Hospital visiting all hours (please be kind 😂 )

I agree. Think set visiting times might be better for patients, staff and visitors on the whole.

Perhaps a section in the morning, afternoon and evening, but not unlimited.

No, I think you are right. Years ago ,when I had my children, visiting was strictly limited to certain times and no visitors except immediate family for the first couple of days. Much better. You don’t get rest in hospital these days, best to be 🏠 home.

That’s how it used to be in days gone by. An hour in the middle of the afternoon between lunch and dinner then an hour again at 7pm. Very sensible. Oh, and only 2 visitors to a bed.

It’s no longer practical for visitors to only be allowed to visit for a couple of hours a day because most people work long hours, and often there are very limited public transport options too. Most wards allow visiting from 2pm - 8.30pm. Visitors are also now encouraged to visit at mealtimes to assist with feeding patients who are unable to feed themselves because there aren’t enough staff to assist those who need it.

In every hospital I’ve worked in, the two visitors maximum per bed still applies though, and children only with express permission from the ward manager. It sounds as though the ward you were on were not enforcing the rules about visitors per bed, or visiting hours

I agree with you totally. Rest is a vital part of recovery and the last place you will get is in hospital. Not only would I impose very restricted visiting but I’d make noisy groups go to the day room.

I’d ban televisions too or at least insist they be watched with headphones. I was unlucky to be in hospital during a major international football competition. TV coverage seemed to be 24/7. This was NHS treatment being done in a private hospital so at least I had my own room but the noise from sets in adjoining rooms and from across the corridor was loud and continuous. In the evening, visitors were bring in pizza and beer and having football parties, crowds of people whooping and screaming. All I wanted to do was read a book or sleep but it was impossible. I'd go to the day room to get some respite but then a nurse would chase me down and say I had to go back to bed for obs.

I don't think you are being unreasonable at all. It would drive me insane to have people making a noise and generally stopping people from resting, and invading their privacy. I do understand that not everyone can visit at a given time, but there should be a happy medium. Maybe each patient limited to X visitors a day, or something?

I have often thought visiting time is ridiculous now. It's as if the patient is the last thought not allowed to rest. I entirely agree with you peace and quiet is best when you are poorly.

Mr C’s hospital stay last year had controlled visiting times. 11am until 7pm which seems a long while but at least gave patients and staff contained hours. No one allowed into a ward before the stroke of 11. Strictly two visitors per bed even when Mr C was in a single room. No children under 11 permitted without express permission from the ward sister. Staff could and did ask visitors to be quiet if noise levels rose. Mr C was happy with it, he was originally very unwell post surgery and as long as it was relatively quiet paid little attention to people around him.

No poppyjo you don’t need to chill more, in my view your thoughts are very valid. The last thing anyone needs when recovering in hospital is all day noise from visitors. Hospitals are noisy enough without external help.

You are not being unreasonable.
When DH was very ill in hospital he got very little peace. He was woken up for frequent blood tests. Too many visitors on the ward. One chap seemed to be running a business from the ward and was constantly on the phone in a loud voice or speaking to one of his colleagues who visited for a meeting.

I was in a cardiology ward last year with open visiting. However, as most patients were seriously ill and in single rooms, noise levels were kept to a minimum. Visiting ended at 9pm and was discouraged at mealtimes. Definitely no children running wild.

When I had my first heart attack a few years ago and very unwell, I was kept up half the night by the two ladies opposite, who talked in very loud voices until two in the morning! 😡
The visitors were no problem.

I’m torn as my DH has been in hospital many weeks since October last year. He is only happy when I’m with him and frets when I’m not. Problem is nurses though good are thin on the ground. 2 weeks ago 1 nurse for 7 patients. DH is a high need patient in pain and unable to help himself. Without someone with him most of the day he stands a high chance of falling.

What I do agree about is that there should be a maximum 2 visitors per bed. I have found that although it clearly states this on the way in, many wards it not enforcing it and as you say the noise levels are awful especially when there are several members of a visiting family all trying to talk to each other. We have often had 5 visitors at beds next to us and they talk fast and loudly for hours.

I agree, just two visitors per patient and I think two times a day. Mid afternoon for a couple of hours and then later after 6pm until 8pm.
People in hospital need to rest to recover.

It’s a free for all in our local University Hospital. Several visitors per patient, some sitting on the bed with no regard to spreading germs. Loud voices, smelly food and loud mobile phone conversations are the norm.
Definitely not the place for unwell people to recover!

I've only been in hospital briefly, a few times, for childbirth etc. - but always had to pay for a private room. I have autism and simply can't stand being stranded near random other people. The first time I went, aged four, to have my tonsils out, I ate the giant bar of chocolate my parents left (I was not allowed until 'after') in the night (as I was hungry) then put pillows in my place under the covers - and toured the whole hospital, doing 'hide no seek' exploring - and nobody even noticed.

