AIBU to expect a gown and privacy during an early mammogram?

[Cranberry2020]

Today I attended for my first mammogram under the screening age due to family history.
i was called and the radiographer didn’t introduce herself. Inside the room she just asked me to undress to waist and started asking me questions. I wasn’t offered a gown etc and I got down to bra and felt cold. I requested a gown for dignity and she said they don’t have them here. That’s the machine is only over there. I felt uncomfortable and tried to ask again. She denied one. She then said she needed to get someone else in and went and got the receptionist who was an older lady. The radiographer then gaslit me by telling the receptionist how unreasonable I was asking for a gown etc. that the receptionist had to hear two sides but then didn’t let me speak. I was still in my bra and now the door to the corridor was open. The receptionist told me if I’d wanted a gown I should have mentioned it earlier. I left the wrong way and came back and heard they were still talking about me negatively. I then found a nurse and explained by now generally upset. The consultant appeared and said that it’s down to perceived communication which I couldn’t accept completely as I really asked nicely for a gown and explained why. She also said that if I left now I’d have to ‘wait a long time for another one’. I’ve been left reeling. I have other long term conditions and do have some medical PTSD. I’ve had lots of healthcare interactions including a recent internal gynae scan yet I felt fully cared for and treated with dignity and respect. AIBU? Thanks

I'm not in the UK. I've had at least 20 mammograms over the years and for every one of them I've had a gown on. A clean one that goes into the laundry after. One that opens at the front. you walk to the machine, take the gown off one side - pull your arm out - and proceed. then ditto with the other side.

It wouldn't bother me if I was stark naked having a mammogram but I've always been in a gown. I imagine they don't offer them because of the cost of buying them and laundering them.

Wow. I’ve always been given a gown and told to take everything above the waist off which I do in a cubicle . Then I get called in and the gown is removed for the exam. The nurses have always been gentle and respectful and while it is not a comfortable experience they do it all day long so are efficient. I have never heard of anyone experiencing anything like what you describe. Shame on them.
However why did you need a gown in the examination room? I get one because I am in a different waiting area (with other women also waiting for a mammogram) and then get called in, once in you take it off. They can’t do the exam with it on.

It's odd when I think about it, my mammogram was brash like this, but my colonoscopy I had a gown and even paper 'dignity' shorts. I asked why the shorts as all they do is rip the back and stick a camera in your arse (how is that dignified?!) and they basically chuckled with me about it.

I have had a couple of mammograms in the USA though and totally different experience. Ladies only area of the hospital, men can wait in the waiting area outside. Changing room with lovely front opening wrap around gowns and wipes laid out for you, wipe any sweat and deodorant off and ready to go in gown. Everything explained and time taken. Was all free on my insurance, but obv the healthcare there is basically private.

I’d say yes, definitely. I’ve had three in mobile units and they’ve been warm, and very comfortable all round. And very definitely all female inside.

I agree with this, dignity is really important and it's sounds like the service let the OP down by firstly not explaining what would happen, secondly by not recommending the wearing of a shirt/cardigan to give a bit of cover and then finally speaking about her as being unreasonable when she had gone: as a PP said, the technicians may well do this day in day out but it's a (hopefully) rare and infrequent event for the patient.
Not listening and more so, acting on patients adverse experiences, is one reason why screening attendances are so low. Doesn't matter if a celebrity has (for example) a cervical smear test on daytime TV, if a patient has a bad experience, that is what will influence future attendance.
I would complain to PALS @Cranberry2020 , at the very least the information given to patients should include what to expect, including walking about topless and a suggestion of a shirt / cardigan if they are not comfortable with doing that.
Edited for typos.

Ive probably had over 20 mammograms since I was diagnosed with breast cancer and I’ve never been offered, or asked for, a gown. I can’t imagine why you would need one unless the room is set up in a very unusual way - every screening room I've ever been in has a chair to put your clothes, bag, and jewellery on, while the radiographer is standing a couple of feet away, and then Ive been asked to stand by the machine straight away. I’ve never felt that not being offered a gown is in any way disrespectful. I had my annual mammogram this morning, and there definitely weren’t any gowns lying round in the room.

And just to add, I don’t remember any radiographer at any of the hospitals/mobile units I’ve been to ever introducing themselves, whether it was for a mammogram, ultrasound, MRI, or CT scan, and it’s never crossed my mind to think they should.

