To think the nurses shouldn't have spoken in a different language in front of me?

[ColouringTheBrain]

If I start by saying I think our NHS staff do a great job I'm not looking to be flamed, I genuinely want to know if I'm BU.

I had to go to the hospital today, the nurse that initially dealt with me was kind and gentle, also in the room was a colleague of hers ( another nurse). The nurse took my bloods, then went to get another machine, it was then that the two nurses started talking to each other in a different language ( I'm not trying to be vague, I just haven't got a clue what language it was). It made me feel really uncomfortable as it was directly in front of me, whether they were talking about me, or what's on TV, or other members of staff I feel is irrelevant, I felt like they shouldn't be doing it in front of a patient. Obviously I didn't say anything, I wasn't feeling the best anyway, but I also felt slightly intimidated I suppose.

AIBU, or should I just accept it as part of the care?

Yes as pointed out below, it's actually the multilingual people who tend to think it's rude. So it's not those silly Little Englander Brexiteers objecting though well done to everyone who's tried to play the "you're just racist" card.

I speak more than English, voted Remain and have lived abroad for years, working in another language. It's still not ok to speak in another language and exclude a third person in the room - particularly not in a patient/care-giver setting.

Oblomov16 upthread my 8yo self got called arrogant because I found it pretty miserable and rude to have to sit in a car for 30 mins a day listening to a family of fluent english speakers talk dutch amongst themselves, as if I wasn't there at all!!! It's like falling down a rabbit hole on mn sometimes.

This happened to my mother last year. The nurses had a good chit over her whilst they were replacing a bandage. I think its VERY rude to do this. Of course what they do in private is completely different!

I think people are heartily sick of the racist card being pulled out EVERY SINGLE TIME.

"This shouldn't be about the language - that does sound racist."

And aarrg can we knock this one on the head, please? Racism is treating somebody of a different race less favourably. Objecting to somebody carrying out a conversation in a language that one person present cannot understand, when there is a common language available, is not racism because the rule applies regardless of race, colour or creed!!! 6 english-urdu speakers, 1 english speaker in the room? Speak english. 6 english-urdu speakers and one urdu speaker? Speak urdu. If it matters to you that you not make those around you feel uncomfortable and left out, then it's a really quite simple rule to follow.

Would it have looked rude whilst having a conversation in BSL or Makaton or would that be ok as they are silent language?

I am not sure I understand your point tbh.
The issue with your experience is that the patient, again, was being talked over and no one was communicating directly with her in a language she could understand.
Similar to the OP's experience.

If two hearing people were communicating in BSL it would be incredibly rude because the only reason for them doing that is to keep what they were saying secret.
If two Deaf people were communicating in BSL it would be their only option unlike the HCP in the OP.

I am pretty some patients would still find it unsettling and 'chit, chat' should be kept to a minimum but its not a fair comparison otherwise.

I'm really on the fence. It's understandable that the OP felt uncomfortable and vulnerable, especially if the conversation was happening right in front of them, and HCPs should speak the language of the hospital they're working in.

But I'm concerned about some of the Anglocentrism on the thread. Posts like "If you're in a British hospital you speak English". English isn't the only language spoken in the British Isles, and it's not unreasonable that a small group of HCPs will not be as confident in English as they are in languages such as Welsh.

If they're working in a Welsh hospital, where the majority of patients are Welsh-speaking, would they still be unreasonable for speaking Welsh in earshot of patients? (This is if they're talking about clinical matters etc - obviously they shouldn't be discussing TV/other staff members/a night out in a treatment room in any language!)

It was rude and unprofessional of them to exclude you, OP. It was drummed into us as students nurses (in the 1980s) that this sort of thing would be unacceptable. Nurses should nt have orivate convos at all in the presence of a patient, even in English. Times might have changed but it's stilll rudeness.

obvs that should be private. Lost glasses at weekend and wearing old (& inadequate ones) - and I left my brain cells in the 1980s!

yanbu, very unprofessional in this context. if this happened at my appointment recrntly id be very paranoid that my condition was worse than i thought and they were discussing it

id complain so they hopefully wont do it to someone who could really be badly affected by it. someone with severe depression or anxiety for example, something like this could trigger a lengthy episode if they think the nurses were keeping health details from them. im sure ifvthat was explained to them they would understand.

