Topic: Whose job is it anyway? (a rant!!)

[Hyacinth]

One day a couple of weeks ago I was in the (name and shame >:() A&E Department of Smelly Oak Hospital, Birmingham.....thirsty, I hopped on my one good leg over to the water dispensing machine.....double-hopped backwards in horror when I saw that the drip tray of the machine was green with the sort of algae my little fish tank used to have when the pump had packed up.....hopped to the nurses station & reported this. Reply was "it's not our job. It'll be the cleaners job".....nothing done...

In time I saw a Dr. After the usual anti-bio injection in bum I addressed the more important question of the green slimy drip tray & reported the nurses' answer.....his reply? "Oh! they're wrong there! It's not the cleaners job, it's down to the contractors who supply and service the machine"....

(exit, hoppingly, one disgruntled patient muttering "no bloody wonder that peeps come out with more than they went in with")......

FOR GOODNESS SAKE! - MAD OR WOT!!!!! >:( :o

[Debs]

... and what effort would it have taken for them to clean it??

Jobs worth or what?

Debs  >:(

[saddad]

 ::)

[manicscousers]

always gets me when people say it's not their job..I would imagine there's more than me who've done a job that someone else should've done..why not just do it...they're not going to get fired for cleaning up some goo !!
my rant over, hope your legs better, lishka  ;D

[Robert_Brenchley]

A friend of mine was in there with MRSA not long ago. She's a nurse, and told everyone exactly what the problem was, every chance she got. Everything's done by contractors these days, so the nurses can't get things cleaned up any more, and there aren't enough cleaners anyway due to all the cost cutting.

[scotch-mist]

Last Cristmas when I was in hospital having my wee lad,
I took antiseptic sprays, wipes, hand wash and gel with me,
 The cot was sterilised before I would put my newborn in it and I would not let anyone handle him unless they used my hand wash and gel.
         I was unpopular but we both came home alive and well.
Who cares what anyone thinks.

The doctors agreed  ;)

[debster]

I am a nurse and i am perfectly happy for anyone to ask me if i have cleaned/gelled my hands and or tell me to do so if they didnt see me do it good on you for pointing out bad practice, i will say that many times we try to get something done as staff and are told its not my job grrr

[grawrc]

Not that it makes it any better but schools are exactly the same. Filthy water dispensers and also filthy classrooms. Electrical equipment such as computers is never cleaned, my windows still have the labels on from about 10 years ago when they were installed and even the desks are dirty.

The cleaners are not allowed to clean higher than they can reach because they're not insured. I even painted my classroom myself with a group of kids because it was so ghastly.

[Si D]

I would imagine that _some_ cases like this are due to the threat of litigation.  IF the nurse had just popped over and cleaned it then they might become responsible for any illness caused by it afterwards.  If they leave it as it is then it's the contractor's fault.  Therefore people are often encouraged not to do anything that might make their organisation liable to legal action.  People are just becoming more and more scared of the so called "compensation culture" and "ambulance chasing" no-win, no-fee solicitors.

Brings to mind the water cooler we had at the office.  A bloke  (who was a pro ice hockey player - big strapping lad) tried changing the bottle and hurt himself.  Instead of owning up to being a divvy who did it wrong, he made a successful claim against the company.  Thus the company changed the rules for the water cooler: only those with the necessary training were allowed to change the bottles.  Problem was that the only person with the training was this little old 60-something year old.  So we then had a situation where by every time this built-like-a-brick-dodar-house ice hockey player (or anyone else) wanted the bottle changing he had to ask for this 9st-wet-through old bloke to come and do it.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Not that it makes it any better but schools are exactly the same. Filthy water dispensers and also filthy classrooms.

That's not new, though it's only in the last few years that I've come across a situation where certain classrooms simply didn't get cleaned because the school couldn't afford it. I used to amuse myself in boring lessons by scraping the filth off the desks, rolling it onto balls, and throwing them across the room.

