To have found my first mammogram really upsetting?

Oh, come on. 'Extra time and handholding' is not what I would call a basic explanation from the radiographer of what to expect at her very first mammogram. For example, 'I am going to be shifting you about a bit, to make sure we get a good clear image.' Which can be said as she enters the room, if you're that mad keen on saving a few seconds.

Pretty well every mammographer I've had (10 plus) have managed to say considerably more than that during the appointment.

And so rude to dispute what OP saw, heard, perceived, felt, and experienced.

So just to clarify. You believe I should be treated badly because of how you perceive I treat my patients by an anonymous MN post? The mind boggles by the mental gymnastics you must have made to blame me for this.

Erm where on earth did I say people should be treated like shit. Are you looking to find offense?? I said perhaps the OPs perception was not quite how it happened. I don't treat anyone like shit as I described in my example above. Where the patients perception (and complaint) was completely disproven by an actual recording of what happened.

I am an AHP, so yes I do actually have a job similar to that radiographer. Burnout is absolutely no excuse to treat people like rubbish and I am genuinely alarmed by your attitude. Perhaps your are better off in a different career if this is genuinely how you feel patients should be treated.

I am respectful, helpful and cheery with patients and therefore 99% of the time they give the same respect and attitude back. If you treat them like shit then then they will (rightfully) reciprocate which considering your attitude and volume of so called ‘entitled’, horrible patients I feel is what is happening in your case

S

Please quote where I have sworn at you.

HCP are not bloody psychic. Yes. I agree. But they should be treating all patients with empathy, respect and ensuring they are comfortable and know what to expect during an appointment. Which the OP didn’t receive.

I have never voted Tory in my life. Always been labour. Most likely going Green this year.

I have never said the HCP on the front line are the reason the system is broken. Far from it. The NHS is broken due to 14 years of austerity. But that is no excuse for burnt out staff to be so condescending and dismissive to patients. No excuse at all.

I don't believe you're a HCP that's for sure. I’m shocked you’re a HCP if I’m being totally honest. And I can imagine you haven’t completed or engaged with the Oliver McGowan mandatory training. That’s for sure.

Erm you swore at me more than once so I can patronise all I like.
Again we only have the OPs perception of it. Mammograms are awful and embaressing. HCP are not bloody psychic. I have had complaints which sound awful on the face of it but funnily enough when the call is listened to (by someone independant) it isn't really as the complainer said just their perception because they didn't get what they wanted/how they wanted/when they wanted/treated as they expected. And I can assure you the change in the last 10 years is frankly absurd. The system is broken but the HCP in front of you isn't the problem. Keep voting tory and there won't be any left.
Whenever people like you are challenged suddenly you've worked in all the fields....I don't believe you're a HCP that's for sure

This. 100%

Sorry but I’ve worked in various public facing roles, including advisory, benefits and healthcare and l agree with this poster. The level of entitlement is breathtaking.

I absolutely hold the politicians responsible. But these threads haranguing the frontline workers boil my blood because we face this on a daily basis as if we are personally responsible for the pathetic funding and resource of the NHS, as if we should somehow be able to do more with less, the disgusting vitriol spewed at us daily just like this thread is alarming and demoralising.
I really don't give a shit what you believe or think. Go do that poor radiographers job no doubt double the demand for less pay than a few years ago. All day every day with people treating her like shit. Then come spout your judgements.

Of course I understand what burn out means, and I’m not your dear, please there is no need to be so patronising.

You are talking utter nonsense, as I too work in the NHS and have never and would never talk to a healthcare professional like shit. I know first hand too what an utter state our NHS is in, and how low morale is.

But circling back to this thread, being burnt out is not an excuse to minimise the OP’s poor treatment she received in an invasive environment. Everyone who works in the NHS should have empathy for our patients and treat them with respect. Which the OP didn’t receive.

