to wonder why consultants have a reputation of being so rude???

[staydazzling]

Been in hospital a few days, nurses, midwifes, auxiliary, care staff all very keen to do their best in hard circumstances always trying to help, largely on time etc, I sadly couldn't say the same for the consultants /surgeons sadly not just in terms of taking literally hours to turn but also how i saw them speak to said, nurses, midwifes, care staff etc and patients.
I jokingly mentioned this to a relative who works cleaning and sterlising equipment, who said yes its well known sadly, your lucky if any move or say thank you for returned equipment, i just wondered why is this a thing, AIBU to wonder where did that culture of behaviour come from?

Purple pansy I'm as resilient and mature as the next man.
And I can handle difficult conversations day in day out. But it would not be sensible to suggest that it doesn't have an impact. And sometimes that results in me using a less than perfect tone of voice, or reacting in a way that doesn't result in me being walked all over and doing everyone else's job while nobody does mine.

My friends a consultant and he’s a nice polite guy. I notice he doesn’t use a capital i when texting and that bugs me 😂

PenguinWings, don't forget that every patient is different and comes to you in hope you'll be professional and kind. It's a fresh start. They really aren't interested in you having a bad day, their situation is probably difficult already. So no matter how difficult it sometimes is, it is never fair to show it to them.

The consultant is the line manger of the junior Drs and the medical director is the consultants line manager

The ward manager is the line manager of nursing staff abs the director of nursing is their ultimate manager

Community midwives will have a team leader.

The chief executive is ultimately responsible for all the Trusts employees

PALS just exists to make it easy to direct your complaint to the right place.

Generally all NHS organisations will have a management structure chart on their website.

We are hugely regulated.
We are appraised every year and revalidated every 5 and we must present anonymously collected patient and colleague feedback at each one.
PALS exists
The GMC exists
Performance metrics and patient feedback are routinely collected and monitored on a dashboard and feedback and improvement plans will be put in place for anyone not performing.

I really would like to see examples of which professions are more regulated than that??

No-one at all does 'whatever they like' in the modern NHS

There are NICE standards AMA policies and procedures based on those. Of course there is room for some inter individual variation but it's not the Wild West. If you go significantly off piste you will be disciplined

Oh yeh CQC
Forgot to mention that

Seriously we are not under regulated

One of my consultants I had for an operation was so rude to a nurse, I found myself apologising for his behaviour. I’m sure lots are good too though.

I think there is a combination of things to be honest.

Firstly, I don't think it applies to all consultants. You get some good and some bad.

Secondly, consultants often have a huge caseload. They're often just going from patient to patient. This often leads to stress as well.

Thirdly, I think some may have compassion fatigue.

And last but not least, some are just assholes with a god complex. I say this as someone who had direct experience of working with some lovely, and some not so lovely consultants.

I've had loads of nice consultants. I think they just tend to say it as it is, and shoo you out, which I quite like. Can't be doing with faffing around during appointments

Nearly all of the ones I met have been rude. Maybe they don't see me as a person? I fear for the vulnerable.

I've had lots of experience of paediatric surgeons and consultants rather than adult ones. I'd say the surgeons are worse for their attitude. I owe them my son's life, several times over so i don't mean that disrespectfully but it's true. I've seen a surgeon ball out a nurse for the patients l not being on the state they wanted them in front of not just me the parent but other staff. Yet he let me stand in his office and scream and shout at him without uttering a word in rebuttal or in anyway it affecting our care.

I had one consultant on Picu who everyone knew was a total bitch and she was an insensitive frigging cow to the parents too. Yet we got admitted to PICU 10 months later under less life and death circumstances and she remembered us, came over to say hi, comment on how well he was doing (she'd stood at the Ned of my bed reading off a tick list of possible consequences of a genetic diagnosis when he was 4 weeks old, had told me to stop crying and pull myself together rather harshly when he was still in the night not live days, had balled out junior doctors for DS being too sedated etc) and yet was here, genuinely thrilled to see us.

So I think sometimes it's just about what side of them you see. We have some truly lovely consultants

I worked with consultants professionally and the two I saw most often were both really rude, but we worked in addiction services and I got the feeling they were being rude about the clients rather than generally.

But in a personal setting every consultant I've ever met was lovely. Even the surgeon! 😏

And in balance I've had the odd god damn awful nurse and a snarky anaesthetist

No one can say all consultants are rude, of course.
However, I've met more than my fair share over the years and a disproportionate amount were extremely arrogant and superior in their attitude.

As for being super busy, well many of us are, it doesn't give anyone the right to talk down to someone, particularly if they are ill/elderly/anxious/vulnerable etc., which many patients seeing a consultant would be.

I think many have had years of people looking up to them as it's such highly regarded position and become entitled and arrogant.

