General Chat

At the risk of being shot down in a hail of bullets, I have just sent this letter to my local newspaper for consideration - would appreciate any views - non-offensive please - anyone has to offer as an alternative' or additional suggestions



"Thinking about the forthcoming cuts which have to be made by the NHS here in Wales I have some suggestions to make

I understand from a reliable source that there are plans afoot to kit nurses out with new uniforms - American style - I shall refrain from quoting the alleged cost of this change for fear of putting a lot more people in hospital care!

Would it be so radical to expect nursing staff to pay for their own uniforms? Non nursing staff in hospital - well office based staff anyway - purchase their own clothes for work, as do others working outside the NHS. "Scrubs style" uniforms should not be expensive, especially if purchased by the NHS from a single source and sold to the staff at cost.

Hospital catering - you have to buy your own food when you are at home, why should you have it free just because you are in hospital? Personally I have never found hospital food particularly appetising on the few occasions I have been an in-patient. I would not be averse to paying for my food were I ever to be an in-patient providing of course it was "up to standard" - I'm sure some of the large supermarkets would be more than pleased to enter into some kind of contract with the NHS to provide ready meals.

There would of course have to be measures put in place for people with special dietary needs whilst in hospital

Just a few thoughts up for discussion here - maybe other readers will be able to come up with some"
"

Hello Ann,

You can't really use a nurses uniform outside of work can you?

I think we had three changes of style of uniform in as many years at one time!
Several of us have often said there should be a charge made for food for the patients - would bring in a massive amount of money, but probably the cost of the administration for this would be too great.
Liz

I'm all for nursing staff fund their own uniforms, but only if they get a big enough wage increase after the taxman does his worst to fund this.

As for hozzie meals, do we not pay enough NI to cover this "free" extra ?

I mean, we can pay NI for most of our adult life, and only need hospital care for a few days, or even weeks of a lifetime. Some people never set foot inside a hospital.

What I would propose, is for tourists, and people without an EU card shouldnt be entitled to free hospital or doctor care if they fall ill over here.

If we go abroad for a holiday, or to visit family, we pay insurance to cover care if needed.

In the USA, it can cost a couple of hundred £ to see a doctor, get a prescription & medication for something trivial. Thats why Americans have health insurance themselves.

So money should be drawn back from those who have put in nothing to our health care fund.

good thinking about non British hospital patients - didn't think of that one!!

I definitely agree about the non British patients but wouldn't like to go the American way where people have actually been turned away from hospitals because they have no insurance cover.
Scrub style uniforms should be available at a reasonable cost but as Mildred said nursing staff need a better wage first.
Administration costs are one area where cuts should be made.

does this mean policemen, firemen or even army personnel would be expected to pay for their uniforms too?

The road rage girl who stabbed her boyfriend to death some years ago was photographed last week or so having a shopping day out and she had had cosmetic surgery to her jaw last year costing £5000. There could be a saving. The budget for prisoners meals apparently is higher than that for patients.

Last year whilst recovering from a serious illness I was told to eat plenty of butter, cheese, yoghurt, full cream milk and plenty of red meat. One day I had ordered steak pie when I got mine I called a nurse to witness it under the pastry was one piece of steak.

obviously you were spoilt there Chris!!! now if you were paying for the meal you could complain!!!

having worked in the NHS for thirty years I would agree that administrative costs should bear cuts - since the NHS went trust administration personnel inccreased dramatically - all have empires now and assistants have assistants who have assistants ad nauseum

I can remember the days when the hospital was run by the Matron - or so it seemed - I suppose there were admin. staff somewhere! We had a sewing room, where the uniforms were made to fit, and "used" uniforms were altered to fit other nurses.
Liz

they were going to bring matrons back - sooner the better I feel - everything is now put out to tender

cleaning contract done by private company - they pay peanuts so the cleaners don't really care about cleanliness - why should they? when we had our own cleaners they took a pride in "their patch"

the hospital where I worked was totally self sufficient, at one time grew all it's own fruit and veg, had a farm with cows, pigs and horses - then the p.c. brigade moved in - even had them back in those days - and it all went

we had a colony of feral cats up until a few years ago - all caught and neutered with little houses around the grounds - fed on a rota basis with money donated by staff - never saw a rat!! now, the cats are gone and the rats roam all over the place- progress? I don't think so

We had ward cleaners allocated to each ward, they kept it spotless and took a pride in their work. Nothing was too much trouble for them.
Liz

A few years ago my then 15 year old son was rushed into hospital and was put on the childrens ward. My son has never had a process meal in his life. They asked would he like pasta for his meal and he agreed they brought him spaghetti hoops. After that I took all his food in. He told the nurse he wasn't sick enough to eat hospital food.

The NHS needs to be streamlined. From the cleaning contracts to the management. If it is cheaper and more efficient to hire cleaners then do so, these can be supervised by the matrons.

in reply to your question, no
I dont think nurses should have to pay for their uniform.

any employer who requires his staff to wear a uniform should provide it, be it a nurse or a window cleaner.

Its wok wear, not worn outside of work, so why should it have to be paid for?

no anne i dont think nurses should pay for their uniforms but they should have stronger guidelines on when to wear it .
they shouldnt travel to and from work in it.
they shouldnt shop at the local supermarket in it.
they shouldnt go to the pub in it.
they shouldnt sit on a dirty filthy wall outside the hospital grounds smoking in it.
i have seen them do it.
they then go and nurse really ill people in them with all the germs over them.
yuck.

meercat.

i havn't rad all of this, supposed to be doing the i****ing, but, I seem to remember when my sister first started in nursing in the late 1950', nurses were allowed to wear their uniforms to and from work, though in many cases, but not all, they lived in the nurses home adjacent to the hospital, and around the town. But, and it is a big but, they also wore a dress length cape, which protected the dress uniform.
On the subject of paying for food in hospital, yes I would be happy to pay a nominal contribution to this, but, the standard of food would have to be alot better. However, I do not know how effectively this could be managed.
Julia in Derbyshire

I don't think nurses should pay for their uniforms or to leave a ward in their uniform as this raises issues of cross infection control. To take patients to other areas of the hospital they should change into a fresh uniform. This uniform should be a totally different colour to all other uniforms.

It would be far better to cut waste and streamline services

i wasnt counting district nurses.

nurses should have a cloakroom to change and an iron if needed.i dont want all their germs over me when i am ill.

meercat.

In A&E I agree it would be impossible as they are rushed of their feet but they should not leave the department in their uniforms as the likelihood of cross infection is greater from working in a hospital than a visitor to the hospital.

District nurses should wear disposable gloves and aprons which should be disposed of in a plastic bag and placed into a clinical waste bag. Obviously this depends on the procedure being carried out. When my son was receiving intraveneous drugs his nurse was gloved and wore a disposable apron which she bagged and took away with her. She also took all sharps with her.

It is impossible to eradicate all germs coming into a hospital but that does not mean that measures should not be put in place to minimise their spread. Cleaning is obviosly paramount