A row has broken out over a hospital trust's decision to give nurses 'Do Not Disturb' uniforms to wear during routine ward duties to prevent patients from speaking to them.

When nurses are wearing the bright red tabards, patients have to address any concerns to care assistants, who do not have clinical qualifications.

The hospital says interruptions, such as patients asking questions about toilets and meal times, stop nurses from doing their jobs properly and could lead to patients being given the wrong medication.

But Joyce Robins, from campaign group Patient Concern, described the initiative as 'grotesque and ridiculous'.

She said: 'If you're a nurse and you can't do more than one thing at a time, you're a pretty hopeless nurse. It sends patients completely the wrong message.

'They already see nurses as too important to disturb or too lazy to help and you're very vulnerable lying there in a hospital bed when your buzzer doesn't work and no one comes.

'Often the drug round is the only time you see a nurse to talk to them. Now these red tabards will send out a further "get off me" signal.

'It's grotesque and ridiculous.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2030929/Do-Not-Disturb-Fury-nurses-uniforms-ban-patients-trying-speak-them.html#ixzz1WQsoXB8u