Casdon

It’s no longer practical for visitors to only be allowed to visit for a couple of hours a day because most people work long hours, and often there are very limited public transport options too. Most wards allow visiting from 2pm - 8.30pm. Visitors are also now encouraged to visit at mealtimes to assist with feeding patients who are unable to feed themselves because there aren’t enough staff to assist those who need it.

In every hospital I’ve worked in, the two visitors maximum per bed still applies though, and children only with express permission from the ward manager. It sounds as though the ward you were on were not enforcing the rules about visitors per bed, or visiting hours

I think it's OK to have extended visiting hours because, as you say, some work long hours and can't visit at specified times. And certainly, helping patients at meal-times is a no-brainer.

But, the 2-persons per patient, and no kids running around is a MUST. I spent 4 months in hospital just before lockdown changed things completely, and sometimes the racket from the visitors - frequently four or five around a bed reached fever pitch. I remember a grand daughter visiting her grand mother getting hold of her walker and racing along the ward with it, banging into beds and trolleys... the parents too busy chatting to stop her and nurses ignoring the chaos.

Consideration must be given to the patients - some are quite poorly. On the ward I was on, a couple of elderly ladies needed assistance to go to the loo, and they had drains and drips to manipulate - running the gauntlet of, at one time (I counted!) at least 32 visitors... some sitting in chairs blocking the gangway to the toilets because there were so many visitors per bed. The din was incredible.

It cannot be a free for all like that!

I hate being in the hospital
Without someone there every moment they’re able. It’s lonely and miserable k and I can rest the far too many hours they force one to be without their people. I’ve always hated the “the nurses can help if you need it “
Mindset. Mostly because I’ve met so many nurses I found insufferable bullies

Foxgloveandroses

I agree, just two visitors per patient and I think two times a day. Mid afternoon for a couple of hours and then later after 6pm until 8pm.
People in hospital need to rest to recover.

That sounds like hell. Or a prison. To only be allowed to see people
A few hours a day , we specially when I’ll
Or injred and in need of help

I have been in hospital lot of times and much preferred set visiting times of 2 hours and only 2 visitors at a time. Also it was better for the nurses ,doctors and cleaners as they could get their work don't without visitors getting in the way. It's hard enough to get any rest in hospital let only visitors coming all hours and being noisy especially if you are seriously ill as I have been on acute wards with only 4 beds that's how ill we where. Plus been on a ward when a patient died during long visiting hours . She didn't have any visitors at the and the nurses had to content with upset visitors who saw she had died. Instead of looking after the deceased and patients.

I agree with you, Poppyjo about the noise of visitors and the extended visiting hours. This is partly due to the fact that so many people do not think it necessary to modulate their voices, or actually, don't know how to,The worst visitor was a male patient from another ward who was wheeled in at 6 o.clock in the evening and stayed until past 9.30pm, talking all the time in a very loud voice, mainly about himself; the patient he was visiting was exhausted when he left, as was I in the next bed. I suspect the nurses wanted respite from him in his own ward.
They were strict about only two visitors per bed, fortunately.

The staff like all day visiting because they don't have to do as much for their patients because their family and friends are there helping them instead. I know this for a fact because I spent all day looking after my husband when he was in hospital and one of the nurses told me that I was a godsend because if I wasn't there it would mean the nurses had more to do.

Well I'm an old fashion nurse who believes quality rest and sleep is essential to recovery so I would say a two hour visiting slot during the day and two in the evening is more than enough. Definitely two visitors to a bed, children and animals by special permission from the Charge Nurse/Ward Sister. This allows the nursing and medical staff a much better opportunity for good care during very testing times.

Hospitals are noisy places even without visitors: machines beeping sometimes unnecessarily. I know this because I asked if a beepy one near me needed to be on recently and the answer was no. The nurse switched it off. I suppose if you’re working in a machine noisy environment all day you begin not to notice.

The thought of being on display to all and sundry whilst feeling unwell enough to be in hospital is my idea of hell!!!
Bad enough for family and friends to see you like that, let alone lots of strangers at any time of the day.

All visitors at all times time must be controlled by the ward manager.
It's inefficient to allow kids to run around, or to allow visitors to use patients' toilets. Number of visitors should be restricted to two per bed, at any one time. Visitors must not sit on patients'beds especially the bed of somebody unknown to them (as happened to me).I'm horrified that patients cannot rest and sleep properly because of visitor disturbance.

Ill patients are unable to insist on their rights, and the ward manager 's duty is to take care of sick people in her charge, and support their welfare at all times.

There is no excuse for such bad treatment as the OP received. Maybe better write to a national newspaper, a good one, and the producer of Panorama, and the local health authority, and the hospital manager, and your member of parliament. The OP has my full support for what it is worth.