I just read that our local hospital is banning flowers - is this health and safety gone mad?
by 
Piggle
ANSWERS: 6
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I think so. Mad and sad really.
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No it isn't. There are so many germs in the water from the flowers, especially if it isn't changed every day and that is just not something they have time for. Dried flowers are usually okay with hospitals and can be lovely. Or plants in some hospitals, a living plant.
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Well personally, I do think that this is going to extremes. I think the benefits of fresh flowers outweigh the risks myself.
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Thank goodness, I got put in a room with someone once who got a ton of flowers and my allergies really bothered me. This is supposed to be a hospital, a somewhat "sterile" environment..there shouldn't be items like that in hospitals..save it for when they get home from the hospital or find a better gift than flowers. OR they could pay for a private room (if you are lucky enough to afford that)
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(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/dorset/6979936.stm) The NHS has made a very wise move. The ban on flowers helps cut out one more vector for unwanted pathogens entering the hospital. The NHS has also banned doctors wearing neckties. Though the tradition is long standing and the image of a doctor in a neck tie is what we have come to expect – the NHS points out that neck ties are rarely cleaned and they dangle in to the work space (i.e. on to the patient). Keeping germs out of the hospital is a good idea – hauling bouquets of dying plants in stagnant water in to the otherwise clean environment of the hospital is illogical. Better to embrace 21st century scientific reason than to cling to 18th Century cultural tradition.
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There seems to be some evidence that methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ( MRSA ) can be spread though the water in flower vases. This can be a most serious problem for those with weakened immune systems, such as those who have been hospitalized for more than 14 days.
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