The nhs, pedalos , robot vacuum cleaners & zumba classes..

[adrea]

What departments treating patients would a nurse working with a heavy cold not be putting patients at risk ?

Very many patients attending hospital either as an inpatient or as an outpatient have compromised immune systems or chronic illnesses who could become seriously ill or even die if they caught even the common cold.

P.S., what are 'light duties' ? I have been a nurse for over 30 years and have still yet to find out what this means in the nursing profession.

 

The departments that allow people with a cold to enter, A&E being one example, departments that allow visitors without screening them for a cold. Which departments are isolated from the rest of the hospital, because if they are not then a cold will spread form visitors to staff to patients. Light duties differ from employer to employer, police, fire service, the armed forces all offer light duties to staff unable to carry out their normal duties, they find work for those not capable of doing their normal job, many private sector employers offer light duties to people deemed to ill to do their normal job.

[Daven]

The departments that allow people with a cold to enter, A&E being one example, departments that allow visitors without screening them for a cold. Which departments are isolated from the rest of the hospital, because if they are not then a cold will spread form visitors to staff to patients. Light duties differ from employer to employer, police, fire service, the armed forces all offer light duties to staff unable to carry out their normal duties, they find work for those not capable of doing their normal job, many private sector employers offer light duties to people deemed to ill to do their normal job.

 

You haven't answered my question.

What are 'light duties' in the nursing profession and where in a hospital may a nurse with a heavy cold work where she/he is not likely to infect a patient with potential for causing great harm to them ?

[adrea]

You haven't answered my question.

What are 'light duties' in the nursing profession and where in a hospital may a nurse with a heavy cold work where she/he is not likely to infect a patient with potential for causing great harm to them ?

 

Anything that your employer wants doing that you are capable of doing.

[Daven]

Anything that your employer wants doing that you are capable of doing.

 

Such as ? .

[adrea]

You haven't answered my question.

What are 'light duties' in the nursing profession and where in a hospital may a nurse with a heavy cold work where she/he is not likely to infect a patient with potential for causing great harm to them ?

 

Thousands of people with a cold visit hospitals every day, if someone not in isolation is going to catch a cold they are going to catch it whether you are there or not. How heavy your cold is is irrelevant because it is the same virus regardless of how it affect you personalty. Keeping a cold out of hospitals isn't possible unless you screen everyone for the virus, people in intensive care are usually isolated from everyone else so that is the one place you shouldn't be working.

 

---------- Post added 05-09-2015 at 12:59 ----------

 

Such as ? .

 

You claim to be a nurse so I am sure you must be capable of coming up with something that you would be capable of doing whilst you have a cold.

 

Someone with a very heavy cold walks into A&E with an injury, as a nurse would you be incapable of taking a look at them, accessing them and maybe even treating them?

Would you be incapable of carrying document from one department to another department if you had a cold?

[bigsexydoug]

I think you are missing the point.

A nurse working on ITU with a heavy cold who is in close proximity to an acutely ill and ventilated patient for a 12 hour shift will put that patient at significant risk of serious harm.

Most nurses are dedicated people and will go to work when maybe they shouldn't because staffing levels are borderline even on a good day and their colleagues will struggle to cope if they ring in sick.

You can't compare that situation to any other - it's unique.

 

How did I miss the point ? I said they shouldn't be in, because it's obvious they shouldn't put people at deaths door at risk, that has sod all to do with them being paid full pay for being ill , which is what the discussion is about, saving the nhs money and cutting down on sick days, not giving them a zumba class which if they want they can pay for themselves like everyone else !

[Daven]

How did I miss the point ? I said they shouldn't be in, because it's obvious they shouldn't put people at deaths door at risk, that has sod all to do with them being paid full pay for being ill , which is what the discussion is about, saving the nhs money and cutting down on sick days, not giving them a zumba class which if they want they can pay for themselves like everyone else !

 

If you read the posts carefully you will find that the discussion had moved on from the original debate at the time I posted to the subject of nurses specifically who work in a high dependency patient area not working when unwell themselves as this may cause harm to their patients.

Regards

[bigsexydoug]

If you read the posts carefully you will find that the discussion had moved on from the original debate at the time I posted to the subject of nurses specifically who work in a high dependency patient area not working when unwell themselves as this may cause harm to their patients.

Regards

 

I believe the poster was going to try and get a scenario across but hasn't reposted since.

I can see though if you had skipped to the last page it might look like that.

[tasha_78_1]

As a not long retired NHS employee ( in a position where I gave direct care to patients in a critical setting) can anyone tell me when employees such as me would be given the time to do these classes. During non-existent lunch breaks, which when they did exist are only 30 minutes? At the end of a shift, which should have been 8 hours, but often expanded to 9 or 10, and then I just wanted to go home, sleep and then return next day to do the same again? Sometimes, I didn`t even have time for a loo break! Sorry, but just not practical. It will never work. As for going to work when ill, we could have been half dying and still expected to come in to work

[bigsexydoug]

As a not long retired NHS employee ( in a position where I gave direct care to patients in a critical setting) can anyone tell me when employees such as me would be given the time to do these classes. During non-existent lunch breaks, which when they did exist are only 30 minutes? At the end of a shift, which should have been 8 hours, but often expanded to 9 or 10, and then I just wanted to go home, sleep and then return next day to do the same again? Sometimes, I didn`t even have time for a loo break! Sorry, but just not practical. It will never work. As for going to work when ill, we could have been half dying and still expected to come in to work

 

No idea when you are going to do them, and I don't doubt that you were genuinely working when ill, but would you rather see this money allocated to patient care instead of zumba classes ? Doesn't it just seem a daft idea when the nhs is crying out for investment ?