[Svea]

less to do with compensation culture i fear and more to do with the systematic erosion of good work ethics by unionised labour

staff of all flavours are instructed to only do their jobs and noone else's by their "i'm alright jack" militant representatives

to do any extra is to lead to expectations of work beyond the letter of the contract and thus 'spoiling' it for everyone else

[scotch-mist]

Debster,
            Thanks for your encouragement.
I genuinely wasn't trying to insult anyone, I also asked all my visitors to do the same, as almost 4yrs ago my baby and I caught an infection which resulted in her death and me being really ill in hospital for weeks.
         Most of the nurses were fine with me, it was just a couple that weren't happy with me

[artichoke]

What an appalling tragedy, Svea. I'm so sorry.

My daughter gave birth 2 years ago in a London hospital and was absolutely horrified by the state of the lavatories attached to the maternity ward, blood and worse everywhere she looked.  She actually did some cleaning herself before she dared use them (I would have done it, but I was driving her husband home for a rest at the time).  She is a consultant in the same hospital and was really shocked at what the patients had to endure.

[artichoke]

Sorry, Scotch-Mist, I wrote Svea by mistake....

[Svea]

's alright artichoke - i am about to visit hospital for the same reason and will pack some wipes into my labour bag :)

[valmarg]

less to do with compensation culture i fear and more to do with the systematic erosion of good work ethics by unionised labour

staff of all flavours are instructed to only do their jobs and noone else's by their "i'm alright jack" militant representatives

to do any extra is to lead to expectations of work beyond the letter of the contract and thus 'spoiling' it for everyone else

Oooh ek I'm having a touch of deja vu here = 1974 to 1979.  Anybody else recognise the symptoms!!

valmarg

[scotch-mist]

Svea,
         Congratulations, I had no idea, when are you due?

If you pm me your address I will send you the sterile, unopened packets of wipes and unopened tubes of gel I have left. (I went overboard when buying them and had way to much )  ::)  ;D ;D ;D

Valmarg,
              Do you remember the binmen's strikes and the Rats too?  :o
I remember having to do my homework by candle light, having to keep my coat on in school because there was no heating , when the school had electricity to open. :o >:(

And then came Teflon Tony and his "New Labour"  what a joke!!!
What with the state of the hospitals and what the poor nurses have to put up with >:(

Oooops sorry, rant over :-[

[debster]

our ward pioneered the clean hands campaign with posters everywhere and the staff wearing badges the posters showed the real staff on the wards saying that its ok to ask if we have washed our hands or tell us to do so they also do a hand cleaning audit. we never know who is doing it could be staff from the ward visitor etc they mark who did and didnt etc tables are then posted for all to see.

scotch mist im sorry to hear that. challenge anyone it is your right.the funniest thing i ever saw was a student nurse who handed a consultant a hard surface wipe to clean his stethoscope after examining a patient, (she beat me to it) all the medical students, doctors etc held their breath, the consultant needed to be told what it was for but only once ha ha

[cocopops]

This topic is something that I really feel passionate about.  Five years ago I decided to that I would love to train to be a nurse.  I got a place in the local hospital and was really excited.  I eventually gave up as I thought I was a danger to the patients through lack of proper supervised training. 

To keep it brief my manual handling was how to transport loo rolls; the hoist (sic?) was out of battery power as the group before us had such a good time it ran out; the beds were cleaned with water (nothing chemical allowed); no-one was prepared on my first placement to show me walk the patients for fear of litigation (I had to ask my mum who is a physio); I was the only one who constantly washed my hands to the point I suffered from dermatitis and to top it off a non-qualified told me to remove a line to a syringe-driver to change the patient and I found out later that the bolus (sic?) could have killed him.

I really wish that I had finished the course but the lack of supervised training put a stop to that.

[theothermarg]

i am a cleaner who takes pride in my work! i have never cleaned hospitals but i have stayed in a dirty one i said it was and upset the cleaner. i have cleaned schools tho and believe me you don,t get time to be fussy. at the moment i clean a church youth club and i do the best i can it is being used constantly all day and evening all year round it is not easy cleaning with people around if you spill water and someone slips they can sue. i also clean council offices most of the staff are nice one or two look down their noses as if they are something special
we tend to make fun of them it,s a boring job we must brighten it up
i love to leave a place looking and smelling clean and a bit of feedback feels good
emplyers are always looking to cut costs and expect you to keep the same standards in less time.  it is all down to money! it might not be the case that these cleaners are lazy    marg