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My Mum's a nurse, but works in an old folks' home (a good one). The MRSA and other bugs are now so prevalent, that she and the other staff now do everything humanly possible to avoid sending a resident into the local hospital (in the "good" old days, it was standard practice to send 'em in for routine stuff, to reduce time spent on such things in the home) - as they often return with a superbug, though admittedly just as carriers, not actually dying from it. Nonetheless...
Now, my Mum's not a doctor, or owt like that, but does have 40 years' in the trade - as do many of her colleagues. Their view is that hospitals are now simply dirty, and olde worlde soap, disinfectant and a splash of water sloshed around a bit more often would work wonders. Having recently been in a hospital to visit a sick relative, I see her point.
Their view is that hospitals are now simply dirty, and olde worlde soap, disinfectant and a splash of water sloshed around a bit more often would work wonders. Having recently been in a hospital to visit a sick relative, I see her point.
Have to agree with that. The missus was in hospital a couple of months ago to give birth and in the four days she was on the ward it was only cleaned once and that consisted of one person briefly running a feather duster along the curtain rails and the window sills. She pointed out the dried on blood and faeces stains on the floor to both the nursing staff and the one cleaner she saw and all said "it wasn't their job to clean up clinical waste". When she asked whose job it was she just got shrugs and blank looks.
My Mum's a nurse, but works in an old folks' home (a good one). The MRSA and other bugs are now so prevalent, that she and the other staff now do everything humanly possible to avoid sending a resident into the local hospital (in the "good" old days, it was standard practice to send 'em in for routine stuff, to reduce time spent on such things in the home) - as they often return with a superbug, though admittedly just as carriers, not actually dying from it. Nonetheless...
Now, my Mum's not a doctor, or owt like that, but does have 40 years' in the trade - as do many of her colleagues. Their view is that hospitals are now simply dirty, and olde worlde soap, disinfectant and a splash of water sloshed around a bit more often would work wonders. Having recently been in a hospital to visit a sick relative, I see her point.
I blame Thatcher for Compulsory Competitive Tendering. Cleaning services were outsourced to the lowest bidder. Quality suffered and it's never recovered.
I blame Thatcher for Compulsory Competitive Tendering. Cleaning services were outsourced to the lowest bidder. Quality suffered and it's never recovered.
Indeed. My Mum said that back in the 1960s, each ward had its own cleaner - and they were forever trying to out-do the others, and would happily bitch & gossip about the others not having a ward as clean as theirs. OK - it was a silly pride thing, but it worked. BTW: My Mum said it started going wonky in the mid 70s - with new, "better" approaches to cleaning, and other things, like how to clean newborn babies, etc., etc.
Last edited by DBA_bloke; 24 September 2007, 16:02.
Indeed. My Mum said that back in the 1960s, each ward had its own cleaner - and they were forever trying to out-do the others, and would happily bitch & gossip about the others not having a ward as clean as theirs. OK - it was a silly pride thing, but it worked. BTW: My Mum said it started going wonky in the mid 70s - with new, "better" approaches to cleaning, and other things, like how to clean newborn babies, etc., etc.
Ooooh, don't get me started... (too late):
I used to work on a ward with its own directly employed cleaner and it was spotless and the guy was a valued and respected member of the team (and a bleedin' foreigner to boot - imagine that!) I moved from there to another hospital where wards wouldn't get the same cleaner twice and any complaints/special requests had to be debated with outsourced management against a Service Level Agreement. Big difference.
Indeed. My Mum said that back in the 1960s, each ward had its own cleaner - and they were forever trying to out-do the others, and would happily bitch & gossip about the others not having a ward as clean as theirs. OK - it was a silly pride thing, but it worked. BTW: My Mum said it started going wonky in the mid 70s - with new, "better" approaches to cleaning, and other things, like how to clean newborn babies, etc., etc.
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