AIBU to think you should get dressed for a medical appointment

[Ducksbehindthesofa]

Following on from the PJs on a plane post earlier today, curious to hear the consensus on this.

I had the misfortune of winding up in A&E on New Year's Day and was amazed by the number of people in grubby nightwear, dressing gowns, and slippers in the waiting room. There was an enormous amount of groaning, coughing, sniffing and sneezing going on by most of the wearers, so I guess there was a lot of the winter lurgy going on.

And last week, whilst at my GP practice (small village surgery where nobody would live more than a few minutes away), there was a woman in the waiting room wearing a dressing gown and Ugg boots, accessorised with a washing-up bowl on her knee. She did have some make-up on though, so a point was added for effort.

It's just yeuch, isn't it? If you're well enough to drag yourself to a doctor or hospital, you're well enough to at least throw some clothes on.

And I know it's none of my business and it doesn't matter one jot to me really, but I don't have to like it!

I'm sorry but wtf! If you've got time to get dressed up for a&e then you don't need to be there. Of course these people look like shit, they're unwell. I've had to rush to a&e with an unwell family member in the middle of the night. We both didn't think about what we were wearing, just to get to a&e ASAP. And yes going ourselves was quicker than calling and waiting for an ambulance as I lived less than 5 minute drive from a&e.
Also with GP surgery, yes, some symptoms of being unwell can cause you to not be able to get dressed. Someone could of dropped them off at the surgery. And this person could be really unwell but went to the GP surgery because they didn't want to feel like they were wasting time at the hospital.
Pretty judgemental tbh, and if you had time and thought to get dolled up for a&e, and brain function and time to notice peoples appearances around you, you probably didn't need to be there.
Lastly, I previously worked in GP surgery and now in a hospital, caring for these unkempt sick people, and have never judged, noticed or cared what they are wearing.

I wouldn't judge but I would personally get dressed for a regular appointment at the GP but some people can't like one OP has said. In A & E I feel you definitely don't know people's circumstances as you don't in a GP surgery but I have worked in one and never seen anyone in pj's that it was obvious.

I had pneumonia in December 2024, I turned up in my pyjamas because, well pneumonia. Sorry if my illness and lack of physical energy is “eugh” 🙄

How do you know the sniffles are what brought them to a&e? Having a cold doesn't mean that's why you're there.

As an ED consultant, if I see someone is after getting dressed and putting makeup on just to come into ED then they should not be there.

Don't be so judgmental. Especially towards the sick.

If someone has loud music or is obnoxious or having a party or talking loudly i will judge but I wouldn't sit there looking like I sucked a lemon over a dressing gown

YABU pretty sure dressing up is the last thing on their minds it's a+e their loved ones are sick 🙁

When I had to go to a&e recently - and took myself - i was in pj's.

It was new years day, and tbe day before we had for back from being away for two weeks. All my clothes apart from 'going' out clothes were waiting ti be washed still, and there was no chance I was faffing about with things like tights and shirts when feeling like death.

Someone might have been poorly for days and not got any clean comfy clothes if they hadn't done any washing. But who cares what theyre wearing? I have seeing people in shops etc in pj's but hospital and Dr's is one place I wouldn't cat any judgement at all!

One of the most harrowing days of my life was when I miscarried at 13 weeks. The pain came in waves but the panic certainly didn’t. I couldn’t get hold of my husband and I had not support around to care for my two young sons.

I have been that mother there in emergency sitting politely on a plastic bench without the mental capacity to do much more than prey my children will be distracted by the TV as I tried to hold it together inside.

I too would have asked for Frozen if I thought that would help and I would have given them anything they wanted to eat to keep to keep at bay the absolute chaos of two hyper children who have no idea what’s going on as they are forced to sit and wait in a boring reception stretches for an indeterminate amount of time.

It’s been said numerous times before on this thread but please try to have some grace for the battles you can’t see others fighting.

Ageist and wrong. Shame on you and your ridiculous comment.

I was one of those people a few times after being taken in by Ambulance. I was not physically able to dress due to having only one working arm and a severe nosebleed. Some of them were probably staying in the hospital but 'dumped' in the waiting area for whatever service/treatment they were awaiting. I wouldn't go to a GP surgery in the same state, but by it's very nature A&E is not something you plan your attendance/attire for.

I am so dosy. 🤣. I read that in the original post as a woman having a washing bowl stuck on her knee. I was thinking she must have a big knee to get a washing bowl stuck on it. 🙈.
It was only when I read your post that I realised the bowl was placed on her knee as she was feeling 🤢
Think I need to go back to bed!

