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When not in hospital, we suggest people need mental stimulation, exercise, good food and daylight to stay healthy and sane. None of these things are possible wh

When not in hospital, we suggest people need mental stimulation, exercise, good food and daylight to stay healthy and sane. None of these things are possible when you're convalescing. Don't get me wrong, I'm _very_ thankful for the fact I still have both my legs, but staying sane is extremely difficult. Half of the bays on my ward literally had no windows. There were people around me that hadn't seen daylight in over a month. There wasn't any publicly accessible free WiFi, the TVs were costing over £40/week. There's no library, no social spaces and absolutely nothing to do. Even the staff are too busy to have a conversation with. You had two meals served 6 hours apart. It wasn't awful but certainly wasn't great. Even buying and eating a lot of my own food left me loosing a tonne of weight. And not a single accessible gym or swimming pool even close. Being able to get healthy and fit seems like a no-brainer. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of good, but I find it impossible to believe this isn't causing more problems and actually increasing recovery times costing them more money over-all.

merpnderp 7y ago
Where is this? In the US I’ve never seen a hospital without windows and free tv. Although gyms are different, likely because if you are healthy enough to hit the gym you are healthy enough to go home. Although one thing that always stood out is no one is expected to sleep in a hospital. A nurse or doctor will likely be in every few hours doing something to wake you up. And in between there will always be noise from the hall.
- mhh__ 7y ago
  Doesn't sound out of place for some NHS hospitals
  - rolltiide 7y ago
    Can you shed insight on why the acceptance of the NHS is like a religion or seemingly tied to national identity so much? Modification or criticism of NHS seems like an off limits topic with UK residents, and it just seems like a weird topic to be off limits so I don't really understand
    - astonex 7y ago
      I don't think that's true. What we don't like is any talk of Americanising the NHS.
      - mhh__ 7y ago
        > What we don't like is any talk of Americanising the NHS The difficulty is that "Americanisation" is this catch all term (Along with Neoliberalism etc.) that doesn't have a defined meaning, but is wide enough to beat any non-left wing solution into the ground. I don't think anyone actually wants the NHS to be more american, but most european healthcare systems have more in common with American one's than ours to some degree (Excluding universality, which it obviously lacks) Imagine if the Orange Book was released now, with it's plans to introduce insurance to the NHS: I can picture the momentum activists screaming now. https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2014/06/20/nhs-one-best-developed-world https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2014/0... for example (old poll but still usable) 22% of people say the NHS is the best healthcare system in the world when it clearly isn't when measured by various measures most notably cancer outcomes which are pretty bad compared to some countries https://academic.oup.com/bmb/article/110/1/5/278036 https://academic.oup.com/bmb/article/110/1/5/278036
    - trampypizza 7y ago
      I think it is partially due to the fact that the establishment of the NHS has always been framed as a monumental act. It's creation is seen as part of the country's recovery after WW2, and has been used as a political tool in almost every General Election since 1945. I think people see it as a source of national pride as well (there's some irony in this considering the significant role played by immigrants in the service). Certainly from my point of view, Britain has an extremely questionable history, and for me it feels wrong to have a sense of national pride about the British Empire, or British Military Might etc. However, the NHS is a remarkable organisation which is inherently tied to an ideology and a movement which I believe in, so I am comfortable with feeling proud of it. I do think that it needs to be open to criticism, though. There are issues in the NHS and I'm sure there are problems with the way that National Insurance works (our way of paying for the NHS). I have unfortunately had a lot of exposure to the NHS and the way some things work is frustrating. For example, I am unable to get an insulin pump to treat my Diabetes because there are national requirements that I do not meet. I undertstand why this is in place (budget cuts) but that doesn't stop it from being frustrating - I'd essentially have to sabotage my condition to the point where my control was so bad that I would qualify for a pump. Like the other commenter said, I think what most people hear when people talk of reforming the NHS is an Americanisation of the NHS, and they believe this is inherently bad. Rightly or wrongly, that is the impression that people get. It's a shame because I think it shuts down all talk of reformation, despite the fact that there are other European countries which also have socialised healthcare but operate in different ways which I have heard are more efficient. I haven't done enough research into this to really provide any helpful comparisons, but if anyone has any information or links which explore the funding and service provision of other socialised health care provision in contrast with the UK, I'd love to have a read.
- johnmaguire2013 7y ago
  Not to mention every US hospital I've been in has free wifi (U of M, OSU, St. Joseph in Ann Arbor).
- antris 7y ago
  >if you are healthy enough to hit the gym you are healthy enough to go home. Please don't perpetuate the myth that sickness can be seen from the outside by a layperson.
  - telchar 7y ago
