DOGS should not be allowed on hospital wards.

[angel22]

Not everyone likes dogs. I don't like dogs. A dog around me when I wasn't feeling well would add to my stress not alleviate it.

 

Fair enough. As I said before, nobody would try and make you interact with the dog. Just ignore it and it won't bother you.

 

But just because you don't like dogs doesn't mean they shouldn't be allowed on the ward. I can't stand children but it wouldn't be fair of me to expect other patients not to have children visit them if we were on a hospital ward together.

[JFKvsNixon]

As an ex nurse, I have seen the slow rise of visitors from : 2 people to a bed , then 3 or 4 people to a bed , then people and children to a bed, to Asian families bringing curries in cartons to a bed and now I read here that they are allowing dogs onto wards ?? It's no wonder there is a rise of MRSA in hospitals.!! This infection was unheard of when I was nursing.

 

Maybe you need to reed up on MRSA and it's causes, especially the link between the over use of antibiotics in healthcare and our food chain?

[Guest]

Im sick of having to do slaloms around the piles of dog muck that people with their guide dogs leave behind in Asda

 

That sounds like fun. Which ASDA is it?

[PeteM01]

Because dogs carry that infection right?

 

Actually, yes: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2870875/

 

Especially dogs owned by healthcare workers...

[Cyclone]

That suggests that healthcare workers are the carriers and are infecting dogs with it... Not the other way around.

[hyper]

So just to be clear .... and it's hypothectical....

I'm in hospital, feeling down and needing mental therapy. Dogs and/or children don't do it for me, but dismantling a motorbike engine on my lap would work wonders. I'll even provide the sheets so there is no exceptional laundry problems. Should this be allowed?

[PeteM01]

That suggests that healthcare workers are the carriers and are infecting dogs with it... Not the other way around.

 

And then the dogs also become carriers, do you see?

 

---------- Post added 15-03-2016 at 11:11 ----------

 

So just to be clear .... and it's hypothectical....

I'm in hospital, feeling down and needing mental therapy. Dogs and/or children don't do it for me, but dismantling a motorbike engine on my lap would work wonders. I'll even provide the sheets so there is no exceptional laundry problems. Should this be allowed?

 

Well, no MRSA risk there!

[Solomon1]

Steady, pattricia. I've not seen any evidence that MRSA can be spread by dogs, nor indeed curries. More likely to be the chronic overuse of antibiotics and poor infection control by nurses.

 

I fully support dogs being allowed on to wards and into care homes to bring comfort to the patients /residents

 

Me too

 

Very sensible post

 

(Sorry Pattie-cakes )

[Hogg]

Fancy taking the time to be curmudgeonly about a therapy dog.

[sgtkate]

So just to be clear .... and it's hypothectical....

I'm in hospital, feeling down and needing mental therapy. Dogs and/or children don't do it for me, but dismantling a motorbike engine on my lap would work wonders. I'll even provide the sheets so there is no exceptional laundry problems. Should this be allowed?

 

If the facilities could safely be provided and no inconvenience caused to other patients or your own recovery then I'd have no problems with this at all. I know you were at least half joking but it's a fair point and I do think a lot more could be done to keep patients' minds working if not their bodies. How many wards are full of people just lying semi-catatonic on a bed all day when they are able to get up and about or at least do something to work their brains.