Nurses whistle for help

Nurses will become "whistle blowers"

Nurses at a Hampshire hospital have been given whistles to call for help if a patient is in trouble.

Staff on Dickens ward at Portsmouth's Queen Alexandra Hospital face the choice of using the whistles or shouting to alert colleagues.

The whistles have been brought in as a temporary measure while the 20-bed ward, which dates back to the turn-of-the-century, awaits the insallation of a new modern call system.

But unions fear using whistles could become permanent at the Cosham hospital.

My experience of whistles and rape alarms in hospital is that a lot of people don't take any notice of them.

Keith Murray, Royal College of Nursing branch convenor

They are also worried that nurses wearing the whistles on cords around their necks could be choked by patients reaching out whilst in pain.

Keith Murray, the Royal College of Nursing's branch convenor for Portsmouth, told BBC News Online: "I thought it was a joke when I heard.

"It certainly puts 'whistle-blowing' in an entirely new context.

"My experience of whistles and rape alarms in hospital is that a lot of people don't take any notice of them.

"I have reservations as to whether a whistle is an effective means of summoning assistance."

Life and death

He added: "As we know a lot of things in the NHS that are temporary measures become permanent."

But health officials at Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust defended the move, saying it was not being used for life and death incidents.

Spokeswoman Pat Forsyth, said: "It's purely a system where staff can call their immediate colleagues if a nurse gets to a bed and finds someone very ill or stuck in a bath or whatever.

"It is a temporary measure and we have already identified a radio call system which will be installed as soon as it arrives. We are talking about the next few weeks."