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August 30, 2023 - 7:00am
If you have to visit a hospital, you will probably have lots of questions. Are the results of those tests as scary as you fear? Who will look after the kids if you’re admitted to a ward? What you won’t be asking, I can pretty much guarantee, is “are the staff LGBT+ allies?”
If you’re visiting the Royal Free, a teaching hospital in north London, however, it seems to be assumed that this is your biggest worry. According to research carried out by the Policy Exchange think tank, a banner in the entrance suggests that members of staff wearing an “LGBTQ+ ally” badge are “safe” for LGBTQ+ patients to speak to.
It’s part of the NHS Rainbow Badge scheme, similar to Stonewall’s discredited Diversity Champions programme, and it now has an astonishing 77 NHS trusts signed up. The scheme is run by the LGBT Foundation and promotes extreme gender ideology in hospitals. Staff are advised to avoid words like “mother” and encouraged to introduce “gender neutral” toilets — all without consulting patients, of course.
It’s yet another example of institutional capture, a fact confirmed by questions for staff in hospitals signed up to the scheme. “Does the service have sensitive guidance in place to support a noncarrying parent to breast/chest feed?” is classic trans activist framing.
The Royal Free seems to have gone further down this route than most. According to guidance posted on a staff noticeboard, staff are apparently being advised not to ask “inappropriate questions” such as “what is your name?” because trans patients might not want to disclose their birth name. A hospital spokesman denied that this was official policy, but could not say who created the guidance.
At one level, it’s laughable to see responsible adults behaving like this. Doctors and nurses have many more pressing things to worry about than offending the tiny proportion of the population who identify as trans or non-binary. It’s not even the case that many gay and lesbian patients want to be treated by staff wearing rainbow badges, given the hostility they have endured from trans activists.
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SubscribeFunny how our “underfunded” NHS always seems to have unlimited funds for divisive nonsense like this.
I started working for the NHS last year, in a very well paid non-medical role. This is one weird place! I honestly must get about 4 different invites a week to attend training events concerned with inclusivity, diversity, ally ship, queerness (no idea what that is), intersex etc, etc, etc. The senior leaders all introduce themselves by stating their pronouns. And In December the CEO spluttered some generic festive greetings messages, desperately not trying to say Christmas, although a few days later we all received a happy equinox emails “for all pagans”.
Even if these were the right things to do (which I don’t), with all the problems the NHS has, the above nonsense shouldn’t make the top 1000 in a priority list.
..
You’re welcome to borrow my pronouns if you like:-
https://amoebadick.blogspot.com/2021/10/my-pronouns.html
Bravo
Bravo
Can you at least try to make your stupid made-up stories mildly entertaining? Because you aren’t convincing anyone with this garbage!
So, at latest count, there are at least 5 of you who believe the ridiculous nonsense posted by L Brit.
As I said earlier, you people are gullible!
CS – if you had any friends to talk to, you would know that this is the situation not only in the NHS and other areas of the public sector, but in large private sector organisations as well.
CS – if you had any friends to talk to, you would know that this is the situation not only in the NHS and other areas of the public sector, but in large private sector organisations as well.
So, at latest count, there are at least 5 of you who believe the ridiculous nonsense posted by L Brit.
As I said earlier, you people are gullible!
..
You’re welcome to borrow my pronouns if you like:-
https://amoebadick.blogspot.com/2021/10/my-pronouns.html
Can you at least try to make your stupid made-up stories mildly entertaining? Because you aren’t convincing anyone with this garbage!
I started working for the NHS last year, in a very well paid non-medical role. This is one weird place! I honestly must get about 4 different invites a week to attend training events concerned with inclusivity, diversity, ally ship, queerness (no idea what that is), intersex etc, etc, etc. The senior leaders all introduce themselves by stating their pronouns. And In December the CEO spluttered some generic festive greetings messages, desperately not trying to say Christmas, although a few days later we all received a happy equinox emails “for all pagans”.
Even if these were the right things to do (which I don’t), with all the problems the NHS has, the above nonsense shouldn’t make the top 1000 in a priority list.
Funny how our “underfunded” NHS always seems to have unlimited funds for divisive nonsense like this.
We need to depoliticise our institutions and let them focus on their jobs.
And let’s bring back the breast is best campaign – which was dropped because women who choose not to breast feed should not be made to feel bad about it!
And stop getting upset if doctors tell overweight people that they are putting their health at risk because it’s “fat phobic”, and makes fat people feel bad.
It is not the job of the NHS, or anyone else, to treat full grown adults like children.
