When should I ring a ward?
4-6pm. Why?
When your loved one is in hospital, you will quite naturally be concerned, principally about three things:
- How are they?
- Whats wrong with them and is the treatment working?
- When are they coming home?
But on almost all wards, there is a ‘ward round’ in the morning – when the doctors (including the senior ones) and nurses visit your relative or friend. They decide what needs to be done that day. After that the patients have lunch.
From 2-4pm-ish, the junior doctors do ‘their jobs’. These are the tasks (like repeating blood tests, or getting scans) requested by the senior doctors in the morning.
So after 4pm, things are quieter and more organised, and the nurses will have more time to talk you on the phone. They often have a better idea of the bigger picture, so are the best ones to speak to. So it is good to ring them 4-6pm.
We are sorry that people do not always pick up the phone quickly. This is sometimes as they are too busy and the ward clerk is off the ward. It is their job to be ready on the phone to answer your questions – or get the person you need to talk to.
Summary
We have described when should I ring a ward. 4-6pm. We hope it has helped. If you are very worried about your loved one, ring anytime.
