Hello, my name is...’ NHS ‘patient-friendly’ badges - with pronouns

[Pronoun]

My manager is getting us new name badges for NHS work. The ‘hello, my name is’ campaign is meant to be for the benefit of patients; some are marketed as being specifically dementia-friendly.

I was surprised to see that there is the option to include pronouns on the badges. As these are meant to be for patient benefit, I feel a bit uncomfortable with these. My feeling is that people just want to know your name, to have a proper, friendly introduction, and to be treated as a person, so they don’t feel like an anonymous ‘case,’ or struggle to know who has been looking after them. I feel these pronoun badges run the risk of making interactions about the HCP rather than centring the patient. Am I wrong to feel this way?

"you know from their sex based pronouns that they definitely won't"
How do you know other peoples pronouns are sex based?
My pronouns are she/her.
How do you, with your they/them know that mine are sex based and not gender based or preferred?
You must be doing a lot of assuming.
You're not supposed to do that.
Might it be because we can all tell what sex someone is.
Sick of this navel gazing bullshit.
Nobody cares about your special pronouns.
I know what sex you are just like everyone on earth including babies and animals can tell I'm a woman.
Even if I really really wish I was more special than the other girls.
Wishes dont come true unfortunately.

On the point of BSL, wouldn’t it be better to spend staff training on making sure all staff have some competency in BSL rather than making sure everyone knows and uses newspeak and all information sources are converted into newspeak?

I don't know, BSL is not easy to learn. Even Makaton which is a much simpler form of signing (aimed at people with learning difficulties to support understanding, rather than deaf people) takes a while. Although I agree with the sentiment - surely doctors and nurses have enough on their plates already without having to remember to pander to the whims of colleagues who want to be referred to in an unusual way when spoken about in the third person?

Yes I agree learning a language is a pretty full on commitment. (Maybe Makaton then?). And yes doctors and nurses definitely have enough on their plates without having to remember to pander to the whims of colleagues.

I really think that carers making the cared for the centre of caring professions is a good principle.

There are many groups who could benefit from various changes in practice. I am sure members of the deaf community among others could suggest a few things. One group in particular is getting a lot of consideration to the exclusion of pretty much all others. It begins to seem like privilege rather than equality.

Of course it is. A deaf person can just be hearing in certain circumstances to make like simpler, a blind person can’t stop being blind for conveniences sake. But someone who feels that they really are a ‘they’, and most likely have been called he/she for 99% of their life, can’t put on their ‘professional head’ at work and get on with the job - focussing one the reason they are there (the patients).

A dead person can’t be hearing...

it will help to normalise not assuming pronouns

Quite. People need to stop assuming that they have any ownership of the 3rd person pronouns which are used to refer to them. People need to stop assuming that they have any right to dictate how others perceive them or describe them.

A dead person can’t be hearing...

A dead person?!
Well no, they can't be hearing lol, would be surprised if they could....

The best thing mental health specialists can do for trans people is help with the resilience to accept that the world they inhabit is not going to fall over itself to accommodate mistruths. People will use the correct sex pronouns because of habit or principle. People will continue to see them as the sex they are no matter how they want it not to be so. People aren’t being mean when they acknowledge biological reality.

The idea that the whole world should pretend something is something it isn’t (abstractly, not calling trans people a thing) is not going to work.

This. It is fundamental and organisations are not being kind to these people by pandering to their every demand.

A dead person?!
Well no, they can't be hearing lol, would be surprised if they could....

It's quite clear what she meant.

^I like the idea of signposting which languages one speaks on the badge
Same here. It's useful information that might help patients and their families.^

It might also be useful to colleagues to know they have someone with additional language skills to aid communication with patients and families.

Yes, definitely

It's quite clear what she meant

Oh FFS lol, of course it was clear!
Did you miss the lol?!
T'was a joke.
Have you heard of those?!
It was clear.
Just to be clear.
For you.
Who thinks I don't think it was clear
I mean WTF lol

@Quaagars

A dead person can’t be hearing...

A dead person?!
Well no, they can't be hearing lol, would be surprised if they could....

Dead? Oh god... need new glasses...

