To have found my first mammogram really upsetting?

[YompingJo]

Got a letter through with very basic details if an appointment. Turned up and found the whole thing demeaning. Tiny room, intimidating machine taking up most of it. The radiologist was monosyllabic and bossy and manhandled me into the right position including grabbing each breast and shoving it into position, pushing other bits of my body out of the way, not once asking first. I know it's a necessary procedure, but a bit of sensitivity would have gone a long way, and having the respect to ask for consent before grabbing a breast is a basic consideration. I'm autistic and needed to know much more what to expect beforehand. The letter gave a way to request assistance in the case of SEN, but I don't consider myself to have SEN and didn't know what I'd need until I was right there, so that wasn't any help. There was a QR code for feedback, which I gave but I just feel... invaded and demeaned. AIBU?

Of course I understand what burn out means, and I’m not your dear, please there is no need to be so patronising.

You are talking utter nonsense, as I too work in the NHS and have never and would never talk to a healthcare professional like shit. I know first hand too what an utter state our NHS is in, and how low morale is.

But circling back to this thread, being burnt out is not an excuse to minimise the OP’s poor treatment she received in an invasive environment. Everyone who works in the NHS should have empathy for our patients and treat them with respect. Which the OP didn’t receive.

I absolutely hold the politicians responsible. But these threads haranguing the frontline workers boil my blood because we face this on a daily basis as if we are personally responsible for the pathetic funding and resource of the NHS, as if we should somehow be able to do more with less, the disgusting vitriol spewed at us daily just like this thread is alarming and demoralising.
I really don't give a shit what you believe or think. Go do that poor radiographers job no doubt double the demand for less pay than a few years ago. All day every day with people treating her like shit. Then come spout your judgements.

Sorry but I’ve worked in various public facing roles, including advisory, benefits and healthcare and l agree with this poster. The level of entitlement is breathtaking.

This. 100%

Erm you swore at me more than once so I can patronise all I like.
Again we only have the OPs perception of it. Mammograms are awful and embaressing. HCP are not bloody psychic. I have had complaints which sound awful on the face of it but funnily enough when the call is listened to (by someone independant) it isn't really as the complainer said just their perception because they didn't get what they wanted/how they wanted/when they wanted/treated as they expected. And I can assure you the change in the last 10 years is frankly absurd. The system is broken but the HCP in front of you isn't the problem. Keep voting tory and there won't be any left.
Whenever people like you are challenged suddenly you've worked in all the fields....I don't believe you're a HCP that's for sure

Please quote where I have sworn at you.

HCP are not bloody psychic. Yes. I agree. But they should be treating all patients with empathy, respect and ensuring they are comfortable and know what to expect during an appointment. Which the OP didn’t receive.

I have never voted Tory in my life. Always been labour. Most likely going Green this year.

I have never said the HCP on the front line are the reason the system is broken. Far from it. The NHS is broken due to 14 years of austerity. But that is no excuse for burnt out staff to be so condescending and dismissive to patients. No excuse at all.

I don't believe you're a HCP that's for sure. I’m shocked you’re a HCP if I’m being totally honest. And I can imagine you haven’t completed or engaged with the Oliver McGowan mandatory training. That’s for sure.

S

I am an AHP, so yes I do actually have a job similar to that radiographer. Burnout is absolutely no excuse to treat people like rubbish and I am genuinely alarmed by your attitude. Perhaps your are better off in a different career if this is genuinely how you feel patients should be treated.

I am respectful, helpful and cheery with patients and therefore 99% of the time they give the same respect and attitude back. If you treat them like shit then then they will (rightfully) reciprocate which considering your attitude and volume of so called ‘entitled’, horrible patients I feel is what is happening in your case

Erm where on earth did I say people should be treated like shit. Are you looking to find offense?? I said perhaps the OPs perception was not quite how it happened. I don't treat anyone like shit as I described in my example above. Where the patients perception (and complaint) was completely disproven by an actual recording of what happened.

So just to clarify. You believe I should be treated badly because of how you perceive I treat my patients by an anonymous MN post? The mind boggles by the mental gymnastics you must have made to blame me for this.

Oh, come on. 'Extra time and handholding' is not what I would call a basic explanation from the radiographer of what to expect at her very first mammogram. For example, 'I am going to be shifting you about a bit, to make sure we get a good clear image.' Which can be said as she enters the room, if you're that mad keen on saving a few seconds.

Pretty well every mammographer I've had (10 plus) have managed to say considerably more than that during the appointment.

And so rude to dispute what OP saw, heard, perceived, felt, and experienced.

Several people telling the OP she 'should' have googled the procedure first. Because of course - the first thing to come up, would be that she'd be treated in a demeaning an uncaring manner by this particular person on this particular day. How was she supposed to anticipate that? Are we actually blaming another woman for her own poor treatment, because she didn't... What? Lower her standards like a good girl? Prepare properly for someone's lack of basic respect? And the only person who needed to 'use her words' was the HCP and she'd only have needed to utter one or two of the right ones.

@BurnoutGP I have no reason to doubt the OPs 'perception' of her treatment as I had a very similar experience. As have several others on this thread.
As I have previously said, I was particularly surprised by the attitude because I have had a lot of dealings with vary NHS staff in different departments, hospitals and trusts, and all of them have been polite, friendly, helpful and informative.
On this occasion the radiographer (as I understand it, although there was nothing to inform me that's who she was), didn't bother even saying hello or give me her name. There was certainly no thought of explaining her actions.

Oh fuck off

How erudite you are.

Agree with this. I'm sorry that happened.

NHS literature states that actually attending for the screening implies consent, and that if the procedure is uncomfortable or distressing, the patient has a right to withdraw that consent.

S

On the contrary - I was perfectly charming until she decided to repeatedly speak to me as if I were something nasty stuck to her shoes.

You can find my more erudite post/s further back, before the poster I quoted was so dismissive and unpleasant to the OP.

I had this today. I had been experiencing constant pain in my right breast for a month or two, which was different to cyclical period related breast pain, so I was referred for a mammogram plus ultrasound by my GP, which I had at the hospital today.

I can sort of get where you are coming from OP, as the mammogram felt like they were barking orders at me, but I appreciated it was just because I was just one of many that they needed to scan day, the NHS is very stretched, and they need to do it as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Even if the person doing it had been more chatty, I don't think, for me, it would have made the experience of, essentially, having my breasts in a vice any more pleasant!

In my case, there was nothing wrong but they think the pain is inflammation of where my ribs meet the breastbone (Costochondritis) and apparently this feels like the pain is coming from your breast, because of the position. Most likely brought on by lifting 15 kg of 2.5 yr old DS!

I agree.

I'm not autistic and I'm done with any sort of intimate examination c/o the NHS. Horrific and demeaning, always. Went private for a smear test and they used a plastic speculum the right size for my vagina, rather than a one-size-doesn't-fit-all metal one - and was treated with respect.

My NHS smears have always been plastic in my memory - it's possible the first couple in my 20s weren't; I don't remember, but certainly the last few have been. They use different sizes, too, because the nurse had a couple of different ones ready before deciding which was best for me last time I was there.

I don't know when you last had a smear on the NHS but we haven't used one size metal speculum for at least 10 years. We all use variable one use plastic ones for some time.