The fact that you’re blaming patients over politics on the demise of the NHS shows how little you really understand and makes me doubt if you’re even actually a HCP

Yes dear I'm burnt out you do understand the meaning of that right? I'm burnt out because of the relentless demand pressure and entitlement we face on a daily basis. I have never seen anything like it in almost 30years. I have never know morale and despair to be so low because people like you think you know everything/better/how to fix it and you throw blame and swear and treat HCP like utter shit. So when the NHS is gone you can look at yourselves for what happened. I'll be long gone by then as will almost all my colleagues.

nowhere did I use the word outrageous.

Well of course we only have OP’s experience of what happened. And it’s not surprising to read when I know first hand of how people with autism and learning and disabilities are treated in the NHS. As I am involved in studies within Inequalities in healthcare.

Your username is “burnt out GP” yet you show such little empathy? Gross.

It’s not for you to minimise the experience the OP SAID she experienced. Who the fuck do you think you are?

You can be good at your job AND have a good bedside manner. It’s not either / or and to suggest it is is utterly ridiculous.

We only have OPs perception of how she was treated TBF. I have an autistic daughter and I know sometimes her interpretation or feeling of a situation is not really how it happened. I'm sorry I think the OPs is over reacting and being dramatic. If everyone who needed it or felt they needed it and needed extra time and hand holding the waits and staff needed would double. This entitlement and unrealistic expectation of a woefully underfunded underesourced health service is just compounding the problem.

Absolute rubbish!

”Just be grateful” is so fucking patronising. The OP should have been treated with respect, empathy and should have been explained the process by healthcare professionals. Especially as the OP is autistic, and if diagnosed should be on her notes. People with autism and learning disabilities need to have longer appointments and any extra support offered. I know as I work for NHS and the OP’s treatment sounded awful!

It's not a binary between someone who is rude and good at their job and someone who is caring but shit at it. What we want is someone who is capable and treats you with dignity.

And no, I don't think that's an outrageous expectation.

This is such an entitled thread !! I’d much rather have a radiographer who appears slightly rude and brusque because she’s 100% focused on getting the best images to make sure anything amiss is detected, than one who is distracted trying to make sure the patient is super comfortable and reassured that their ‘informed consent’ will be sought for every little movement and repositioning.

Having recently been diagnosed with breast cancer I’m now in possession of facts I didn’t know about the imaging processes used to detect it. I have lobular breast cancer, which is notoriously difficult to detect using mammogram and notoriously tricky to size and stage. The consultant I’ve been assigned to was quick to tell me that due to the skills of the radiographer, the images have identified a lobular tumour which he has been able to easily stage and recommend appropriate treatment. Reading through this thread, I seriously wonder what women want here. Mammogram is an uncomfortable procedure, not all types of tumour show up, and the depth and positioning of the breast is critical to identify problems. At the risk of a pile on, I suggest that we should stop whining and be happy we live in a country which offers potentially life saving procedures such as mammogram and the trained radiographers on whose skills we rely to give us the best chance of detection and cure.

Yes, but someone going for such screening deserves to be treating with empathy and respect, and not a slab of tits shaped meat.

Well I have a job to do that has to get done - not metrics but it’s a specific situation and once it’s under way it needs my full attention. Of course I understand it’s different being a volunteer but as others have said, chatting along kindly and explaining what you’re doing doesn’t take extra time.

So for example I may have to move a patient’s side table - so I ask them, check their feet won’t get bumped, chat to them while I’m doing it. It has to be done anyway, doing it in a friendly and caring way doesn’t take more time and it’s the same with a mammogram.

@MrsWhattery As I said, I’m an NHS volunteer and I have to be kind, caring and non-judgmental and listen to patients and if I failed in that I’d be kicked out and rightly so

So, you, in your volunteer role, can be kicked out for this. But I’m assuming you have no metrics to meet? You have no departmental budget to meet? So, it’s quite easy for you, without a paid NHS position, without having to factor metrics or budget to meet the things you have mentioned. Well, yes, it is, because you don’t have other constraints ……..

I don't think it's unusual - I should think most of us in many fields will have dealt with members of the public who will not know your exact job role, and it's only if they ask you something you're not allowed to authorise that they may realise it's relevant. But often they still won't understand the details of the different jobs.

Mine didn't even tell me her name, let alone her job title