Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

My Beloved wife says, that when she married me-- ( I was 47 ) I had a lovely 6 pack --- now it is contained in a crate !
Can I claim DEEEESCRIMINATION ?
To be serious, for a moment ---
I once sat on an Adoption Board, At that time we were concerned with the future of the Children.
It seems to me, that all the present "Guidelines" are going in the wrong direction. It appears that nowadays, One is required not to offend the prospective "Adopter"
I am very glad that I nolonger have the responsibility.!

englishangel wrote:Having said that I did read a report that in one maternity unit the doors were being widened to accommodate obese mothers. Now as any maternity ward upgraded in the last 30 odd years was built so that the beds could be moved in and out easily the mind boggles.

Mary; everything is relative. I was in the Southampton Chest hospital in the early 1960's when the doors would take 4 people abreast - a bed and people on either side. OTOH I was in a hospital at the bottom of College Lane (somehow I think you know it!) in the late 1960's when the doors were so narrow you couldn't flee the surgeon's cutlass.

Although the report might have been referring specificaly to gravidae, it is a problem throughout the country - rail stations, buses, trains, offices, pubs ....... In the case of hospitals the width of doors in new builds seems to depend solely on the planners.
In a local "regional seat of excellence) for cancers when they rebuilt the hospital (it reopened 2 years ago) they forgot to lead-line the rooms for giving radiotherapy and they forgot to get the specified wards up to the required standards to give chemotherapy so that licence was also refused. It only takes a chief executive a few moments to specify 30 inch doorways and cause mayhem. That CEO might get another job in the NHS - but nothing higher than a loo cleaner, so they say.

I think the guidelines on new build hospitals specify that patients are moved on beds, rather than onto a trolley, then onto a bed, certainly the hospital I was commissioning officer of in 1988 had doors that wide.

Don't know about the lead-lined rooms. Often these commissioning teams seem to be 'jobs for the boys (or girls)' without anyone who actually has any experience.

When I was appointed to the above post the Works director was heard to mutter "What does a bl**dy nurse know about it?"

I turned round and said
"a) I am not a bl**dy nurse I am a bl**dy midwife and this IS a maternity unit and b) have YOU ever commissioned a hospital?"

When he admitted he hadn't I said that I knew as much about it as he did then.

When the place opened on time and under budget he sent me a bouquet worthy of Elton John with a card saying "the bl**dy midwife did well".

We had 2 glitches. The 'communications' director informed BT the old place was closing a week before it did and the phone lines were cut and the Bacteriologist came in the day before we opened and said that she needed to swab all the 'clean' areas and they couldn't be used until she gave the all clear, despite every department being circulated asking if there was anything they needed to do/have done before we opened. She was just miffed that she wasn't on the "Team". We had procedures in place to cover this eventuallity and it put her nose right out of joint when we opened as planned.

Wish someone as sensible as you had been commissioning our new local hospital, Mary. I am not sure how long the overrun is now, the last I heard was that outflow for foul waste was working as an inflow. We continue to wait - the previous cottage hospital was sold last year and much of its equipment has already gone to Africa.

I agree with the Post of "English Angel" The Views of "Users" are very often ignored,
I was, once a director of an NHS Trust for the Mentally Ill. When visiting one of our Hospitals, I was shown a new Wing, which had been built. Being an Ex-Soldier, I wanted to inspect the Toilets, and was duly shown this Edifice.
The Toilet had been placed in the centre of a wall, too far for me to rech either the Toilet Roll, or the bar to assist the elderly to rise ! I tried both, and I am a big feller !
Now, I should explain, that this Hospital was for the Elderly and Confused. I may be the first, but not the second and I was aghast at the stupidity of the arrangement. I therefore enquired of the Ward Sister, who was accompanying me, " What Idiot designed this and what Builder constructed it ?" I was informed that this was the way it had been drawn, in the Plans.
Fortunately, I was in the position to demand thet the Architect visit the Hospital, in my presence !
Surprise surprise, when he did the same "Dry Run" the Toilet was re-located !
In some way, I blame the Ward Sister, who should have objected when the place was being built, it wasn't something which should have got through, in the first place !

I wasn't in on the 'ground floor' as the place was built to standard spec. The architect and builder were very good, though a couple of things were telling. A load of stuff arrived and the builder wondered what it was for, I said it was mulch for the garden (my Dad was a horticulturalist) and he poo=pooed that (pun intended) three days later he had to come and admit I was correct. I did the snagging with the architect, he started at the top and I started at the bottom, and we did it separately. When we had finished he had 27 items on his list and I had 53, and he was the professional!.

This was a 54 bed maternity unit attached to DGH not the main building.