    GP isn't wrong though, if you're well enough to go work out at the gym you don't need to be in a hospital taking up very expensive limited bed space. Treatment for a very sick people is often done outpatient or in non-hospital skilled nursing or residential facilities. Not looking sick doesn't factor in here. I'm assuming GGP was not referring to physical therapy facilities however, some hospital inpatients do require that.
    - BuildTheRobots 7y ago
      There are a number of reasons people are kept in hospital and their ability to exercise may or may not factor into this. I spent 10 weeks as an inpatient on 6* daily IV antibiotics (which would have been impossible to do at home) to treat a serious infection in the bone in my foot. On some of my better days I managed to cover nearly 10 miles on crutches or in a wheelchair. Being able to use a gym to work out would have been better and substantially safer all round. On the flipside, it's amazing how many doors one can get through using nothing but a lollypop-stick from the ice-cream machine in reception or a pair of crutches to open gates from the other side. And technically the "no public access" signs don't apply because you're not public, you're an in-patient at that point... but there has to be better ways of staying fit and sane that would apply to the other 99.9% of patients.
- aiisjustanif 7y ago
  I have been in a hospital for check ups and an ER in Texas with no windows in many rooms.
- helb 7y ago
  > Where is this? > £40/week Sounds like UK…
  - throwaway_se099 7y ago
    > Sounds like UK… Britannia Hospital?
- Broken_Hippo 7y ago
  "if you are healthy enough to hit the gym you are healthy enough to go home." Not everyone is in the hospital as a patient and not every patient is in the hospital for something very dire. For example, I was in the hospital for 3 days once getting IV steroids. In between doses and things like blood sugar checks, I had no need to stick around the hospital bed. I truly could have happily and safely walked on a treadmill, for example. This was before most hospitals here had wifi, though, and would have been better than being bored. A few months ago, I was in observation for 6 or so hours due to a medication I was starting. I had a portable heart monitor, and really simply needed hourly blood pressure and pulse checks along with simple access to hospital staff. At one point, my pulse was low and I needed - for my own health - to be active. Luckily, I simply walked around outside, stopped at the kiosk (gas station without the gas), and was back before my next check. I'm sure there are slews of other situations that one needs to be in a hospital, but not necessarily confined to a hospital bed.
- tvararu 7y ago
  > Although gyms are different, likely because if you are healthy enough to hit the gym you are healthy enough to go home. St. Thomas' in London (UK) has a gym for patients that need to do phisyotherapy exercises. I don't recall treadmills or squat racks, but they had medicine balls, free weights, instructors, music, and so on.
- BuildTheRobots 7y ago
  Bear in mind some of the buildings still in use are ancient - the oldest part of of the hospital was opened 1860 and is still in use. It's also had rooms re-purposed from things like storage and kitchens to actual wards. The TV thing is infuriating. Apparently our government decided that the NHS should not front the cost of entertainment (which kinda makes sense) but instead we now have for-profit companies screwing over the vulnerable instead. It seems entirely wrong. > Although gyms are different, likely because if you are healthy enough to hit the gym you are healthy enough to go home. This really isn't true. Just because someone has broken their arm doesn't mean they're not capable of 30 minutes cycling on a static bike. Just because I was on IV antibiotics 6 times a day didn't mean I couldn't have burnt off some energy in a safe and healthy way. The lack of sleep _is_ crazy, but even more so the insistence that you should go to bed and wake up early. "ooh, all you do is sleep all day!" - well yes. because my other alternative is sitting in a chair staring at a wall all day (and anyway, I covered 8 miles on crutches last night).
amatecha 7y ago
Yeah I've had so many family members in hospitals over the years and these are always the most nerve-wracking, depressing places. And I'm in a "first-world" region with one of the highest costs of living in the world. I think the worst is the nightmarish greenish-yellow hue due to the combination of cheap fluorescent lighting and "neutral" (light green) furniture/wall colors. One step in there and you just know there's probably someone dying somewhere nearby. It sounds sensationalistic to say, but man I always feel this sense of dread immediately. There are newer/nicer places that _don't_ create this feeling right away, and the difference for me is night and day. Even though all the same stuff happens, the atmosphere is so different and doesn't trigger this primal dread.
- kjar 7y ago
  The light green may have an origin in submarine vehicle internal paint model, chills captive people.
jsmith99 7y ago
I'm assuming you're in the UK? The hospitals I've used in London had plenty of art in corridors, but not in the wards. They also had a library of sorts: a bookshelf on wheels that the volunteers could bring round on request. They also had free WiFi that clashed somewhat with the signs warning not to use mobile phones. The built in pay TV and phone was ghastly though - I assume its to price gouge old patients as everyone else I saw was using their own device.
- cameronbrown 7y ago
  > The built in pay TV and phone was ghastly though - I assume its to price gouge old patients as everyone else I saw was using their own device. It's always been like this unfortunately. Nothing to do with smartphones.
- DanBC 7y ago
  Free WiFi is now a national (English, not sure about NI, Wales, or Scotland) requirement. At least, I think it's a requirement. Here's the NHS digital guidance about it. https://digital.nhs.uk/services/nhs-wifi https://digital.nhs.uk/services/nhs-wifi
stronglikedan 7y ago
That sounds awful. I'm thankful that all the hospital's I've been to in the US are the complete opposite experience, with the exception of the successful recovery.

