is it then the fault of the nurse? Because now her workload has increased and she still only has one pair of hands.
Many go home after a 12 hour shift (with only 2 thirty minute breaks) thinking, “Did I do this/that?” “Did I do everything?” or even, “I wish I could have done more.” then go and sort out their own dramas.
I’m not saying everyone’s perfect. There will always be the workers and the shirkers. That happens in all professions but most nurses are there because they care. An auxiliary earns around £14,000 a year, now that’s not living the dream is it? The incentive here isn’t money.
So next time the media is having a pop at the nurses, think twice before you believe the hype. Remember, whilst they’re bitching about us, far more serious issues are being masked.
But then, isn’t that what this government does best?
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COMMENTS
The thing is, myself and other members of my family have been subjected to some terrible treatment by nurses whose lack of humanity and empathy was apalling. I don't need to listen to hearsay, I have personal experience.
Oops 'appalling'
Dawn, fair point but the bit in the article about how the frontline staff are made to pay for inept management is also true. The NHS has suffered from and since a) Thatcher deciding that market forces are the best method for treating patients and b) the needless creation of layers of management. If you get a shitty service, like in Staff NHS Trust, then by all means the staff who need it should either be disciplined or sacked.
but do people really resent nurses? generally every person ive every known has only ever had admiration for them. Maybe being at the front line of a hospital has skewed your view of the world. Trust me when i say MOST people dont believe the "hype".
also, im going to go out on a limb here and say dawn is an idiot. You dont judge an entire group of people/jobs by personal experience with one or two. Maybe next time she gets sick she can go and use the alternative to the NHS then...
I agree with Sharpy
Sounds like a pretty well staffed medical ward compared to the ones I've worked on...
Nurses are totally underpaid and under valued and this has been going on for over 30 years. Angels. Every one of em.
Problem with healthcare is that everybody who needs it will always think that their problem is the most important. So every time a nurse tends to the need of one patient there are a load more people having a whinge. It's a completely thankless task and one which I am struggling to see can be solved simply by 'throwing money at the problem'. Any ideas?
Footballer £140,000 per week Auxilliary Nurse £14,000 per annum There's your priorities right there Britain!
Do nurses really get such bad press in comparison to other lines of work? I only ever hear people blaming the system rather than the staff such as yourself. Seems that nurses can't take the same level of criticism that we all get and have to play the victim. As an aside, I have had more bad experiences with nurses than good.
Have I missed something then? where is all the bad press - can't say as I've seen it. As Stan says - they're all angels aren't they? PS @ lerouge - Thatcher gets the blame - again, FFS.
That's a very good point Andy. I have not seen bad press only poor salaries?. You're an Angel Melanie. A neurotic one, but still an Angel.
@Stan - I've never seen a payslip so I'm not even sure about poor salaries.
I can vouch for the poor salaries Andy as a friend of my wifes is a Nurse and she says that they are poorly paid so I will go off that. On second thoughts, I have never actually seen her pay slip though? Christ. I've been hoodwinked.
@ Stan. LOL! I've got a cousin who is a nurse who gets a new car EVERY year and an Auntie who's a midwife who only works the nightshift because she gets paid a 'fortune' (her words). Doesn't stop either of them moaning though!!PS Just left a comment for you on the Ian Salmon story - about 21st century Liverpool fans.
Andy. Sorry for delayed response, just went round to the neighbours house to feed the cat, she being the nurse. She's in Barbados. Again.
Stan. Brilliant!
I work in the office booking agency nurses at hospitals. This ward seems pretty well staffed compared to many (its still short staffed) and nurses have been under fire in the press a number of times lately...and are always the first to lose their jobs when shit hits the fan regardless of them being the most useful staff in a hospital usually. I often find myself disgusted at how nurses are treated by patients, other staff, Drs, managers etc...why? Because everyone blames the person at the bottom.
My mum has been in a hospital for over the last week and looks as though she will be in the care of it for some time. The Nurses that are caring for her are brilliant and at the moment myself and my family cannot fault them. They deserve more than your average MP for the shit that they have to cope with on a daily basis. Saying that, ive had to stay in the same hospital and couldnt say the same about one or two of the Nurses on my stay there. Felt i was treated disgustedly on one occasion but dont tar them all with the same brush.
We all know the argument of paying a few blokes millions to kick a ball while squeezing pennies to nurses. There aren't enough cuss words to describe how renk that is. I like the idea of it and my working hours tend to be intense anyway (I work in PR so I know what it is to smell of shite!) but it's the cleaning up of bodily fluids and bodily bits that have turned green that put me off - bleaurgh!
Nurses are scapegoats and nothing more. As someone who is taking a break from a nursing course, due to chronic illness, I am disgusted by the witch hunt. I'm even wondering whether to quit health care all together. But I love it, the patients always come first and I would do anything for them. However this constant negative press is hypocritical. Yes, there are bad examples. Do any of you see the kind and decent examples who make patients feel at ease, don't take breaks go off duty late etc. No. But going to war, cuts to public services, witch hunts, paying bankers and greedy MPs bonuses whilst NHS, the army etc gets cut. Yes, priorities are obvious. Worrying.
I hope NHS goes private. My doctor is wonderful with me but the nurses are real mean and frustrated. They act like they hate what they do and treat patients really bad specially if the patients are women they psychologically and emotionally try to abuse them. I have been in some Countries and i have never felt so bad for having to go to the doctor. It is supposed for a health professional to help patients not to mistreat them daily. I hope most of them get fired and that it get more difficult for people to become nurse.
I have been a registered adult nurse for 8 Years now and generally enjoy my line of work. I've heard countless things about nurses, do they get paid enough? They are all angels? And the one that gets me everytime are you working your way up to be a Dr? eh no the same way am no working my way up to be lawyer, teacher or physio or any other profession for that matter. As a top band 5 staff nurse I earn a basic rate of 14 pounds an hour and on a Sat Sun or public holiday I earn more than 22 pounds an hour and some agency nurses can be paid up to 50 pounds an hour I've heard. No nurses are not angels I've worked with some right horrors but mainly with kind and hard-working ones whodo there level best.
Nhs patient, your comments are moronic. You hope all the nurses get sacked! You sad twat, i hope your appendix explode and there's nobody to look after you!
I am a nurse and i do my best to give your families the best possible care. I go without, food, drinks and the toilet to care for your loved ones.yet ive been abused verbally and physically and nobody comes to my aid. I am seriously fed up of going home late, endless paper work and for not even a thank you. I worked hard to get my qualification and why? To be spat at, kicked, abused off relatives ? It's a joke how the public treat nurses, if you don't like the nhs go private please do.