From personal experience you don’t get lots of time to get ready if you are going into hospital by ambulance. I have accompanied loved ones loads of times and covering someone up with a blanket is the normal solution for not being properly dressed. I always see people in dressing gowns or very casual dress in A&E and just assume they had to leave quickly.

I saw a woman in Tesco yesterday in dressing gown and slippers....in the day time. Could people be any lazier?

I worked in the ED for 5 years, I saw plenty of people who didn't need to be there.. DH went in in a cardiac ambulance as well, I helped him in a track suit,he doesn't wear or possess PJ's. He ended up in the public waiting area 9 hours. Not even a chair, because there was whole families and people handcuffed to police..

I'm sceptical. My DM was of the 'Make sure you wear clean underwear in case you get knocked down by a car ' persuasion. I was triaged quickly and treated quickly because I was an obviously sick child.

Last time I was in A + E ( sent by OOH GP in December last year) the place was rammed, I was properly dressed, with a bag of stuff ready for a prolonged wait , quietly sitting and knitting. Was my naice middle-class appearance the reason that, within 20 minutes of being triaged, I was cannulated and on a nebuliser while the doctors debated whether to give me oral steroids or IV steroids? No, I suspect that, despite the fact that I did not look ill, the doctors treated me based upon my symptoms and not my appearance.

I've had plenty of experience of being talkd-down-to by HCPs, and of being discounted because of being a woman. But not in A&E.

Seriously!? Some people are too ill to get dressed.
And did you or did you not realise the washing up bowl was for sick? Should she have nipped to the shops before coming, to get a ceramic mixing bowl to match her outfit?

Chemo patient here. Back in July after an infusion of chemo, I became unwell at home. I had been in my pyjamas over the weekend ( when I started to feel off). By the Monday, I really wasn't well, so off to a&e it was, in pyjamas, slippers, dressing gown and a sick bowl. Hell doesn’t come close and I couldn’t have cared less what I wore!

My reason for turning up at A&E in my p.j's....I slipped on the bathroom floor when I stepped out of the bath. I slammed my chest on the side of the bath before I hit the deck. I was in agony (pain worse than childbirth). Didn't call an ambulance but DP took me to hospital to get checked out. The only thing I could put on was my pyjama top which buttoned up at the front and the elasticated bottoms. It was either that or go in naked....which would you choose in that situation OP?

@worldshottestmom
"Took my unresponsive DS to A&E when he was 11 months old. Was in the waiting room for 10 minutes and seen one family there in particular who pissed me off. All kids running around screaming, certainly didnt seem to need emergency care (how would I know, right?), the mum gets up and asks the receptionist if they can change the film on the TV to frozen. Like really. Asking all the excited kids what they wanted from Subway, it was like a kids birthday party and a complete joke to all the other people waiting there that actually needed seeing to, having to wait in a queue behind this woman who brought her kids to A&E to watch a film and eat a Subway."
My eldest GC had a bowel condition. Until she was 8 and could have the necessary surgery, we used to have to take her to A&E with severe constipation. Because she was used to the pain and discomfort, you wouldn't know that anything was going on. They'd do a clear out.
My youngest GC became immune to Amoxicillin, she was waiting for grommets and needed hearing aids. She often got infections that they wanted to swab, rather than give out antibiotics. She also used to get cellulitis of the eye, which you wouldn't notice from a distance, but again, we had to go to A&E. Sometimes we'd go after waiting for 111 to call us back, or after the walk-in/GP, so the children I had to take with me, were hungry. She once had pneumonia and sepsis, she rallied well enough to be a nuisance at one point, but she was seriously ill. A&E isn't just for emergency care anymore. Some people have to go because they need tests/swabs/supervised treatment. People who have chronic conditions, or specific conditions have to go through A&E because of the way healthcare has changed.

I don't own clothes without sleeves, or with sleeves that you can get a drip in with, so I'd go with a PJ top on, over winter. When I go in, I need IV antibiotics. I usually need hydration as well.

Cool story bro. Hope your GC is ok. This thread is dead now, OP apologised when she really didn't need to, idk why people are still bothering to comment other than to take their anger out on people for having a different opinion to their own.

Makes me wonder why you’ve commented bro!

I’ll continue to comment as I see fit, I’ll also comment that far from not needing to apologise, the OP did and shouldn’t be so judgemental.

Perhaps OPs learnt a valuable lesson?

It’s not something I would do,
I was at a&e a few days ago (for potential stroke ) and there was a family there,the patient with a broken nose (he said it was that ) he was dressed but the 3 family members with him were in their pyjamas,dressing gowns and Uggs.now that is lazy.

There are some really nasty comments on here. OP clearly said medical appointment not emergency.

Yet OP's first example was A&E where you can't get medical appointments.