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Original poster

What does it mean when a DR or nurse says this??

118 replies

Upsidedownsouffle · 14/08/2022 01:40

I saw a consultant 2 weeks ago at the hospital and could see my notes on the screen and saw the referral letter said ‘Upsidedownsouffle is a pleasant (age)year old lady’

just to clarify I’ve got a great GP and have never had any bother whatsoever. Thankfully I’ve rarely had to go, but anytime I have gone they’ve been really helpful and solved the problem or helped in any way eg referring me. I always say thank you and sorry thousands of times in a single conversation (I’m one of those people!) and I probably come across as really annoying but I have a phobia of coming across as rude or obnoxious to people.

im just purely curious as I’ve never actually seen a referral letter- when it says pleasant, does that mean the GP genuinely thought you were a nice person? Or is it just an automatic thing and it doesn’t mean anything?

when I read it I was like awww that’s nice maybe I’m not the rude horrible person I’m so scared of being, then I realised it’s probably just an automatic thing and doesn’t mean anything 😂

OP posts:
110APiccadilly · 14/08/2022 04:34

DD had regular pediatrician visits for the first 15 months of her life (then they finally decided nothing was wrong with her!) After every visit, I'd get a copy of the letter the pediatrician sent to her GP, and they always said, "It was a pleasure to see [name] on [date]." I assumed that was standard format, not that the pediatrician was so impressed with the cuteness of DD that seeing her had made her day, or anything like that!

spla · 14/08/2022 04:41

I think doctors sometimes make a comment like that to exclude a lot of other possibiliteis. If you are able to be pleasant to them then you are in some way 'with it' during the consultation and aren't as likely to be in a state of such extreme distress, pain or confusion that you can't maintain a polite and rational conversation.

NotASecret · 14/08/2022 04:49

A consultant received me as charming in a letter; I suspect now it was code for 'talked nervously a lot during appt'.

Stopsnowing · 14/08/2022 04:51

My letters describe me as ‘delightful’. I am not.

P0ndering · 14/08/2022 05:15

I worked as a medical secret during uni summers at local hospital 20+ years ago and was always mildly amused by the consultants dictated their letters, almost all were exactly as above I saw this pleasant lady in clinic today and then went onto describe all kinds of unpleasant things (especially in dermatology) and had set ways of signing off, discharging or wanting to see them in 6 months / year etc. It was quite formal but also flowery language. Took some getting used to but once you got the hang of it very repetitive!

P0ndering · 14/08/2022 05:16

^ not a secret... a secretary! Woukdbt make a good secretary now!

Poppiesway1 · 14/08/2022 05:25

110APiccadilly · 14/08/2022 04:34

DD had regular pediatrician visits for the first 15 months of her life (then they finally decided nothing was wrong with her!) After every visit, I'd get a copy of the letter the pediatrician sent to her GP, and they always said, "It was a pleasure to see [name] on [date]." I assumed that was standard format, not that the pediatrician was so impressed with the cuteness of DD that seeing her had made her day, or anything like that!

My ds was always described as being “in high spirits” as he used to hang off the door handle and was up and down off the chairs.. he has adhd. He can manage to sit down in his appointments now and hold conversations but when he was little and they wanted to see him unrestricted 😂nightmare

Nugg · 14/08/2022 05:32

Completely normal way for doctors to refer to you. It's like a script.

Mindymomo · 14/08/2022 06:11

My DH letters say, “it was a pleasure to meet this delightful person”. My DH is very curteous when he meets someone and always thanks them for their time. He used to take his DF to hospital appointments and had to remind him to thank the consultant. His letters started “I met this gentleman”.

Spinfit · 14/08/2022 06:20

I automatically use pleasant unless the patient is not pleasant in which case it is just "Thank you for referring this X year old lady" 😅

GrilledWatermelon · 14/08/2022 06:26

I thought it bizarre that all my neurologist letters started "I met this 49 year old right handed lady in my clinic...". Until I learned that being left or right handed is relevant in anything neurology related.

Can't recall being called pleasant though, which is a pity as I'm always polite, courteous and grateful!

I do talk a lot and ask questions though. Only in a curious way, not an arrogant way.

