Our local hospital is a 'dump'.............

[EireCara]

*There was a letter in my local newspaper recently, from an American lady, who had become ill while on holiday in Kilkenny. She said she had been looked after ok, but finished by saying, that our 'local' hospital was like staying in a ''hostel'' as apposed to a ''hotel''. I think she described it very well. In fact she probably was being ''too kind''. 8-/

 

[Lisa in Katy]

As has been mentioned before, Americans are quite spoiled when it comes to hospital rooms. There are a few in Houston that have been compared to 5-star hotels, complete with chefs. This is one of those things that will be cut if we go to a universal health plan because hospitals currently make tons of money and might not make so much in a universal system. I'm not saying that Americans can't handle it, but I don't even want to think about the yelling and screaming that will occur!

 

[Tbone]

Do not take it personally. Just remember that people like to complain.

 

[sheridan07]

I would love to visit your lovely country! I am Irish-American and love to visit the places my great grandparents came from.It looks so beautiful.

 

[hensylee]

I know how glad and proud of your dump you are. I am always thankful that we have our very own dump a few miles away from my house. the dumpster people are so caring and loving.

 

[netmiff]

As has been mentioned before, Americans are quite spoiled when it comes to hospital rooms. There are a few in Houston that have been compared to 5-star hotels, complete with chefs.

That's one of the reasons you pay huge insurance premiums !

 

[mattwisconsin]

There are just different standards in different countries. I have not spent much time there, but this my understanding of the public hospitals in Greece. There is an overarching theme of the family caring for people. you can pay to hire a private nurse but much of the care related to comfort that we take for granted in this country is actually provided by the family who keeps watch over the patient. They still do all of the medical things but not those related to comfort.

 

[pamela]

When we lived overseas I had the dubious pleasure of staying in a local hospital for over 8 days longer than I would have, had my surgery been performed at the Canadian Forces Hospital in Lahr, Germany.

It wasn't so much that the quality was missing but that for a foreigner without extended family to bring food and wine and to freshen my linens, these were some things I did without. (Seriously, they had a party room on each floor... we were even encouraged to participate in the "dirty Thursday" festivities before Lent. I don't want to imagine the carrying-ons between staff and patients or whatevers.)

It's not so much that I had higher standards but I did have higher expectations. I stayed 11 days until my stitches were removed and they were sure I wasn't harbouring a staph infection. I could only think that hospital induced infection would be less likely if they'd simply let you go home. That's where my philosophy fell down I guess. I was wondering what kind of drugs the pregnant moms smoked when they refused to be transported to the hospital in Lahr from Baden, I'm thinking they'd have been happy to be in a Canadian Hospital rather than to be treated as a second hand laundry service nearby if they'd only known what it would be like before being admitted for an emergent delivery.

Sorry, I hated my time in hospital.

 

[lcwhitney]

If I am ill I don't need atmosphere! All I need is A clean room descent food and proper nursing care regardless of where I am.
Lettitia

 

[tex]

Well all i can say is my local hospital is a dump, here are some examples of what went on when i went in to have my surgery. The cleaning is now done by agency staff they used the same mop for the toilets as well as the wards, the tables that go over your bed to eat your meals on were never cleaned by the cleaners my family and i cleaned mine, we were told not to take towels into hospital as they carry infection so i had to use theirs, i was given one, one day and it was covered in poo, so hence my hubby then brought my own in, this is just a few of the things. We made a formal complaint while i was in along with many other people. I was discharged 9 days after my surgery, only to be readmitted 4 days later with MRSA along with another 3 people who had been in the same ward as me before all with MRSA. I had no choice as to which hospital i went in it all goes on where you live in the UK. Yes i could of picked one of the fab private hospitals but i didnt have insurance. But i forgot to say that when i was readmitted things had changed a bit tables were been wiped, cleaners using different mops for different rooms, but it was to late for me i already had the infection, but hopefully it will stop other people suffering like i did.
Jane

 

[Lisa in Katy]

Jane - That is disgusting. Isn't there an organization that oversees such things? We have JCAHO here, and when they come in, if they find one cigarette butt in an area classified as non-smoking or outside of the receptacle in the smoking area, it will get written up. Many of their visits are planned, but they also do drop-ins. I think I would have risked it and stayed home the second time around! MRSA is bad in all hospitals, but I haven't heard of 4 people even from one floor having to be readmitted. How many were in the ward - or in other words, what % are we talking about? I have been a patient in 4 hospitals, and stayed with family in countless others, many of them quite small and rural and none have been anywhere near what you are talking about. In fact, I wouldn't even classify them as messy, much less a dump.

