By calling a surgeon sir, or should I call him doctor?

[teaandcake32]

I am aware there is etiquette around addressing Dr's and surgeons.

Should you call a surgeon Mr ..........., what if you don't know his surname.

Would Sir be an insult? Would Dr be an insult?

Please help me find the correct terminology, wise women of Mumsnet.

Are you a patient?

Most (but not all) surgeons use the title Mr/Miss/Mrs/Ms rather than Dr. Their preferred title will be on any letters/emails you have from the hospital. You can just call them Dr Smith or Mr/Miss/Mrs/Ms Smith. You don’t need to call them Sir or anything. They’re not your teacher.

Honestly, though, the vast majority of surgeons really don’t care what you call them and will not mind at all how address them provided you’re polite!

FWIW, although I’m not a healthcare worker, I have worked with quite a lot of surgeons and consultants in the past, and at work it was expected that we just used their first names (including for the ones who were professors and even knights and dames)!

@Daffodildilys really? The consultant surgeons my parents have seen over the past 18 month have all been Mr/Miss, and their online profiles also refer to them with those titles 🤔

Lol everyone has an opinion. Is there an actual consultant on here that will give an unequivocal answer?

My surgeon insisted on being called Mr rather than doctor. Every time I slipped I got corrected.

All the doctors, including consultants, at the hospital I go to for a multitude of reasons have all taken to introducing themselves by their first names. About time too.

Mr/Mrs/Muss/Ms SoandSo or just doctor.

A friend who is a doctor told me that surgeons have the equivalent of a PhD but usually a PhD gives you the title of ‘Dr.’ whereas the surgeon would have already had that title from their prior study. So doctors who get a PhD get the title of Mr./Mrs./Miss.

Consultant surgeons are Mr, Consultant physicians are Dr. If you don't know the surgeons surname you can just say Dr, they would not be insulted, don't worry

The young ones maybe but surely not the older ones? I am in my 50s and really dislike people I don’t know calling me by my first name, especially professionals - it’s so patronising, I am not a little girl.

I'm a consultant ( a medical consultant). The people who have said (as I have) that Mr/Miss is higher ranking than Dr are just wrong.

A doctor that uses the title Mr or Miss is indicating that they have passed their postgraduate surgical exams. This happens several years before they can become a surgical consultant - it has nothing to do with beinga consultant and everything to do with being a surgeon. If you are a physician (or anything that isn't a surgeon), you will stay Dr throughout your career.

Agreed, nothing more teeth itchy than hearing a nurse be completely deferential to a consultant etc. healthcare is about collaborative working, in my experience the best example of this is found on intensive care units!

Lol everyone has an opinion. Is there an actual consultant on here that will give an unequivocal answer?

I actually asked my Rheumatologist who is a consultant and is known as Dr surname.

He said to me "I don't carve people up, so I'm Dr, the butchers are Mr/Mrs/Miss etc, we're both consultants."

I call up and ask for an appointment with Rob… and when I go in we spend 20mins ribbing each other about our respective recent race times, and moaning about how our diets are going / failing.

Its hilarious to think people are still so deferential to dentists / HCP’s (but then, I’m an HCP - different field - and v informal with my own patients)

And obs/gynae consultants are Mr or Miss because it’s considered a branch of surgery (kind of), ie there is surgery involved. And all the female consultants I know are Miss even if married.

Most consultant surgeons don’t give a shit what patients call them, well, as long as it’s polite, they’re just people at the end of the day. It’s normally Mrs, Miss, Ms, Mr or Professor X, Y, Z. I can hand on heart say DH has been called much worse by me at times 😂

He said to me "I don't carve people up, so I'm Dr, the butchers are Mr/Mrs/Miss etc, we're both consultants."

I’ve heard some doctors saying this a few times and it’s too funny to watch some surgeons take real offence at it.

There are 4 Katies in our team. We do use first names and initials internally (Katie F, Katie V), but I suspect you would like to know whether you are seeing Professor of Medicine Katie Smith, Dr Katy Woburn her registrar, nurse specialist Katie Edwards, or surgical consultant Miss Katie Jones. All of whom are women in their 30s-40s.

Surgeons go by Mr/Ms

The younger/more modern ones tend to by first name these days though. DD has only ever known her 2 spinal surgeons by Sam and Alex! I much prefer this, far less intimidating

That's nonsense.

DH’s surgeon is a Prof - although I think DH dropped the Prof bit once they started comparing fancy pushbikes.

A friend who is a doctor told me that surgeons have the equivalent of a PhD but usually a PhD gives you the title of ‘Dr.’ whereas the surgeon would have already had that title from their prior study. So doctors who get a PhD get the title of Mr./Mrs./Miss.

What are they a Doctor in, Zoology?

If they are a medical Doctor, don't go to them with an illness.

Mr.
I got told off for referring to a surgeon as Dr once

Nope. Surgeons can call themselves Mr/Miss once they have passed their Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons (MRCS) exams. Nothing to do with PhDs - though many doctors of all flavours will do one at some point, it doesn't change their title.

It's worth knowing that some keen beans pass their MRCS very early, within 2 years of leaving med school. They are still a long way off being a consultant surgeon.

I'm a consultant anaesthetist (without a PhD), and I'm Dr. Mostly introduce myself by my first name + surname, but some patients prefer a slightly more formal approach. I really don't mind what my juniors call me. A lot of non-doctor theatre staff just call us all "doctor" because they find it easier than remembering the names of all the ever-changing trainees.

Depends how they introduce themselves. some of the consultants I work with introduce themselves to patients as Mr or Miss X and some as first name and surname. Strictly speaking consultants who are also surgeons are referred to as Mr/Mrs/Miss X and other doctors Dr X

Every surgeon is a doctor- don;t worry, if people get offended then you need to find another surgeon/doctor -the status of surgeon and doctor is the same, they just do different roles.

Bit off topic but once, many years ago, I heard my boyfriend at the time call his bank manager sir over the phone. A little bit of me died inside and the ick set in.