KweenieBeanz · 14/08/2022 06:31

When my kids were babies the health visitors always used to write in the red book that they were 'well presented'. A friend later told me this is HV code to other HV's that the baby was in clean clothes, washed, smelling clean etc and thus not a red flag that mum wasn't coping /in need of support.

Diverseopinions · 14/08/2022 06:37

If it is an adjective which has been in use for some decades, it may reflect a slightly different and old-fashioned meaning: it might mean seeking to be cooperative ( eg to please) or it might not be an objective critique of your personality, but might, instead, reflect the ease with which the clinician felt that they had been able to obtain information from you - it pleased them; the session was positive for them.

Today, 'pleasant' is often used, in routine life, to describe a fixed personal attribute, such as conscientious, kind, thoughtful, patient. In clinical speech, I think it often refers more to how a patient presented on the day.

bringonthesunshinefinally · 14/08/2022 06:40

I’ve had the word delightful used a quite few times in my referral letters. Always thought it was strange too as I don’t think I’m particularly delightful!

wheresthetimegone4 · 14/08/2022 06:43

I saw a letter my GP once sent about me for a referral as well and it said the exact same thing and I remember mentioning it to GP as a funny thing for GP to say...!

70billionthnamechange · 14/08/2022 06:43

HoppingPavlova · 14/08/2022 02:31

It means you are ‘normal’, not a pita or likely to tell the referring specialist how to do their job etc. It is not some special thing they put there just for you because they were stunned by your ‘pleasantness’.

If this all takes up a lot of mental space for you, and you feel the need to say please and thank you constantly throughout a consultation (which is actually annoying), maybe consider some professional assistance to get you over this aspect as it must be tiring.

You, however sound the opposite of pleasant

DangerouslyBored · 14/08/2022 06:44

It’s just a fairly benign, inoffensive but rather unimaginative adjective 🤷🏻‍♀️

Motorina · 14/08/2022 06:46

It’s code. If a consultant knows that this GP always asks, “please can you see this pleasant lady…” and suddenly gets “Please can you see this lady…” then it means ‘who is a pain in the arse’ without having to say it.

it’s a bit old fashioned now and not every Dr does it, so don’t panic if you see a letter where you’re not delightful!

Frenzi · 14/08/2022 06:46

I'm a GP secretary and I automatically type this as the start to the letters whilst I'm waiting for the dictation to load!

I have noticed that the younger GP's don't tend to use it as much.

They all put your age in it though - "thank you for seeing this 49 year old....." which I don't understand as it quite clearly gives your date of birth in the text at the start of the letter.

They all end their letters in a very similar way too.

Punkypinky · 14/08/2022 06:48

110APiccadilly · 14/08/2022 04:34

DD had regular pediatrician visits for the first 15 months of her life (then they finally decided nothing was wrong with her!) After every visit, I'd get a copy of the letter the pediatrician sent to her GP, and they always said, "It was a pleasure to see [name] on [date]." I assumed that was standard format, not that the pediatrician was so impressed with the cuteness of DD that seeing her had made her day, or anything like that!

Yes all of the many letters about my dd from every professional had this phrase in too.

There was one that said something like "dd is clearly in charge" which was an appointment where she wasn't cooperating🤦‍♀️.

FangsForTheMemory · 14/08/2022 06:54

I’m now going to go through every doctor’s letter I’ve got to see how they describe me!

WoodlandWalks123 · 14/08/2022 07:03

Standard wording

Footle · 14/08/2022 07:07

My grandfather had a referral letter that he was supposed to hand to the consultant. He opened it. It started 'this obese little man'. He was so cross that he threw it away.

olympicsrock · 14/08/2022 07:10

I used to write all my letters describing this pleasant lady , unless they were difficult in which case I wrote thank you for referring this 50 year old lady.
About 10 years ago there was a drive for people not to do this so many doctors just describe a 50 year old lady . I now write “ it was a pleasure to meet this 50 year old lady” or if they were really fab such as a 90 year old who is an absolute trooper I describe them as delightful to remind myself that I really liked them and to go the extra mile.

I don’t think you can take much from this but delightful does still mean something…

Lndnmummy · 14/08/2022 07:10

I usually get delightful.
once I had "assertive" 😅.

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