Male hospital staff

[ToadRage]

I don't really know how i feel about this or if I'm just being a bit precious. I had an appointment for a transvaginal ultrasound a couple of weeks ago. I was a bit shocked to find the sonographer was a man. A female nurse was present and she did all the talking, he barely said a word to me. I have had ultrasounds before but they have always been done by women. He was professional and nothing out of the ordinary happened but I felt a bit awkward as I haven't had a man down there except my husband in 20+ years, not even a male doctor. Am I wrong in thinking I should have been told it was going to be done by a man, maybe given the option to request a woman or AIBU?

Stop spouting your ignorance.

I was Director of Commissioning in an old NHS Primary Care Trust for three years. I was responsible for £120m a year of taxpayers' money being spent on health, and therefore had an intricate knowledge of the policy, and the evidence, behind what the NHS will and won't pay for. Believe it or not, I do know what I'm talking about.

But you’d be upset if a woman had treated your poorly and misdiagnosed you too wouldn’t you? The poor demeanour and the misdiagnosis is the issue, not the sex of the physician.

We all know how clueless NHS directors are, hence so many positions being got rid of. You clearly have no understanding of how many women feel. The fact is having male staff puts women off going to appointments and that brings a cost when things get diagnosed and treated much later. It’s also been proven too how much misogyny there is in the NHS. Male staff should not be treating women in this area. It’s dreadful that women have to put up with this.

Please tell me you do not use terms such as ‘private bits’ and ‘downstairs’ in practice, particularly with children.

No, of course not 🙂

So why on here ?

You think that backs up your previous derogatory comment ? It makes it worse ! 😬

I've been in the same position. I went for an ultrasound for suspected cancer. When I went into the examining room there was a young black guy sitting at the machine screen. The first thing I thought was, oh, he's from IT, he's fixing their machine. Nope. He was doing the ultrasound. An external ultrasound didnt show enough detail so I had to have a vaginal one. I was 69 at the time, he looked about 15. I didn't say anything, and I hope I didn't look shocked. He was very professional and it was all OK actually. I can understand a woman would want to know in advance, but if its something which bothers you, you should just ask for a female prior to the appt.

I'm not sure, but possibly I was looking for a 'catch-all' term, as I was writing about men and women. Anyway, that's probably a side issue. I left the profession after a decade, went on to do totally non-related jobs, and retired some time ago.

Can you hear yourself? You thought a young black man must be there to fix the machine? Jesus fucking Christ.

Don't be so ridiculous. I wasn't being racist at all if that's what you are implying. He could have been a scrawny, spotty, little white boy and I would still have not immediately realised he was the radiographer. I wasn't expecting to see a young man. My ultrasounds, I've had a few, have always been carried out by a female. You should think a bit before you let rip on your keyboard.

Exactly, it's not a "man thing", it's a crap doctor thing.
Male doctors/health professionals I've had in the past have been great.
Funnily enough I've had women ones who have been awful - really patronising and dismissive.
The midwife one on looking back I should have complained about really.

🤣 I’m quoting your words back at you. If his skin colour was irrelevant to you why mention it?

Same, the only doctor I’ve ever had who did something without my consent (fitted a coil while I was under anaesthetic) was a woman. Bad practice isn’t penis related, and inappropriate behaviour doesn’t only happen in women’s healthcare. It’s worrying that people would rather see longer waiting lists for women’s health than accept that some of us are content to trust in highly trained health care workers.

Of course but having a woman would save an awful lot of time and save embarrassment as she would understand what you were talking about when it comes to women’s problems. The two men looked blankly at me asked me what BV was and decided taking me by the hand and walking me to physiotherapist department would in their words ‘sort me out’ not before being subjected to an examination. I really don’t think a female Dr would do that. When describing the pain and discomfort she would highly likely know exactly what I was experiencing. Another male Dr diagnosed me with a prolapse due to childbirth I had never had a baby at that point but he insisted that was the problem. The chaperone nurses ran after me to see if I was ok and said how awful that appointment was. So no I don’t think men should be working in this area if women’s health

After I had my DC, I had to go to a specialist to look at my anal skin tags that were the result of nasty haemorrhoids during pregnancy (I was looking to remove them and they are particularly hideous and uncomfortable). The GP that referred me was a man who had a good look before the referral and then the specialist was a man too but there were no female specialists within reasonable distance from me. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more uncomfortable in my life on a medical table and they were perfectly professional.

