Hospitals today

[SARID]

Last week I was a visitor to a ward in Edinburgh's Royal Infirmary,and I was surprised to see a notice on the ward door advising visitors flowers were banned because of Health and Safety rules !! I worked in that self same hospital back in the fifties, and to the best of my recollection, there was never an instance when a vase of flowers caused a problem,or were a danger to patients and staff
This morning an article in "The Scotsman " reported that staff in hospitals throughout Scotland are complaining that the frequent hand washing required is causing Dermatitis.We too had to wash our hands after every procedure involving patient care. We used soap and water, so perhaps if the present day staff tried that instead of the gels etc used nowadays, things might improve.

[Mr Plod]

Re the flowers. I heard somewhere that the big fragrant Lily flowers that are commonplace purchases in large supermarkets can cause serious reactions from people with asthma or hay fever. I do know that their pollen is poisonous to cats. They have lots of pollen on the stamens which is toxic. Cats brush against them and the pollen deposits on their fur. When they lick their fur they become ill very quickly and without treatment simply die.

So maybe it was simpler all round to ban all flowers than have staff spend valuable time weeding out the trouble maker flowers. Lets face it, your visitor would have valued your presence more than the flowers. Next time take some magazines or fruit, or better still, a whole load of gossip.