My daughter tells me that the reason flowers are not allowed is because of the water carrying something or other. My mother in law has just spent a month in Dudley Road (Oops, City Hospital, sorry!) where the wards were very clean, the patients were in tidy beds and all patients were obviously regularly toileted - said daughter is a Band 7 nurse who did her training at Walsgrave. City Hospital has ceased to have contract cleaners and now have their own employed by the hospital, which possibly explains the fact that it is much cleaner than it was three years ago. Mother in law is now in West Heath, and although cleanliness is not too bad, it seems very untidy, but that may be the layout of the building.
Sue - my daughter would agree with you entirely. When she decided at age 20 to go into nursing, she had the opportunity of RGN at Walsgrave or the famous Project 2000 at Burton. She took the former because she wanted hands on nursing. She would agree with you about restrictions on visitors and she said that no-one dare put a coat on the bed on her ward - something she was very hot on. She is now working in the community, but misses the nursing on the ward.