Tink was delivered by a director, he was on his way across the car park at 6pm and they called him back to see me. Having spent a month in hospital I saw him quite often, not seeing me as he wasn't my Dr but seeing other patients, he must have been on the ward everyday. I spoke to women who were his patients and they all said how good he was, he spoke to them like they were old friends and never had to look at notes for things. I wish he could be my doctor, he's obviously a high risk to have been in and out of the ward I was on, but must cover something different.

nope, the guy i'm talking about is a very, very hands-on doctor as it happens, which is probably why i like him so very much. brain the size of a house also accommodates managerial stuff (and of course he almost never goes home). perhaps i'm just fortunate to be under the care of an excellent hospital run by an inspirational leader, who never fails to instruct his staff to act in an open manner.

and tbh most of the GPs i know (i'm talking about friends here, who i've known for decades) didn't go into it as a first love, which i think can build into a progressively chippy attitude in some of them. that 'i think i know more about it than you do'... well, yes. care to share that knowledge and have a discussion, rather than seek to close the conversation etc etc? so many HPs hate the internet etc and for me that is in truth less about not frightening people and more about the erosion of their power.

well it wasn't meant snidely or rudely more in a puzzled way, as I said I thought your post insuinuated that GPs weren't consultants, which they are, they specialised in general medicine. we will have to agree to disagree on the meaing of erm.

Directors are no more qualified than consultants and in fact it could be argued they have moved into more a managerial role.

I guess I am lucky in that all the GPs I know would be happy to admit lack of knowledge in an area and to look something up, but as you said that should be how all doctors are whatever there specialisation.

oh i definitely find 'erm' snide, absolutely. although as you've seen i do acknowledge that not everyone does. only you can say whether you were intending to be rude of course.

did you really misunderstand what i was trying to say with 'consultants and above'? really truly honestly? in which case i duly apologise for my lack of precision but nevertheless feel that a more mannerly way of seeking clarification would have been to ask me what i meant. erm... is not polite imo.

and yes, as i was just saying to aggiepanther, one of my favourite docs is the director of mat services for the whole area i live in. brain the size of a house, massive professional ego but LOVES people who ask questions. any colleagues (all underlings by def) have had the same attitude, as it's one he fosters). he certainly doesn't bristle that he knows more about things than someoen asking the question. plainly he does, so why would he be defensive?

the defensiveness is something i have observed MUCH more often in GPs than in hospitals, and as i posited this may stem from the luxury of specialisation. i have met one utter arsetwat of a hosp consultant though (now lining his pockets with a priviate IVF practice for which he is scarcely qualified) - he'll be first against the wall when my revolution comes.

You said
"GPs a lot, tbh. i prefer dealing with consultants and higher up "

and you thought the erm was snide? Your post suggested that GPs were not consultant level. I am sure you get rubbish hospital consultants and rubbish GP consultants.
Also what is higher up than a consultant? you get a director of a department and in big teaching hospitals have professors, but once you get to consultant all you will gain is experience hopefully with the passing years.

ach she knew what i meant, TM, she was just being pedantic. i must say i do find the 'erm' rude, i've mentioned it before on other threads. erm, chill out, get a grip, all these things i think are calculated little sniders. however... it was interesting how many people didn't think it was a problem, though, so it's evidently horses for courses.

and tbh i love any professional who says that they don't know the answer but they'll find out or refer on, i think it's a very attractive lack of ego and actually makes me trust them more rather than less.

Erm a GP is a consultant.

A consultant in being a GP. Would you go to a heart consultant to ask about your bladder? I've seen a few GP's about my condition and they tend to go "errrrrr..." some have gone one better and said "that's a pregnancy condition, why are you worrying about it?" (great to hear such confidence from my GP when they spout rubbish)tell that to the men in my support group or the woman who's brother died from a massive heart attack after deciding he didn't need to be tested and was the only one (apart from his sister, the reason everyone got tested) who had it. One GP said they didn't know and would refer me to the hospital, best response I've had.

I think the difference between then and now is before women would have a drink or two, these days women are binge drinking. Your liver can handle a unit in an hour, not 10!

i do. my friend's adopted brother had it, his was a completely tormented life tbh. but his birth mother and stepfather had also abused him and he had the cigarette burns to prove it. it wasn't much talked about then, more than twenty years ago. certainly it was in the papers that she had been drinking and on drugs after his birth, so one presumes the same prior.

aggiepanther, my obs is great as well. runs the entire district maternity service and yet was always there for every scan of mine. lovely guy, brain the size of a house and most importantly of all, DOESN'T have an opinion on everything.

i was talking to him the other day about this sort of thing (he's of the opinion that a few drinks won't do any harm at all, and he's in charge of the dependent babies unit so has seen the horrors) and he was saying that the good thing about being 'high up' is that you don't feel you have to give direction because unlike a GP there may be no continuing relationship, just information and support to make the right decision for the couple. i do think it must be difficult for GPs having to do everything and be everything for patients (as well as juggling finances and targets etc.) mind you, they're not badly off for it.

Whisky? I'm craving cold fizzy lager. Hmmm. Think will hold off for a few more weeks though.

Yeah Flum - My mother smoked when pregnant with me. I was a 9lb baby (she's only 5'2"). She is absolutely unrepentant "Imagine how huge you would have been if I hadn't smoked". Yeah, cheers mum.

Unfortunatly saying well our parents did it and we are all ok is as unscientific as saying well large amounts of alcohol are proven to be bad therefore small amounts of alchol must be bad as well.