Colchester General patient had to clean her filthy ward (From Gazette)
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Colchester General patient had to clean her filthy ward
12:50am Saturday 4th July 2009 in
A SICK woman was so horrified by the lack of cleanliness on her hospital ward she cleaned it herself.
Tereza Tosbell claims the Colchester General Hospital ward where she was admitted with an abscess on her neck was “filthy”.
During her stay, she saw only one brief visit by a cleaner, who failed to touch the ward’s dusty curtains, dirty bedframes and messy floor, she says Miss Tosbell, 48, from Stanway, grabbed some antibacterial fluid from a dispenser by her bed and handtowels from the bathroom and started cleaning the four-bed bay herself.
She said: “It was shameful to see how sloppy the cleaners were while I was there.
“I was not prepared to put up with such conditions. I reckon in total, I was cleaning for about an hour.
Patient Tereza Tosbell
“I was not prepared to put up with such conditions. I reckon in total, I was cleaning for about an hour.
“I could hardly move my neck because of the abscess behind my left ear and my left hand was bruised from the cannula they inserted in my arm, but I had to do something.
“The nurses and other staff saw what I was doing, but just left me to get on with it.”
Miss Tosbell said her 22-year-old student son, Liam, came to see her on the first night of her stay, June 15.
She said: “The first thing he asked me was, ‘Have you seen how filthy the lift is?’ Then he complained about the room I was in.
“He’s a typical university student, so coming from him it must have been bad.”
Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust has invited Miss Tosbell to get in touch to explain what she had seen.
Hospital spokesman Mark Prentice said: “In the annual health check ratings for 2007/08, we scored maximum marks for safety and cleanliness and we have also been praised for our very low levels of infections such as clostridium difficile and MRSA.
“One of our senior matrons is dedicated two days a week looking at to ways of improving things for patients.
“We would ask Miss Tosbell to contact us so that we can look at her experience in more detail.”
Comments(14)
hughie-s
says...
7:43pm Fri 3 Jul 09
Surprised they haven't charged her with theft and does disturbing the dust count as criminal damage?
cavillas
says...
7:51pm Fri 3 Jul 09
crosby
says...
10:28pm Fri 3 Jul 09
Andy Hamilton
says...
10:48pm Fri 3 Jul 09
Unfortunately the government created the problem when the original supervisory post of matron was removed and contract staff brought in. Originally her word was law and the ward inspection was very thorough.
Now the cleaners do what they can in the time they are given and the ward manager has no control over them. So if extra cleaning is needed - tough.
It has all become a bureaucratic nightmare. Loads of money has gone into the NHS and most seems to have been spent on the ever expanding management ranks. Patients are more worried about getting a nasty hospital bug than the operation itself.
Juno
says...
8:37am Sat 4 Jul 09
All hospitals therefore being "spotless", kind and "concerned" and "listening", how on earth do we have bugs of all kinds invading the wards?
The fact that one has had a carefree holiday from home in a ward should not make in mandatory to deny others' concerns.
Complaints are not listened to by the health authorities and are turned around against the complainant. Don't make it worse by weighing in with your praise for every health facility in creation.
Yes, bring back Matron!
Also, nurses should stop saying "it's not my job" and take an interest in the environment of their patients. They should be endeavouring to help the healing process, not defending the dirt and neglect so often seen, while saying "it's not part of my job".
If you had a good experience, then lucky old you!
Maybe we should limit numbers of visitors as in the past, and really enforce this rule. Limiting the visiting hours would also be a good idea if it were not for the fact that these visitors are useful in many ways, ie getting bed bottles etc to the patients, helping them to eat something, watching over them and answering their bells when nobody else does. I have seen many times that visitors attend not only to their nearest and dearest, but to others on the bay.
If we had the old regime of many years ago, plus the drugs and treatments now available, nobody need ever fear going into hospital. We could then return to an hour's visiting at a time, patients neatly tucked up in a very clean bed, and there could be rest, peace and quiet in between.
By the way, who has spent a quiet night in hospital recently? Not many, I would guess. It might be easier to go and sleep at a Motorway Halt!
moonwatcher
says...
11:30am Sat 4 Jul 09
gabe
says...
2:24pm Sat 4 Jul 09
Clacton Resident
says...
4:34pm Sun 5 Jul 09
However, although the ward was certainly cleaner than it was during my last stay a few years ago, the sight of blood spatters up the wall next to my bed was not a pleasant sight and I do think that cleaning could be more thorough.
Of equal/or even more concern, was the quality and edibility of the food which is served to patients. The only meal which could be considered remotely edible was breakfast as not too much damage could be inflicted on toast and cereal, even this did not arrive until nearly 10:00 am on a couple of mornings due to unavilability of staff.
However I had to admit defeat when trying to eat lunch or dinner. The food tasted revolting and I was shocked to find that not once was a piece of fresh fruit available at mealtimes.
How on earth can a hospital expect it's patients to recuperate more speedily if the patient is unable to eat a decent meal due to the poor standards of cooking and menus.
The fact that the ward was sending out orders for baked potatos to an external source just so that they could get their patients to eat something was sufficient testement to the fact that CGH needs to radically overhaul it's meal provision to patients.
However, I will admit that I pushed to get out of hospital as quickly as possible simply so that I could have a decent meal, and my goodness, when I got home, a fresh apple never tasted so good.
cavillas
says...
5:42pm Sun 5 Jul 09
dave from lawford
says...
12:09am Mon 6 Jul 09
Shadow Demon
says...
8:07am Mon 6 Jul 09
crosby wrote:Exactly this, If it was such an issue surely she should have raised it with senior staff on the ward rather than run to the local paper.
Frankly I think this is rubbish. This woman is just a publicity seeker and the Gazette fell for it.
Clacton Resident
says...
12:34pm Mon 6 Jul 09
cavillas wrote:While I understand Cavillas view, I think the point here is being missed.
I can't eat certain fruits because of an ongoing problem. No hospital is not and should not be considered a hotel or rest from home. Hospital is a plcae of necessity for those who have to attend. Given the budgets available, the food is rerasonably balanced although not the sort of thing you would eat in a hotel or at home, indeed why should it be. You are in hospital for as short a time as possible to be treated (for free by the way) and then to go home cured.
With elderly and ill patients in the wards, they need to gain strength from edible food in order to recover and get out as soon as possible.
If the food tastes inedible then they will not wish to eat it and this will delay their recovery.
Edible food does not have to mean expensive food, it does mean that food should not be over salted, and heavily flavoured with gravy thickening agents and other chemical additives or served with vegetables which have been cooked to a complete mush.
Decent and tasty food is also part of the recovery treatment, and certainly I was not expecting hotel quality food but simple, decent and freshly cooked food.
While I appreciate that Cavillas may not be able to eat fresh fruit, others can, and as the government is constantly extolling the virtues of our "5 a day" it seems strange to me that this mantra is not followed in the kitchens of the CGH.
Pause
says...
10:56pm Tue 7 Jul 09
om/watch?v=j0OJYQRNp
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crazy comments says...
7:27pm Fri 3 Jul 09