"Treatment from nursing staff & hospital policy"

My daughter is  22 months old and has a blood condition. She receives regular blood transfusions and has a central line (port) in her chest. When she spikes a temperature we are advised to take her straight to hospital due to risk of infection. The nursing staff administer antibiotics immediately and we are normally in hospital for at least 48 hours, sometimes more. 

This has happened countless times within the past year. These stays have been very challenging for all the family. She doesn't sleep well in hospital and can become extremely distressed. On our first visit to hospital when she was only 4 weeks old, nursing staff allowed both my husband and I to stay overnight as she was very young and unsettled.

I was tremendously grateful as I needed the emotional support of my husband and was suffering from PTSD from a challenging labour. My husband has continued to stay with my daughter and I overnight each time we visit the hospital with no members of staff querying the situation. 

Our daughter spiked a temperature at the beginning of the year, so again we arrived at the hospital and were given a bed in Ward 2a. At midnight, when the nursing staff were administering my daughter's antibiotics, we were told that only one adult should be staying overnight. We waited until the morning time to speak to the nurse in charge, as well as the manager. I told them that I appreciate hospital policy and understand why it's in place but hoped that they would take individual circumstances into account (as they had previously done so).

My husband stayed again that night but we made sure to inform the night time staff so that they could note it down for fire evacuation purposes. However, as my husband was leaving the following day, the manager took him aside and said that he should not have stayed overnight and will not be allowed to do so next time. 

The staff in ward 2a are amazing and have always treated us with respect but I was disappointed in their attitude this time. Perhaps this particular policy is one that should be under review, particularly when families are dealing with huge amounts of emotional distress.

I have suffered from postnatal depression since having my daughter and this kind of approach does not help. I would like to speak to someone who perhaps has some authority on changing the situation for my and other families in the future.