@Solost92 "Mammograms seem to be treated with absolutely no care, compassion or respect. I can't imagine men being treated this way during prostate exams but as usual women are internalising this message of accepting feeling uncomfortable and degraded and put up and shut up."

Exactly.

But she was likely going to be handling your breasts and very close to you whilst you were topless?

Doesn't mean that the lack of dignity can't be minimised. Good patient care is a big factor in facilitating return visits, and actually should be a no-brainer in medical care.

Not unreasonable at all. Unfortunately, too many women are used to being treated with a lack of respect when accessing healthcare. It is something which can (and should) be done better.

I’ve had my fair share of intimate procedures (ivf) but I’ve always been alone while undressing. That is not an unreasonable expectation.

@Pudmyboy yes indeed- I really didn't want another after my first, and there is a LOT of breast cancer in my family.

Yet they really should! It's really basic healthcare professionalism, to give your name and role and also, these days, a yellow badge with your name clearly visible.

These stories are putting me right off these screenings. Ffs, my Pap smears are horrible enough. I had to pay privately for mirena coil fitting because the GP was struggling, and I could not get the NHS gyno appointment for months. That procedure was excruciating, and traumatic… I keep having flashbacks from “just keep breathing” consultant. I am almost a year overdue from taking it out now. 😭😭

Got the invitation for a mammogram 4 years ago. I can’t bring myself to do it.

I’m sure in the recent documentation I have received it advises what to wear (separate top rather than dress) and that a gown may not be available

There was a very high profile "hello, my name is ..." campaign in the NHS created Dr Kate Granger, a terminally ill young hospital consultant based in Yorkshire, who became frustrated with the number of healthcare staff she came in contact with during her care who did not introduce themselves.

All NHS staff are expected to introduce themselves to patients.

They have so many people in and out and you’re right next to the machine so they’re not going to encourage gowns. The machine and body positioning is incredibly awkward so I can see why they’d not want you holding anything. Sorry it was all a bit of a surprise but hopefully you’ll feel better prepared next time.

I’ve had 2 mammograms and honestly cannot remember whether they gave me a gown or not? Both times though I’d found lumps and was bricking it, they could have asked me to walk starkers through the car park and I wouldn’t have cared.
It would be extremely difficult to hold your bra whilst you had one due to the weird positions you have to get in. It does sound like they handled it badly though.

Well that's good for you, but patients, as much as possible, should be treated as individuals. And certainly for a smear test, I have never had to undress my lower half then walk across the room to the couch, and have always been given a cover, which the best practitioner would gently pull down over my vag once the speculum was removed, to minimise unnecessary exposure, and to maintain dignity as much as possible.

Ahhh, I’m sorry you had an unpleasant experience op but actually I think mammograms are really pretty unpleasant and there’s little anyone can do to change that. You can’t strip at the machine as often they’ll need you to use your hands to balance yourself in the best position, it’s almost always cold, it always hurts…sorry😔.

I had one appointment where after the mammogram I went into another room to have a cyst drained. The consultant who came in didn’t introduce himself and wasn’t wearing a lanyard or name tag and was just wearing casual clothes. The nurse followed him in and introduced him, but I was unnerved until she appeared. I did feedback that he should have had a visible lanyard and introduce himself as my initial thought was he was a partner of another patient (although they weren’t allowed in that part of the department)

I don’t understand why getting undressed in front of a medical professional is any more of an issue that standing topless next to the same person who then manipulates your boobs into position. The radiographer I had today was fascinated by my reconstructed breast and was asking me lots of questions about it, and asked me if she could feel it to see if it felt like a natural breast 🤣🤣

When you have a mammogram one of your hands holds part of the machine to ensure you are standing in the right position

That’s not what gaslighting is. But separately, you should have been give a gown when you requested but tbh you can’t wear it whilst the procedure takes place anyway. But the door should not have been opened.

I think it’s really weird that she got the receptionist in, did she feel that you were making a complaint? Or that the two of you were getting into an argument? Maybe it’s procedure in the NHS to have a third party for all disagreements with patients. I think maybe this is a bigger deal to you because of your medical PTSD, but at the end of the day you could’ve just said you were putting your top back on for the questions and would leave it on the chair for the actual imaging. It sounds as though you got to the point of threatening to leave if you didn’t get a gown, but going through it all in front of the receptionist probably took longer than the questions would’ve taken