Nurses have not stopped caring

[Northerner]

I've always found it strange that when a privatised institution is accused of wrongdoing, the resulting conversation usually frames those involved as bad apples that must be disposed of in order for the institution to carry on as normal. But when the same happens to a public institution, the individuals involved are ignored in favour of ideas about institutional crisis and bad behaviour becoming routine.

It was evident again this week when the Labour MP Ann Clwyd revealed the appalling treatment her husband received as he was dying in the University Hospital of Wales, in Cardiff. Clwyd, the MP for Cynon Valley since 1984 and Tony Blair's former human rights envoy to Iraq, said her husband lay crushed "like a battery hen" against the bars of his hospital bed with an oxygen mask so small it cut into his face and pumped cold air into his infected eye. She suggested that a "normalisation of cruelty" is now rife among NHS nurses, and that her husband's treatment had become "commonplace".

Her story was published a day after the chief nursing officer for England, Jane Cummings, launched a three-year strategy to focus on "compassionate care". I am not interested in detracting from Ann Clwyd's experience, which sounds horrific. But I do think it's important that, if there is a decline in NHS care, we ask why it might have happened. It simply does not make sense that nurses have suddenly become cruel and lacking in compassion, if indeed they have, without any motivating factor or change in circumstances. As the Guardian reported on Wednesday, Jeremy Hunt has been admonished by the UK statistics authority for arguing that the NHS budget has increased, when the reality is the opposite. Do we really think that cuts to health spending and a decline in care are totally unrelated?

http://m.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/05/nurses-have-not-stopped-caring

 

[fencesitter]

This story made me very cross when I heard it on the radio yesterday. Of course there may be individual nurses who are not compassionate, and some things can be improved with training - eg. how you give difficult news to a patient. But I felt that the issue was dreamed up to deflect people from the real problem - nurses don't always have time to be compassionate. It doesn't take long to give a warm smile and say something friendly, but if you're looking for hand holding or spending time talking to a patient, it requires time which is distinctly lacking on a busy ward when resources are being cut all the time. I felt uncomfortable with all the nurse bashing, particularly when my own experience of nurses is pretty positive (which is more than I can say for some doctors...)

 

[trophywench]

Willsmum, I can only recommend you search on here for posts made by Cherrypie (Maisie) concerning the horrid, horrid treatment her poor husband was on the receiving end of in an English hospital.

It's not comfortable reading.

We know there are still a lot of compassionate nurses and we know their time is stretched too.

I sincerely hope that this never happens to anyone else, but it's no good trying to hide it and pretend it doesn't happen because it does. I think the compassionate nurses would far rather it was aired and the problem righted, than everyone ignore it.

 

[cherrypie]

This story made me very cross when I heard it on the radio yesterday. Of course there may be individual nurses who are not compassionate, and some things can be improved with training - eg. how you give difficult news to a patient. But I felt that the issue was dreamed up to deflect people from the real problem - nurses don't always have time to be compassionate. It doesn't take long to give a warm smile and say something friendly, but if you're looking for hand holding or spending time talking to a patient, it requires time which is distinctly lacking on a busy ward when resources are being cut all the time. I felt uncomfortable with all the nurse bashing, particularly when my own experience of nurses is pretty positive (which is more than I can say for some doctors...)

This brings back painful memories for me.

There was nothing for my husband, not a smile, a cheerful word, no dignity or respect.
It was allowed to happen because of poor leadership and a whole team of nurses being complicit in bad behaviour. After an enquiry, the whole lot of them were broken up and distributed to other wards so that they could not start up another reign of indifference and cruelty.

I spent all my working life working as a nurse and could not believe what happened to my poor husband as he lay dying. He hard worked as a fireman all his life and was well respected, polite and accepting that he was going to die but there was no compassion for him, a big fat zero of nothingness.

There are nurses who give 100% and there are nurses who should be in another profession IMHO.

 

[trophywench]

Maisie, just more {{{Hugs}}} and a great big Thank You again, for having the bravery to see this through to the end.

 

[fencesitter]

Cherrypie, I'm really sorry to hear about the terrible time your husband had and I hope my post didn't upset you. What I meant to say, and maybe I expressed myself badly, was that it's important to look beneath and find out what leads to lack of compassion if it's widespread.

 

[cherrypie]

Don't worry about it, you haven't upset me, I am coming at it from a different angle than you.

I personally think that compassion is not something that you can be taught, it is not in everyone. There was a time when people only went into nursing if they had compassion. Now it is open to anyone who has the education to get a degree and there are not the job choices that there used to be.

Look at the groups of people who have had a tough time in hospital and you will see that it is the vulnerable groups. I have never seen a young, able bodied person with a curable condition complaining about his/her treatment. I liken it to a form of bullying and there are bullies in all walks of life.

I think some Nurses have high expectations and see themselves as high flyers and they do not want to do mundane nursing involving basic care. We all know people who think they should start at the top of their profession and cannot understand why they are not allowed to.

When I think to how my husband lived his life and how he was treated as he lay dying, it makes me so sad. He was a caring compassionate man who always had time for other people, did the best he could for his family and volunteered for youth work when he retired. He always reckoned that the young deserved a chance in life and should not be written off because they did not conform to society. He used to say that if they were given role models, praised as well as reprimanded and encouraged to join in the community then they would have a chance to make a life for themselves. He was a good listener and a problem solver and I count myself very lucky that he was my husband.

If someone could find a solution to bullying then the world would be a better place IMHO.

 

[fencesitter]

What a lovely man, he must have changed so many young people's lives for the better. I did some work once for an organisation called the Media Trust who put kids who were getting into trouble in touch with mentors who really helped them turn their lives around. Your husband sounds like one of those inspirational people - we could do with a few more like that!