Saturday 16 May 2015

UHL-tr3

Caring at its best or not? 'Caring at its best' is the Univetsity Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust 'tag line'. It is one of the 'Values' and purpose.
My experience of the LRI Day Ward, Floor 2, Balmoral Building, unfortunately really did not demonstrate 'CARING AT ITs BEST'.

When you are ill, when you are lying there in a hospital bed, when you are willing that the next person to walk onto the Ward has a gun to shoot you. You are arguably feeling pretty low. You begin to feel HELPLESS and HOPELESS! And then you start to feel worthless and a burden and the cycle of negativity begins and continues, and continues to grow.

This is when the amazing Nursing Staff that I have had the privilege to be cared by make a HUGE difference. A kind word and some reassurance from both the Staff Nurses and the Health Care Assistants, makes all the difference in the world. The Nursing care therefore that I had previously experienced on Ward 25 (
see previous BLOG) and Ward 14 (Bay4) (See previous BLOG) had set my expectations of the standard of care at an ambitiously high level as the care had been of the absolute highest standard.
However, on the Day Ward
 I was made to feel that I was not really a priority, that I was an inconvenience; that I was somehow not ill, but was 'attention seeking' or 'making it up'. The Staff Nurse on the Day Ward demonstrated a real lack of understanding of what it feels like to be a patient, of how a patient might feel. There was absolutely no empathy. No comprehension of how scared or lonely a patient may feel. That they couldn't find anything wrong, not because there wasn't anything wrong, but because they couldn't FIND anything wrong.  In dealing with me the Staff Nurse made me feel like an unwelcome distraction from other things that needed doing. This made me feel even more wretched than I was already feeling.

The Staff Nurse really demonstrated what can only be described as rather an appalling attitude.
The Nursing and Care Staff I had previously encountered had been of such a high professional standard that they really were a credit to the LRI, UHL-tr, and the NHS. Therefore when I experienced Nursing Care that was 'somewhat lacking' shall we say, in comparison the stark contrast felt more wholly apparent. The Staff that I had previous encountered demonstrated Nursing as a 'VOCATION' rather than as a 'JOB'.  
They took a holistic approach to my care; both my physical and mental well-being was considered and they advocated and demonstrated Person-centred care.

However the care on the Day Ward was arguably a 'LACK OF CARING'. 'CARING AT ITs WORST'.  Measure A of the 'Principles of Nursing Practice' states that, "Nurses and nursing staff treat everyone in their care with dignity and humanity - they understand their individual needs, show compassion and sensitivity, and provide care in a way that respects all people equally."  
I do not believe that these principles were adhered to.
I was a patient, in hospital, and I felt ill. I didn't know what was wrong with me, the Doctors didn't know what was wrong with me. I was alone and scared in a hospital bed in my JimJams and I felt utterly and wholly vulnerable, scared and alone. All I knew is that I felt more terrible, more wretched than I had ever done in my life.
As I said earlier, as a patient laying in a hospital bed I felt HELPLESS and I felt HOPELESS. And that really is one of the worst feelings imaginable. The Staff Nurse on the Day Ward rather than helping to alleviate these fears with a smile, a kind word or the touch of a hand, she made me feel WORTHLESS which only added to the terrible spiral of negativity. The terrible spiral of negativity; fuelled by fear, a spiral that it is so easy for the patient to become embroiled in.

The Staff Nurse in question may have been having a 'Bad Day' may had received bad news in her private life that was completely devastating.  May herself have been feeling under the weather. She is only human. She may have been hung-over; I understand that, and it is unfair of me to judge. But, the way that I was made to feel was unacceptable, it really was wholly inappropriate; and tarnishes the perception of the whole LRI, UHL-tr and NHS, and I hate to think of other people experiencing the same LACK of Care at a time when arguably they need it the most.

The attitude of this one person tarnishes the amazing work and the hard work of her colleges and fellow Nurses of the LRI, UHL-tr and NHS.  And, I really don't believe that she embraced the 6 C's of Nursing:
Care - although she cared for me as part of her job, she didn't take care of me holistically, and certainly didn't go above or beyond in any means imaginable;

Compassion - she showed little or no compassion towards me, or towards how I was feeling;

Commitment
 - she wasn't committed to making me feel that I wasn't a burden, or making me feel that I wasn't a worthless, which was how I was feeling;

Communication - she failed to communicate with me in a way that put me at ease about my worries, and she failed to reassure;

Competence - although technically efficient, she showed a lack of understanding about my health needs simply by not understanding what was wrong with me. This is not necessarily her fault that she didn't know what was wrong as me, as I was undiagnosed and no one seems to know what was wrong with me, but 'no diagnosis' doesn't automatically mean there is 'nothing wrong', it just means they 'don't know' what is wrong;

Courage - this was not evidently shown as she did not demonstrate personal strength or vision.

I am very mindful that the Nursing and Care staff that had been responsible for my care had been of the absolute highest standard, and that the negative actions of one individual should not be allowed to overshadow that, and that my expectations of the LRI, UHL-tr and the NHS should remain at an ambitiously high level.