YABU
They were in a different room and as you said maybe talking about the TV or their lunches or whatever
Why is that your business?

I used to work in an office with lots of different nationalities (was in the "European" team, based in London). Lots of small teams with two or more members from the same country but they rarely spoke to each other in anything other than English. I asked two guys who made up the Swedish team about this once as they sat beside me and was told they thought to do otherwise would be rude.

Oh ok they were in the same room. How big was the room? "Directly in front of you"
Need to get a better picture of this.

I always use English at work but it really bothered me that one lady in my team would be "English please" if she entered the break room and I was in my break speaking my mother tongue with my colleague.
She was rude and mean. We were on our break, on our own.

That is different

But I'm concerned about some of the Anglocentrism on the thread. Posts like "If you're in a British hospital you speak English". English isn't the only language spoken in the British Isles, and it's not unreasonable that a small group of HCPs will not be as confident in English as they are in languages such as Welsh.

Oh for goodness sake. Only 310,000 people are fluent Welsh speakers and only 43% of them speak mostly (not always) Welsh at home, which would suggest that tiny numbers of Welsh speaking people in Wales are not completely bilingual . The number of Welsh born HCP who do not feel confident speaking English will be vanishingly small and as the majority of patients in Wales are not fluent Welsh speakers the HCP should still be using English when 'front of house'.

And only 1.1% of Scots can speak Gaelic, so it's fair to assume that speaking English in Scottish hospitals should be considered standard practice.

Gaelic and Welsh mother tongue people I know would say it was a very weak argument! They all speak more clearly and correctly than I do.

In English!

My Welsh and Gaelic are not developing well..

The number of Welsh born HCP who do not feel confident speaking English will be vanishingly small and as the majority of patients in Wales are not fluent Welsh speakers the HCP should still be using English when 'front of house'.

Surely it depends on the area? I mentioned Bangor upthread; I'm in Wrexham and I'd be confused if HCPs were speaking exclusively Welsh here, because it's such a multicultural, multilingual area. I'm applying to train for a healthcare role and we've been told that Polish is useful in addition to bilingualism, so that's the language I'm learning at the moment.

In Bangor, however, you have an elderly population from a rural area, the vast majority of whom feel much more comfortable speaking Welsh than English. It is their mother tongue, the language they conduct their day-to-day business in as well as their personal lives, and the language they would want HCPs to speak to them in. Yes, the population of exclusive Welsh speakers is small, but they're also largely vulnerable and concentrated into this small area of Wales, and I think forcing primarily Welsh speaking HCPs to speak English to, and in front of, primarily Welsh-speaking patients, will have the same effect on them as this situation had on the OP.

Yanbu

And yes, you should definitely complain.

i bet they were Polish

What the fuck are you on about??

In the Welsh situation even I would crack on with a bore da!

Although of course it would be better for some old rural folk to have Welsh speaking nurses, which I hope they do.

That's the only point I'm making. As I said, I'm on the fence, I'm not saying "the nurses were right and the OP was wrong", I'm just saying that when people make these blanket statements, there are communities that benefit from HCPs speaking a language other than English.

If the OP lived in a rural area of Wales where Welsh was commonly used I would have expected them to at least recognise the language which they did not.

Welsh is an official UK language. Not really what the op is raising. Don't think op is talking about British Sign Language either. If they spoke in a non U.K. language together in front of a person in a vulnerable position while providing care to that person they were wrong.

and I think forcing primarily Welsh speaking HCPs to speak English to, and in front of, primarily Welsh-speaking patients, will have the same effect on them as this situation had on the OP.

Yes, you're absolutely right. In the same way that if there are two Hindi speaking nurses dealing with a Hindi speaking person there's no issue with them all speaking Hindi. I was talking in generalisations, generally people in England, Scotland and Wales speak English, so generally nurses working in hospitals should speak English in front of patients. As only around 4% of the Welsh population speak Welsh as a primary language I don't think everyone speaking English is a bad starting point.