Hospital rules deny patient gift of flowers

Sue Holt had to go without the morale boosting sight of a bouquet by her bedside after staff at St Richard's Hospital turned away the blooms.

North Manchester resident Claire Tripp had spent 30 on the flowers from the Next online floral delivery service, unaware of the hospital's ban on the gifts.

Claire said: 'I wanted my mother to have the flowers by her bed when she woke up from her operation. Seeing flowers at such a time cheers you up.

'It boosts your morale and shows you that someone is thinking of them at such a time. I can't believe that St Richard's bans flowers.

'It is a ludicrous ruling and totally ridiculous. How is anyone from outside the area supposed to know about it?'

Mrs Holt (54) spent two days in St Richard's at the start of this week having her thyroid gland removed. Her exact stay in the hospital depended on how well she recovered.

This made it impossible for Claire (34) to travel down from Lancashire to visit her mother. She decided to send the flowers instead.

'I was in Bury Hospital a couple of years ago with meningitis and my mum sent me flowers and I was allowed to have them by my bed,' she said.

'I thought it would be nice to do the same. But that's not allowed at St Richard's. I don't know any other hospital that has that policy.

'It's not the same getting the flowers at home three days after you have left hospital.'

The uncertainty about Mrs Holt's time of discharge '“ she left St Richard's on Tuesday afternoon '“ meant that Claire was unsure about where the flowers should be sent after they had been turned away from the hospital.

St Richard's imposed its ban on flowers in wards in March last year.

St Richard's brought in the ban on flowers to help its work on tidiness, cleanliness and infection control reasons.

Acting director of nursing Ruth Williams said at the time: 'It's about having clear access to a patient's table and locker and being able to wipe it down easily.'

The hospital-wide policy came several months after high-dependency, intensive care and Boxgrove wards had barred flowers.