merpnderp 7y ago

Where is this? In the US I’ve never seen a hospital without windows and free tv. Although gyms are different, likely because if you are healthy enough to hit the gym you are healthy enough to go home. Although one thing that always stood out is no one is expected to sleep in a hospital. A nurse or doctor will likely be in every few hours doing something to wake you up. And in between there will always be noise from the hall.

mhh__ 7y ago
Doesn't sound out of place for some NHS hospitals
- rolltiide 7y ago
  Can you shed insight on why the acceptance of the NHS is like a religion or seemingly tied to national identity so much? Modification or criticism of NHS seems like an off limits topic with UK residents, and it just seems like a weird topic to be off limits so I don't really understand
  - astonex 7y ago
    I don't think that's true. What we don't like is any talk of Americanising the NHS.
    - mhh__ 7y ago
      > What we don't like is any talk of Americanising the NHS The difficulty is that "Americanisation" is this catch all term (Along with Neoliberalism etc.) that doesn't have a defined meaning, but is wide enough to beat any non-left wing solution into the ground. I don't think anyone actually wants the NHS to be more american, but most european healthcare systems have more in common with American one's than ours to some degree (Excluding universality, which it obviously lacks) Imagine if the Orange Book was released now, with it's plans to introduce insurance to the NHS: I can picture the momentum activists screaming now. https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2014/06/20/nhs-one-best-developed-world https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2014/0... for example (old poll but still usable) 22% of people say the NHS is the best healthcare system in the world when it clearly isn't when measured by various measures most notably cancer outcomes which are pretty bad compared to some countries https://academic.oup.com/bmb/article/110/1/5/278036 https://academic.oup.com/bmb/article/110/1/5/278036
  - trampypizza 7y ago
    I think it is partially due to the fact that the establishment of the NHS has always been framed as a monumental act. It's creation is seen as part of the country's recovery after WW2, and has been used as a political tool in almost every General Election since 1945. I think people see it as a source of national pride as well (there's some irony in this considering the significant role played by immigrants in the service). Certainly from my point of view, Britain has an extremely questionable history, and for me it feels wrong to have a sense of national pride about the British Empire, or British Military Might etc. However, the NHS is a remarkable organisation which is inherently tied to an ideology and a movement which I believe in, so I am comfortable with feeling proud of it. I do think that it needs to be open to criticism, though. There are issues in the NHS and I'm sure there are problems with the way that National Insurance works (our way of paying for the NHS). I have unfortunately had a lot of exposure to the NHS and the way some things work is frustrating. For example, I am unable to get an insulin pump to treat my Diabetes because there are national requirements that I do not meet. I undertstand why this is in place (budget cuts) but that doesn't stop it from being frustrating - I'd essentially have to sabotage my condition to the point where my control was so bad that I would qualify for a pump. Like the other commenter said, I think what most people hear when people talk of reforming the NHS is an Americanisation of the NHS, and they believe this is inherently bad. Rightly or wrongly, that is the impression that people get. It's a shame because I think it shuts down all talk of reformation, despite the fact that there are other European countries which also have socialised healthcare but operate in different ways which I have heard are more efficient. I haven't done enough research into this to really provide any helpful comparisons, but if anyone has any information or links which explore the funding and service provision of other socialised health care provision in contrast with the UK, I'd love to have a read.
johnmaguire2013 7y ago
Not to mention every US hospital I've been in has free wifi (U of M, OSU, St. Joseph in Ann Arbor).
antris 7y ago
>if you are healthy enough to hit the gym you are healthy enough to go home. Please don't perpetuate the myth that sickness can be seen from the outside by a layperson.
- telchar 7y ago
  GP isn't wrong though, if you're well enough to go work out at the gym you don't need to be in a hospital taking up very expensive limited bed space. Treatment for a very sick people is often done outpatient or in non-hospital skilled nursing or residential facilities. Not looking sick doesn't factor in here. I'm assuming GGP was not referring to physical therapy facilities however, some hospital inpatients do require that.
  - BuildTheRobots 7y ago
    There are a number of reasons people are kept in hospital and their ability to exercise may or may not factor into this. I spent 10 weeks as an inpatient on 6* daily IV antibiotics (which would have been impossible to do at home) to treat a serious infection in the bone in my foot. On some of my better days I managed to cover nearly 10 miles on crutches or in a wheelchair. Being able to use a gym to work out would have been better and substantially safer all round. On the flipside, it's amazing how many doors one can get through using nothing but a lollypop-stick from the ice-cream machine in reception or a pair of crutches to open gates from the other side. And technically the "no public access" signs don't apply because you're not public, you're an in-patient at that point... but there has to be better ways of staying fit and sane that would apply to the other 99.9% of patients.
aiisjustanif 7y ago
I have been in a hospital for check ups and an ER in Texas with no windows in many rooms.
helb 7y ago
> Where is this? > £40/week Sounds like UK…
- throwaway_se099 7y ago
  > Sounds like UK… Britannia Hospital?
Broken_Hippo 7y ago
"if you are healthy enough to hit the gym you are healthy enough to go home." Not everyone is in the hospital as a patient and not every patient is in the hospital for something very dire. For example, I was in the hospital for 3 days once getting IV steroids. In between doses and things like blood sugar checks, I had no need to stick around the hospital bed. I truly could have happily and safely walked on a treadmill, for example. This was before most hospitals here had wifi, though, and would have been better than being bored. A few months ago, I was in observation for 6 or so hours due to a medication I was starting. I had a portable heart monitor, and really simply needed hourly blood pressure and pulse checks along with simple access to hospital staff. At one point, my pulse was low and I needed - for my own health - to be active. Luckily, I simply walked around outside, stopped at the kiosk (gas station without the gas), and was back before my next check. I'm sure there are slews of other situations that one needs to be in a hospital, but not necessarily confined to a hospital bed.
tvararu 7y ago
> Although gyms are different, likely because if you are healthy enough to hit the gym you are healthy enough to go home. St. Thomas' in London (UK) has a gym for patients that need to do phisyotherapy exercises. I don't recall treadmills or squat racks, but they had medicine balls, free weights, instructors, music, and so on.
BuildTheRobots 7y ago
Bear in mind some of the buildings still in use are ancient - the oldest part of of the hospital was opened 1860 and is still in use. It's also had rooms re-purposed from things like storage and kitchens to actual wards. The TV thing is infuriating. Apparently our government decided that the NHS should not front the cost of entertainment (which kinda makes sense) but instead we now have for-profit companies screwing over the vulnerable instead. It seems entirely wrong. > Although gyms are different, likely because if you are healthy enough to hit the gym you are healthy enough to go home. This really isn't true. Just because someone has broken their arm doesn't mean they're not capable of 30 minutes cycling on a static bike. Just because I was on IV antibiotics 6 times a day didn't mean I couldn't have burnt off some energy in a safe and healthy way. The lack of sleep _is_ crazy, but even more so the insistence that you should go to bed and wake up early. "ooh, all you do is sleep all day!" - well yes. because my other alternative is sitting in a chair staring at a wall all day (and anyway, I covered 8 miles on crutches last night).

