NHS nursing staff - patient manual handling policy

[Kiltie]

My elderly father is in hospital and not in great shape.

He is in a room with another bloke and there is a WC.

He has difficulty standing / walking. He also has a reluctance to ask the nursing staff for help in getting to the toilet.

He's telling me stories about the nurses saying they're "not allowed" to help him out of bed etc.

I think he's spinning me a line through pride and embarassment.

He's waiting until visiting times to get me or my brother to help him up and it's not a great situation.

I'm going to speak to the nursing staff about this tomorrow.

In the meantime, I wondered if anyone knew what nurses are / aren't allowed to do in terms of manual handling when helping patients in and out of bed.

I did have a look for some policy or protocol but failed.

The hospital is in Scotland if that makes a difference.

Thanks.

[andy118run]

Not sure if there is an all embracing national policy you can just look up on line. There certainly has to be local manual handling policy, probably based on some national guidelines.

As a nurse, I would decline to physically assist someone out of bed/off the floor/out of a chair or similar as it would be against policy - if I did my back in I would be stuffed. Likewise, if the patient was to fall while doing this I would also be in trouble.

However, it's not rocket science - if you are working with people with mobility problems then there should be hoists, standing aids, and other such mobility aids. Ask the staff what they are using - it's clearly not acceptable just to leave someone in bed until you or arrive to help them.

[Kiltie]

Thanks Andy.

Pretty straightforward and obvious when you put it like that.

I'm afraid I was a bit frustrated and worried when I posted that yesterday evening.

Thanks again.

[Foppo]

andy118run said:

Not sure if there is an all embracing national policy you can just look up on line. There certainly has to be local manual handling policy, probably based on some national guidelines.

As a nurse, I would decline to physically assist someone out of bed/off the floor/out of a chair or similar as it would be against policy - if I did my back in I would be stuffed. Likewise, if the patient was to fall while doing this I would also be in trouble.

However, it's not rocket science - if you are working with people with mobility problems then there should be hoists, standing aids, and other such mobility aids. Ask the staff what they are using - it's clearly not acceptable just to leave someone in bed until you or arrive to help them.

I have never heard of a nurse not helping a patient out of bed or out of a chair when needed.Is this a new policy?

[stuartmmcfc]

I had a nurse refuse to help me about 10 years ago. No explanation or advice was given but I think H&S was at the bottom of it,
In hindsight she was probably right but an explanation would have been nice

[Foppo]

[quote=stuartmmcfc]I had a nurse refuse to help me about 10 years ago. No explanation or advice was given but I think H&S was at the bottom of it,
In hindsight she was probably right but an explanation would have been nice[/quot


You must have been unlucky with the nurse or hospital.Never had any problems in hospital with any help from a nurse myself or any other patients I was with.Like to know which hospital Andy works for if that is the rule not helping a patient when needed.

[stuartmmcfc]

Foppo]tuartmmcfc said:

I had a nurse refuse to help me about 10 years ago. No explanation or advice was given but I think H&S was at the bottom of it,
In hindsight she was probably right but an explanation would have been nice[/quot


You must have been unlucky with the nurse or hospital.Never had any problems in hospital with any help from a nurse myself or any other patients I was with.Like to know which hospital Andy works for if that is the rule not helping a patient when needed.

Only 1 nurse refused, the rest had no problem. Possibly the difference was that she was new to the ward and wasn't famiar with my medical situation while the other nurses has been on duty for some time and knew mobility wasn't really my issue once I was out of bed.
Difficult to sit up with cracked ribs

[tim2100]

Fairly standard for hospitals to not handle patients at all.

As it is said above if they drop a patient the staff is liable. If the patient causes the staff member to pull back then they lose their career

[Kiltie]

stuartmmcfc said:

I had a nurse refuse to help me about 10 years ago. No explanation or advice was given but I think H&S was at the bottom of it,
In hindsight she was probably right but an explanation would have been nice

She likely thought that such a "very pleasant gentleman" wouldn't need help.

[stuartmmcfc]

Kiltie said:

She likely thought that such a "very pleasant gentleman" wouldn't need help.

[Djw John]

andy118run said:

Not sure if there is an all embracing national policy you can just look up on line. There certainly has to be local manual handling policy, probably based on some national guidelines.

As a nurse, I would decline to physically assist someone out of bed/off the floor/out of a chair or similar as it would be against policy - if I did my back in I would be stuffed. Likewise, if the patient was to fall while doing this I would also be in trouble.

However, it's not rocket science - if you are working with people with mobility problems then there should be hoists, standing aids, and other such mobility aids. Ask the staff what they are using - it's clearly not acceptable just to leave someone in bed until you or arrive to help them.

This exactly.

[andy118run]

stuartmmcfc said:

Only 1 nurse refused, the rest had no problem. Possibly the difference was that she was new to the ward and wasn't famiar with my medical situation while the other nurses has been on duty for some time and knew mobility wasn't really my issue once I was out of bed.
Difficult to sit up with cracked ribs

In reality most nursing staff do employ a bit of common sense, despite what the policy might say - there's quite a difference lending a discreet hand or arm to someone with a broken rib so that they can sit up in bed, compared with, for example, a 20 stone man who has by some means ended up on the floor and you need to find a way of getting him up.