 

[netmiff]

I have been in hospital in Scotland (1975), France(1985) and Canada(2007), and have never encountered anything like that - ugh !

Scotland : the hospital was old, built in the Victorian era, with about 24 beds in a ward, along with the nurses' station. I stayed there 10 days or so until the stitches were out. It may have been old, but the nurses were great, and it was NOT dirty at all. Yeah, family doctor referred me, I went where I was told, maybe because I was only 19 at the time and didn't know any better.

France : hospital was new, this is where I first heard about my heart murmur. I was in a two-bed room, they only kept me overnight; I did not wake up (think I may have mentioned before that if it says "caution, may cause drowsiness", I am out cold for 24 hours!) Went back a week or so later and had stitches removed. I had actually gone to a free foot clinic, I had a cyst between my big toe and the next one, and it had to be removed under general anaesthetic. As a resident, I didn't pay any special insurance, and can't even remember if anything was deducted from payroll. Public health system.

Canada : only had the one surgery, hospital is old, but the cardiac unit has all been replaced/revamped/rebuilt from time to time. The step-down unit was older, 4 beds in the room and one washroom. Have also spent some time in ER recently in my local hospital - mainly in a demerol-induced haze! The wait time was horrible, once it was 12 hours, no food, no drink etc. But that is our local hospital here in St. Catharines, and the less said about that place the better - shortage of staff, nursing and otherwise, but the ones that are left do wonderfully well with what they have.

 

[tex]

There were 6 of us on the ward, 3 of us returning with MRSA and 1 that didnt even make it home. When i was re-admitted i was to poorly to argue about which hospital the ambulance took me too. The districts nurses who sent me back in said if they hadnt come till the next day it might have been to late for me, i was put on IV antibiotics for 9 days. When i was re-admitted things had started to change, bathrooms had been re-decorated and the grills on the bottom of bathroom doors had been replaced, i didnt tell you that these were dirty full of dust and dirt. shower curtains had been repalced were no longer mouldy ones. When we made the formal complaint along with others we were told if nobody tells us we dont about whats going on in the wards.
The ER department is awful to drunks fast asleep on chairs or abusing the staff, people high on drugs asking everybody for cigs and drugs, its also used as a short for the students who campus is close by. As for cig butts you find them all over yes there are smoking shelters, but thats seem to make no difference as to where people smoke. They have security but does not seem to make a great difference.
But the one good thing to come out of it was the surgeon who operated on me is one of the best in this field.
I have said that when i have my op to have my sterum re-wired i am not going back into that hospital still waiting to hear if i can go to the other hospital which is just out of my catchment area, so fingers crossed for me.

 

[BDMc]

One of the hospitals I frequented with my parents over the past14 years, Charlton Memorial in Fall River, used to be one of my favorites. It was clean, and well staffed when we started going there. I was shocked by how much it has gone down hill during my mothers last two hospitalizations there. It is not clean, the staff has many more incompetent members, and they actually made her stay much longer with their incompetence! She still wasn't well when discharged, but we didn't complain because we wanted her out of there. I have seen outrageous things at almost every hospital in the metro Boston area, so I know bad things can happen anywhere, but ignoring basic sanitation/hygiene is inexcusable. It was no surprise to me that Beth Israel Deaconess just got cited for this failure. These failures drive up the cost of medical care tremendously, and are not even considered as a means to control said costs. A very sad state of affairs.

 

[EireCara]

I have also seen outrageous things in my local hospital. I live in dread of having to go there, and I know there are times (like now) that I should go but I dont, and probably put up with way too much in order not to. We have beautiful private hospitals that are like hotels here also. Unfortunately I can only look on.

 

[BDMc]

It drives me crazy that in this day and age, we don't have safe care for everyone. They say that medical mistakes are the fourth largest killer in the US (source: Good Morning America today). Go in anyway if your intuition tells you to. Sending a hug and love, Brian

 

[EireCara]

*Thank you, Brian.*