So what do you think should happen? Do you think women should be allowed to request female HCPs at all?

And obviously, as your own issue with bad practice shows, not all HCPs are trustworthy or behave appropriately – both men and women. But as in all areas of life, men are much, much more likely to sexually predate on vulnerable women and children than women are. In addition, with the high rates of sexual violence against women and children by men in society, many women are unable to be treated by a man due to past trauma (putting aside reasons such as religion and modesty). So, how do we make sure that all women can access care, and aren’t put off seeking preventative or early medical treatment?

With mammograms, they do this by making sure that all mammographers are female. In other areas, I think medical admin should be upfront (as some pps have experienced) and inform patients when booking that their HCP may be male or female, and are they fine with that or would they rather see a female? That way, people who don’t mind can see male HCPs, and people who require female HCPs can arrange for that.

(Although really, I think it makes far more sense for people to be asked by their GP, and have it put on their medical record, so there’s no need to even waste time asking, and no worry that patients may assume wrongly.)

🤪 I was simply describing him.
He had a little goatee beard too but I didnt mention that. Not because it wasnt 'relevant" but because, obviously, I was blinded by his light brown blackness. Maybe I should have mentioned it but then, I guess, some one would have questioned why I would presume people with little goatee beards couldnt operate ultrasound machines and are only fit for IT work, which is at least as challenging as performing an ultrasound actually.
You've got a big chip on your shoulder. Why is that? No, don't tell me, I'm not interested.

Showing your bum hole to someone is not as invasive as a transvaginal ultrasound.

I was in a similar position years ago. I chose to delay the ultra sound and wait for a female sonographer. I’ve had a few ultrasounds in my life and they were all women so it didn’t occurs to me that the one where it was likely to be vaginal would be with a man. I wasn’t comfortable so I said no.

Why is it my job to come up with solutions?

People constantly minimising and dismissing the problems is a barrier to us all finding solutions so if you can stop doing that, we will be further forward.

How does employing men in roles for women’s medical care increase cost?

Are you saying that they are still paid more?

I’m glad you don’t care but if you can’t see what the problem is you are very unaware of what men are capable of and often do.

A male anaesthetist orally raping an unconscious woman undergoing a procedure.

Consultants abusing multiple children. Male midwives convicted of having images of child sexual abuse. A number of convictions for sexual assaults in the operating theatre. Numerous convictions for sexual assaults, rapes and child abuse by male hospital staff.

I posted previously that 4000 NHS staff were accused of rape, sexual assault etc. That is likely to be a lower figure than actual assaults as some NHS staff have been found covering up actual rapes and lying to the police.

We know there are men employed in the NHS who commit rape and sexual assault. They don’t have to wear a badge to earn patients. You are free to take the risk but don’t expect the rest of us to.

Although more than 4,000 NHS staff were accused of rape, sexual assault, harassment, stalking, or abusive remarks towards other staff or patients in 2017-22, the BMJ and Guardian investigation found that only 576 have faced disciplinary action.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-65671018?app-referrer=deep-link

I had to go for urodynamics. They fit a catheter and pump water into your bladder and take measurements. Then you have to wee it back out into a measuring jug under a commode. It's not very dignified!

I had a man do that which I was uncomfortable with but I didn't say anything. A female nurse was in the room but she was just faffing about tidying the cupboards.

I got to the peeing bit and the man just sat and stared at me while I wee'd. That was horrible and it made me feel like something bad had happened but I couldn't say exactly what.

I had to have the test done again but the second time it was with two females in the room and they pulled a curtain around and left me alone when it was time to wee in the jug.

I still don't understand if the man did something wrong or not.