A Nurse’s Story--Career "nipped in the bud

It's not only patients that get screwed by the NHS.

This a salutary tale from a former Nurse-"I am not sure how to post so here is my story TO POST AND I AM QUITE HAPPY TO NAME NAMES AND THE TRUST."


1 ) In 2005 I was working as senior night sister on community. I worked with a nursing auxiliary. Around 6 am we were called to a terminally ill lady, These are the main points of the story a briefly and as clearly as possible.Although accusations had been levelled at night nurses before,in other situations, many of a serious nature involving clinical mistakes, no-one was treated as I was, because I refused to "repent" and agree with the letter’s bizarre version of events. Negative information concerning this family came to me afterwards.

2)The patient, the family’s mother was sleeping peacefully on the settee. I decided not to move her or otherwise disturb her, until a bed could be procured by the day staff, but I checked her over very carefully and spoke to her.She opened her eyes but went back to sleep. In my opinion she was not in discomfort or on the point of death, or in need to any intervention.

3) Present in the room were, as far as I recall, three able bodied men who could have carried the patient upstairs or a bed downstairs, the patient’s daughter, the complainant) the patient’s husband and their daughter in law, a nurse who, I later discovered, was also a member of the local PCT .

4) Only the daughter in law would respond to my, and my auxiliaries, repeated attempts at discussion regarding their problems, anxieties, our advice etc. She seemed to be in agreement with our suggestion not to disturb the patient until a bed could be obtained by the day staff , so we left.

5) Although the day staff were immediately alerted, and warned by me that this family had behaved in a hostile and uncommunicative way, it was too late because as soon as we had left they rang 999 to get their mother into hospital--even though I had offered to do this on their behalf earlier. They blamed myself and my auxiliary for being "useless etc." This all came out in a long abusive and defamatory letter signed by the daughter alone--not the rest of the family.

6) My managers tried to get me to admit to not doing my job right but they did not understand what it is like to be a district nurse, a nurse, a night nurse or caring for the terminally ill. The wanted me to apologise to the family which I refused to do. One silly young manager said I should be "nipped in the bud." ( Very insulting documents, later obtained by me, with ill-informed comments about me by senior managers , whom most of them had never met me ) . I knew by then that the family had promised the father to nurse their mother at home but obviously they could not manage, but did not want to admit this to him. She died a week later. I had an attack of a heart condition which had been managed for 15 years without symptoms and ended up in hospital.

7) I had a new young inexperienced line manager involved in this bullying so I said I wanted to be moved off nights. I refused to work on nights under his management. The next manager up said I had to have three months "support and mentorship" on days--but this never happened anyway, I was just " let loose on the public" on days. This manager said I had not " a leg to stand on" as it was terminal care and too"sensitive." No one would take "my side."

8)The manager told me she was not allowed to interview the daughter in law for her version of events, (why?) and I found out after I had left that they had re-interviewed my auxiliary and that she had changed her story and agreed with the letter. The complainant then took her name off the complaint and said it was just me she was complaining about, though my colleague was equally defamed in the original letter.

I went off sick until my retirement date arrived and despite innumerable meetings got nowhere with my case. The Royal College of Nursing took managements part.




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