Harmless??

I don't want to come across as unfeeling or holier than thou, but IF both the nurses had both done their jobs correctly then it would have remained a "harmless" prank.
It only became a serious issue when one of them actually gave out information and thus didn't do her job correctly.
What I find saddest of all is that the poor nurse who apparently took her own life was not the one who actually did anything wrong but who merely made a mistake.
I imagine both the radio presenters who made the call and the nurse who gave out the information will be feeling guilty today.
I do find it a bit surprising that in a private , fairly exclusive hospital, catering for the rich and privileged that there wasn't anyone on duty at the switchboard who was trained and responsible to prevent such occurences,
especially on an occasion when such a high profile person was in care and such attempts should have been forseen.
After all, this isn't a run of the mill NHS hospital with staff shortages and huge budget problems to concern them.

I can only guess that the woman had some other problems or issues and that this was simply one problem too many, as such a drastic action is clearly, to most people, way over the top in the circumstances.

Del - agree with what you say mostly, I think the radio station treated as a Prank, without much thought, has anyone listened to Radio 1 in the morning with Grimmy he plays worst pranks one the call or delete... I am not condoning what they did, but having giving it some thought, those two DJ's will be feeling rubbish enough I would think - and the hospital are the ones to be slapped I think here. After all surely they must be indudated with press calls and the like, so you would think they would have dealt with it better.

Private hospitals employee the same kind of staff as NHS hospitals ie as cheap as they can get, they are all about profit.

There were huge issues with a BUPA hospital near us which I won't go into in depth, but the quality of staff is very hit and miss. You may get a private room and your own ensuite (bit like a travel lodge) but the difference often ends there in many cases.

Totaly agree Del and Doe.

Private hospitals employee the same kind of staff as NHS hospitals ie as cheap as they can get, they are all about profit.

yes, I accept that is true but this isn't just any private hospital.
It is a hospital that routinely serves the most "important" people in the country and as such you would think that they would be aware of press intrusion as a matter of course and have robust systems in place, rather than relying on staff who are, perhaps, not aware of these issues.
I would have expected any late night calls to be routed to an office with managerial staff on duty in such a place.

It beggars belief that should the call have been genuine it would have been dealt with by a nurse and not a member of staff with some training in such matters.

Let's be clear - had a UK based radio station done this, the presenters, and probably the radio station for broadcasting it, would almost certainly have been charged with breaking the law because it is an offence to obtain personal information about somebody by impersonating someone else. Yes, it was a failing on the part of the hospital to provide these details, for whatever reason, but to try and say that the fault lies with the hospital because they did not have somebody on duty at 5.30am our time in place to stop it happening is very close to saying that it's OK to break the law as long nobody else stops you from doing it.

The radio station would have made their point just by getting through to the nurse in charge ( which wasn't the one who took the call in the first instance and who would appear to have now committed suicide - she just put them through to the relevant nursing staff). There was absolutely no need to then go ahead and broadcast the conversations in full that they had with both members of staff. OK, they probably wouldn't be interested in any of my medical details but that would not stop me thinking that the radio station and their staff were just as culpable as the hospital if they not only obtained private information about me but then proceeded to broadcast it wide and far. I feel that I have just as much right as the royal family to privacy and they have just as much right as me to have their medical information kept private as well.

Yes, the hospital needs to review it's procedures but let's not forget that they aren't the people who decided to shout the information from the rooftops and the mistakes made by the hospital cannot excuse the actions of the radio station and their staff.

SM (a republican at heart!)

I wasn't intending to exonerate the radio station or the presenters.
I was merely pointing out that in a hospital which will undoubtedly be one the most expensive ones and which has as a matter of course, "important" people amongst its' clients, it should have been more aware of, and taken steps to deal with, media intrusion.
I have no idea what the costs are of staying in this hospital but do know that if I was paying lots of money I would be expecting professional service at all times in all areas..... including swithboard/ telephone answering areas.

Hi Del, my post wasn't intended as a reply to anybody in particular, the point I was trying to make was that regardless of what we are paying or who we are, we are entitled to privacy and our medical details being kept confidential, whether we are a duchess or not, a private patient or NHS. A radio station which doesn't understand that is despicable. I would expect an NHS hospital to be as cautious but I think that we also should be able to expect that others will behave in a responsible way as well. A principle like this should apply to all hospitals and have nothing to do with whether you are paying a lot for your treatment and care or not.

SM

As a nurse for almost 40 years I still cant understand why at 5.30am anyone would really believe that it was actually the queen on the phone.
I have never given any information to anyone on the phone enquiring about a patient without asking who they were,and if they rang at this early hour asked them to ring back at 8am.
Yes the nurses are tired then but no more than 5.30pm as after working night duty for 30 years we sleep during the day and the worst time is around 3am.
Its a dreadful situation regarding the nurse who has apparently committed suicide but I dont think this incident was the reason.
I think the media is making it worse for all concerned and should now leave everyone in peace.
I was right in my original assumption that English was not the nurses first language but nothing has been told of the nurse who actually gave the information.
She must have been a senior nurse and must also have mistaken the idiots in Australia for the Queen.
As for saying the nurse was manning the switchboard its more likely the switchboard operators dont always work at night and the calls come straight through to the ward office where they can be transferred to the area that the patient is staying.

As for saying the nurse was manning the switchboard
was going to respond to this but changhed my mind and can't delete it

Where is it reported that the nurse was manning the switchboard?

The BBC and, as far as I can see other news reports, refer to Mrs Saldanha as being the 'duty nurse' who then put them through to to the nurse who divulged the details so the situation is likely to be as Jay Trip describes it.

SM

They certainly dont pay trained nurses money to man switchboards especially in Private hospitals.
Our switchboard closed at night and calls were diverted to the wards.

On the Sky news extract shown quarter way through it states the nurse who had been working on the switchboard

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xvpeyr_nurse-in-kate-middleton-prank-call-dead-suicide-suspected_news

What should have been a happy time for the couple has now been marred by this incident. I can't imagine how Kate must be feeling knowing her pregnancy, in a round about way, resulted in someone commiting suicide.

You're so right there Glynis