To dress up for doctor’s appointments?

No. You've been fortunate.

How rude of you to dismiss someone else's experience, simply because it does not chime with yours.

I have done a lot of advocacy work and some of this has been while accompanying vulnerable adults to medical appointments. I have HCP friends who I know treat all of their patients well but what I have seen shocked me because the disparity in care can be huge. Although there to support I always tried to facilitate their efficacy so my middle class credentials weren’t obvious until I spoke up if they couldn’t and if they were badly treated. The switch in tone and care when I intervened was terrifying really.

If your GP or any medical staff for that matter take people more seriously who dress well then they shouldn't be anywhere near the NHS.

You're delusional!

I think you make sense. I think about what I am wearing to a school parents eve for similar reasons. I don’t dress up,,but I wouldn’t wear super casual clothes. Doctors am less worried. My Drs are nice and don’t seem judgy..

Absolutely… I had this during labour. As my waters broke at 4am, I went to hospital with no makeup and bed hair, leggings and pyjama top. I was treated like an idiot, wasn’t listened to or respected because obviously I looked super rough. It was awful although I felt more anonymous so perhaps they wouldn’t put a name/face to the ‘down below’ if they saw me in daylight hours looking more made up 😆

That's true.

In my area, an ability to speak Standard English rather than the Fife dialect counts for much more than it should. I've had a conversation about this type of bias with friends from a working class Glasgwegian background and they've found much the same.

Really? I'm a coalminer's daughter. The OP's experience chimes with mine.

As I said upthread, most doctors have been fine in my experience, but I've encountered some where snobbery was the order of the day.

I had a former pupil who nearly died because her symptoms were dismissed by a GP who assumed that she'd been taking drugs. It was very much a diagnosis based on her family's postcode.

I'm pleased that so many people on here have not encountered a problem, but please do not dismiss the experience of those of us who have.

I've taken my make up off before going to the doctor's before, in the hope that the more I look like death the more seriously they'll take me

There are all kinds of biases in medicine, these are well-studied, so anecdotes are all very well but they simply mean you were the luckier ones on that occasion. Women are less likely to be diagnosed with a heart attack, as the symptoms are different than for men, and so the opportunity for early intervention is more likely to be missed. Women's pain is also not treated as seriously.

Clothes are not the only marker of class for starters.

Well thankfully my GPs are professional & treat you regardless of how you look. The first GP appointment I had last year at the start of a 5 month illness I turned up in jogging trousers an old t-shirt, my hair needed washed but I was too unwell & no make up. Despite that they didn't seem in the slightest distracted by my appaling appearance but were far more interested in my reason for going. Just as most doctors probably are.

They'd be on a loser with me

No, the point is you'd be on a loser with them.

Hahaha it's so absurd it's funny - the best way to be treated better I've seen is to be in the NHS Club (largest workforce in Europe) - even more chance if you speak with some calm, quiet pseudo MC accent - despite screaming like a fishwife when off duty.

Obesity is overlooked as a cause for any ills and a fast track for any knee/joint replacement is ordered instead. And if you're banded high enough you can even fast track your closest relatives through some essential care that won't keep them alive and stops others who might survive from receiving it just because you have that power and are too mentally immature to accept that death is the natural conclusion to life.

Yes - I describe one of my sisters (NHS) and our deceased (for many years) DM, the latter expressing her wish to cease the pointless treatment and die in peace at home....but no.

They start assessing you the minute you walk in. There is bias conscious or unconscious about appearance. And you will he treated differently based on the bias. Some doctors mention what you're wearing in the notes. My friend went to doctor and her notes said "dressed young for her age".

I have a job where I have interviewed many doctors and some of them are lovely and would not be biased, but some have, and have said terrible classist things about their poorer patients.

On a personal level, I always make sure I look like I mean business when I go into hospital, in the way I speak at the very least, even then I get patronised occasionally. Sadly, in an over-run system, the squeaky wheel gets the oil and if you are assertive, you get better care. It's not fair at all.

To be honest when I was going for gynae investigations I was more concerned about the consultant having to examine my nether regions then what I was wearing (leggings and hoodie) I still got an urgent referral without a fancy handbag. If your ill your ill. Actually I also have a respectable job but have never felt the need to broadcast it.

Yes but they will still have markers which differentiate them from working class people.

I'm a doctor and I don't notice what patients wear, just like I couldn't tell you if the last woman I examined removed their hair or not. Too busy focussing on symptoms, diagnosis, treatment etc. It's mental gymnastics during a consultation.

I don't 'dress up' for a medical appointment. However, I do dress down, most days as I am retired and won't be going anywhere. So compared to 'everyday' attire, I am definitely 'dressed up'. That is
I've had a shower (I no longer shower every day, if I'm only dossing aroun at home)
I wear a proper bra (as oppsed to the crop top that sees me through an 'at home' day
I wear shoes (as opposed to slippers or crocs)

I do and wear what I think is approriate. And I do think that looks, words and demeanor have an impact on how a person is received and responded to, wven though it shouldn't

This is such a middle class thread.
Mostly significantly wealthy people we know are old money and don’t give a monkey’s about dress.

This is MN do everyone will tell you they never ever judge people on their appearance.
Back in the real world research has shown time and time again that everyone judges on appearance. Yes even educated, overworked doctors.

I do this when I want prescriptions for medicines that are addictive for some people, so I'm taken more seriously

My late husband eventually became a teacher, but he left school at 15 and his first job was in forestry.

One day, he put an axe through his leg. He was in terror - thought he was going to die. His boot filled with blood.

His workmates took him straight to the nearest doctor. The doctor berated him for not washing first. Woodcutting is a messy business, and you do need a good wash at the end of the day. Funnily enough, washing was the last thing on this mind at the time.

The doctor was a GP in the West Highlands of Scotland.

I had a morning appointment at the GPs once en route to work meetings, and I was in a very 2000s pastel skirt suit, heels and briefcase. The receptionist loudly told me that the doctor was far too busy to see me and I’d have to come back on Wednesday. She thought I was a medical rep from one of the pharmas.