amatecha 7y ago

Yeah I've had so many family members in hospitals over the years and these are always the most nerve-wracking, depressing places. And I'm in a "first-world" region with one of the highest costs of living in the world. I think the worst is the nightmarish greenish-yellow hue due to the combination of cheap fluorescent lighting and "neutral" (light green) furniture/wall colors. One step in there and you just know there's probably someone dying somewhere nearby. It sounds sensationalistic to say, but man I always feel this sense of dread immediately. There are newer/nicer places that _don't_ create this feeling right away, and the difference for me is night and day. Even though all the same stuff happens, the atmosphere is so different and doesn't trigger this primal dread.

kjar 7y ago
The light green may have an origin in submarine vehicle internal paint model, chills captive people.

jsmith99 7y ago

I'm assuming you're in the UK? The hospitals I've used in London had plenty of art in corridors, but not in the wards. They also had a library of sorts: a bookshelf on wheels that the volunteers could bring round on request. They also had free WiFi that clashed somewhat with the signs warning not to use mobile phones. The built in pay TV and phone was ghastly though - I assume its to price gouge old patients as everyone else I saw was using their own device.

cameronbrown 7y ago
> The built in pay TV and phone was ghastly though - I assume its to price gouge old patients as everyone else I saw was using their own device. It's always been like this unfortunately. Nothing to do with smartphones.
DanBC 7y ago
Free WiFi is now a national (English, not sure about NI, Wales, or Scotland) requirement. At least, I think it's a requirement. Here's the NHS digital guidance about it. https://digital.nhs.uk/services/nhs-wifi https://digital.nhs.uk/services/nhs-wifi

stronglikedan 7y ago

That sounds awful. I'm thankful that all the hospital's I've been to in the US are the complete opposite experience, with the exception of the successful recovery.