Dead? Oh god... need new glasses...

Dementia friendly mynarse. I despair.

If it was dementia friendly the colours would be more contrasted and all the same colour and font because the ability to discern between shades of colour reduces, so contrast is needed, eg, putting a black toilet seat on a white toilet so they can clearly.see the division.

Are they shiny? They should be matt because they can look more water like and cause difficulties with the light reflecting off them.

My mum has dementia, and focuses on one thing. I bet she would choose pronouns in this case because it's unusual ( if of course she could read it to begin with). Once focussed on that, she won't retain anything else. Name, information given etc. none of this will be taken in, its like a brain worm, that's all she can do.

Bloody nhs and dementia.

My sister has dementia and is going blind. However a lot of the time she is the same fiercely intelligent, funny and takes-no-crap woman she always was. On a good day would probably really enjoy tangling with one of these badge wearers. On a bad day she would probably tell them to f-off.

Betty, I hope your daughter made a full recovery.

you WILL notice what it says on the health care professional’s badge. You will read it over and over and over while you beg the god you don’t even believe in to please put you in the hands of someone who knows what the fuck they are doing and not someone who needs special NB pronouns on their badge to make them ‘feel valid’.

So painfully true. And so unnecessarily distressing for patients and worried carers.

On the point of BSL, wouldn’t it be better to spend staff training on making sure all staff have some competency in BSL rather than making sure everyone knows and uses newspeak and all information sources are converted into newspeak?

I was wondering recently if there is any way of calculating the amount of money spent on this sort of thing (lanyards, badges, changing all the paperwork, inclusivity training that seems to leave people knowing less than when they started, reportedly £4,000,000 spent on it in schools) that has been diverted away from actual real help for people that need it like sign language training, accessibility (still absolutely dire in many places) etc etc.

I would try but wouldn’t know where to start getting the info. Foi’s maybe? It would be interesting to see if there have been any changes to income for disability, support for women etc charities lately.

Absolutely agree that little flags on badges like hotel receptionists often have to indicate languages spoken would be vastly more patient-friendly than pronouns. Let’s do that instead!

There ought to be a lobby group involved here. Shame there’s no money in it - no change of big business getting involved then!

*I was wondering recently if there is any way of calculating the amount of money spent on this sort of thing (lanyards, badges, changing all the paperwork, inclusivity training that seems to leave people knowing less than when they started, reportedly £4,000,000 spent on it in schools) that has been diverted away from actual real help for people that need it like sign language training, accessibility (still absolutely dire in many places) etc etc.

I would try but wouldn’t know where to start getting the info. Foi’s maybe?*

I did an FOI (anonymously) to my own hospital requesting the cost of the lanyards when they were introduced this time last year, and also the cost of planning the initiative and disseminating the information.

For a medium sized district hospital the cost of the badges, lanyards, leaflets and posters was a little shy of £3000.

I was told it was not possible to quantify the time spent on planning the initiative as a proportion (it didn't say what proportion) of this was done by members of staff in their own time.

I'm sure someone else can extrapolate those costs nationwide!
Maybe a drop in the ocean of overall NHS costs, new staff have to pay for their own DBS check and make a deposit on the cost of their uniform and until the Covid crisis had to pay a not insubstantial amount to park at the hospital. But hey, you get a free, colourful lanyard with a message.

I would try but wouldn’t know where to start getting the info. Foi’s maybe? It would be interesting to see if there have been any changes to income for disability, support for women etc charities lately.

Yes but I expect you'd have to FOI every NHS Trust.

You have to pay for your own DBS and a uniform deposit now?!

Staff paying for parking is an absolute scandal too! It makes no sense at all. Very few can choose to live in walking distance of the hospital they work in and public transport is often non existent at hospital shift start and end times. Do all hospitals now have staff showers, changing rooms and secure cycle sheds now I wonder?

I had a really awful experience with the people employed by the hospital parking company. Vicious, horrible thugs. And they have access to the names and addresses to staff.
We had loads of thefts in our hospital. The only people it could have been were security staff or their associates.
So glad I am retired.
Working in hospitals is grim.