Helplessprocastinator

I think you may have been very lucky then, to work in such a harmonious place. I think it is extremely unlikely that of all professions involved in healthcare, it is only doctors- and in deed, even within that profession mainly one group (consultants) who have been rude. I think it’s a bit of generalisation and, frankly, unfair.

I’ll admit a possible bias as I’m a consultant- I have many flaws (as do we all) but I don’t think rudeness is one of them. I think, like most professions, there is a spectrum of personalities with a spectrum of strengths and weaknesses- rudeness being one of them. I think it’s a lazy generalisation that only doctors are rude.

Of course, I have met the odd rude consultant in my time. I have also met a number of rude nurses, a couple of midwives who were renowned for being difficult and one clinical pharmacist was known for being “tricky” when I was a junior doctor. I’ve also encountered sonographers, physios, lab staff, HCA’s, porters and people working in medical records who were definitely rude. I am astounded that you work in an NHS setting and the only people who are anything but lovely or wonderful to you and everyone around them has been a consultant.

A few years ago I was advised by surgery to go to A&E because of low blood count. All the lower level people who attended to me had a name tag with their position and introduced themselves. They also told me what they were about to do (take blood, do an ECG etc). So no complaints about any of them.

At a later stage a young man in a short overall appeared and started ordering everyone about. He hardly spoke to me. Then it became apparent that they were intending to admit me. I was quite angry and asked the young man his function. He said he was the A&E consultant.

I told him "Well what happened to professional courtesy? You could have said, Hello Im MR X the A&E consultant, and we think it would be best if we admitted you because XXX. Instead you have not even introduced yourself or explained the procedure."

He appeared open mouthed at being spoken to like this, especially when I went on to inform him that I did not consent to being admitted and insisted on coming back the next day fort whatever treatment was needed.

My nephew then proceeded to inform him that his aunt had several degrees, including a Ph.D and was probably better qualified than he was.

Why do these people think they are gods? If they want respect then they should behave in a courteous and professional manner.

The only consultatant I have ever dealt with saved me and my sons life. He was a grade A prick it felt like but he saved our lives, so I wasn't to bothered about his bedside manners at the time.
Spoke to him later after the operation and thanked him for saving our lives and he was still a tosser but all the same, still grateful.

Exactly @jacks11. People are rude, some are now ride by a sense of superiority or power but they're probably still be rude if they were making your coffee in the local cafe.

I had a sonographer so rude he nearly got smacked by me AND my lovely nurse.

I am a senior registrar in surgery in a specialty where little thing matter hugely. I make a point of being kind and polite to colleagues and patients. Occasionally I get a bit Curt with junior doctors if they have been lazy ( rare) or not done something really important that has endangered my patient. I really care about my patients and get annoyed if Patient care is not excellent.
Like everyone else there are good doctors and bad doctors but no one is at their best when stressed or overworked.

@DougRossIsTheBoss.

Hope you get well soon.
Take care of yourself

We’re people, the same as anyone else. There is a range of behaviors, as with any other group of normal people.

I find the idea that doctors are a specific type really odd. Why would we not be people with a range of characteristics?

As it happens, by far the worst and rudest behaviour and the worst incidents of bullying I’ve witnessed in 15 years have not been from medical staff.....

Goodness sneakysnoopysniper, I’m sure you were met with rounds of applause and shouts of ‘huzzah for the truth teller’ for that outburst which definitely happened and isn’t at all a fantastical retelling of you being very much less bolshy in reality.

They can be difficult and can be good fun too. I worked as a senior sister and matron for a few years and some of the hardest days were when I had to battle with consultants. However, when I was leaving the very ones who had given me the hardest of times were the ones asking me to stay. They quite often just want the best for patients but quite often would forget that we are all on the same side.

I love them. Never had a bad one. From psychiatrists to oncologists to surgeons.

My own experience has been very different. I’ve met lots of consultants as the parent of a very ill neonate and later very disabled complex child; as a patient myself; and more recently ferrying my elderly mum to many and varied appointments. I’ve found consultants to be disproportionately nice with excellent interpersonal skills.
I thought the old Sir Lancelot Spratt type was extinct.
My worst experiences have been with a small minority of ward nurses and non-nursing ward staff. I’ve found the more senior the nurse the better in general, even to the extent of doing menial tasks to make patients comfortable when less qualified ward staff refused (getting pillows, or cereal for patients who’ve missed meals through being off ward through no fault if their own). I’ve occasionally felt junior doctors have reacted defensively to questions I’ve put to them and been prickly, which I think is borne of insecurity. I was never questioning critically but in order to understand, I think more experienced and confident doctors get this and I have been very grateful for the time these very busy people have taken to explain .

I've met a fair few and I'd say I've only met one real arsehole he's in women's health and honestly shouldn't be, he's lied on his website about his surgical skills and seems above the law when I complained about his conduct in my appointment. I literally can't get anywhere in the system to listen to a serious complaint.