KFC never gave up that campaign.
hmm my wife’s experience of the ‘breast is best’ campaign left her totally demoralised having received negative comments from staff on telling them she was stopping after a determined six weeks of painful and bloody effort. What that campaign needed was compassion and understanding, not dogma. Obviosuly this might’ve been a specific individual rather than the whole campaign but there was definitely an overall air of ‘you must!’ But I agree with the ethos.
The “breast is best” campaign was the brainchild of the WEF. No bl**dy thank you.
It’s extraordinary how doctors tell us we are overweight as if we hadn’t noticed. Do they not know that we have to buy clothes, and sit next to other people? I started a course for those with pre-diabetes, and in the first session it said we were in danger of developing diabetes because we are overweight. Really? I hadn’t noticed. I’ll stop eating immediately. No discussion of why people get overweight, just insults.
So why do people get overweight?
And if they know they are, and they know it’s bad for them, and yet they continue, can they really be surprised if doctors feel they should spell it out.
There are many, many deluded people out there who think they are fine or their children are fine. Reminds me of those AA meetings you see on TV where they first have to admit they are an alcoholic.
So why do people get overweight?
And if they know they are, and they know it’s bad for them, and yet they continue, can they really be surprised if doctors feel they should spell it out.
There are many, many deluded people out there who think they are fine or their children are fine. Reminds me of those AA meetings you see on TV where they first have to admit they are an alcoholic.
I hate “breast is best” because it normalizes formula feeding.
It should be “breast is normal”.
KFC never gave up that campaign.
hmm my wife’s experience of the ‘breast is best’ campaign left her totally demoralised having received negative comments from staff on telling them she was stopping after a determined six weeks of painful and bloody effort. What that campaign needed was compassion and understanding, not dogma. Obviosuly this might’ve been a specific individual rather than the whole campaign but there was definitely an overall air of ‘you must!’ But I agree with the ethos.
The “breast is best” campaign was the brainchild of the WEF. No bl**dy thank you.
It’s extraordinary how doctors tell us we are overweight as if we hadn’t noticed. Do they not know that we have to buy clothes, and sit next to other people? I started a course for those with pre-diabetes, and in the first session it said we were in danger of developing diabetes because we are overweight. Really? I hadn’t noticed. I’ll stop eating immediately. No discussion of why people get overweight, just insults.
I hate “breast is best” because it normalizes formula feeding.
It should be “breast is normal”.
We need to depoliticise our institutions and let them focus on their jobs.
And let’s bring back the breast is best campaign – which was dropped because women who choose not to breast feed should not be made to feel bad about it!
And stop getting upset if doctors tell overweight people that they are putting their health at risk because it’s “fat phobic”, and makes fat people feel bad.
It is not the job of the NHS, or anyone else, to treat full grown adults like children.
Why do trans people feel unsafe going into hospital?
What do they think is going to happen to them? Do they think their breasts are going to be surgically removed by a rogue doctor, or something?
Or reinstated…
Because the doctors might refuse to mutilate them.
Or reinstated…
Because the doctors might refuse to mutilate them.
Why do trans people feel unsafe going into hospital?
What do they think is going to happen to them? Do they think their breasts are going to be surgically removed by a rogue doctor, or something?
Still, it’s quite a neat way of deflecting attention from the failure of the institutions themselves.
Still, it’s quite a neat way of deflecting attention from the failure of the institutions themselves.
On a recent hospital visit I was asked to tick the box as to which gender I identified as. I wrote “I don’t ‘identify’ as anything. I am adult human female.”
I realise that the thought police may come for me, but someone has to push back.
“identifies as” needs to be crossed out and replaced with “pretends to be”. Everywhere.
Amen millefois!
Amen millefois!
I always just scrawl something like “not woke” or “men can’t become women” across anything like that.
So courageous!!!
Cheers, ‘poo fash.
Cheers, ‘poo fash.
I’m tempted to try out “normal bloke”. But I’ve been lucky so far and not had to answer this stupid question.
When I was at the dentists and they made me fill out an effnicity form, I wrote “White Lives Matter” on it.
When I was at the dentists and they made me fill out an effnicity form, I wrote “White Lives Matter” on it.
So courageous!!!
I’m tempted to try out “normal bloke”. But I’ve been lucky so far and not had to answer this stupid question.
“identifies as” needs to be crossed out and replaced with “pretends to be”. Everywhere.
I always just scrawl something like “not woke” or “men can’t become women” across anything like that.
On a recent hospital visit I was asked to tick the box as to which gender I identified as. I wrote “I don’t ‘identify’ as anything. I am adult human female.”
I realise that the thought police may come for me, but someone has to push back.
Time for a new, competing service which will allow patients to choose between NHS1 and NHS2.
The former, NHS1, can continue as it is, allowing the employees to be more important than the customers. NHS2 could concentrate on what the customers want instead.
Apologies – I’ve accidentally replicated your idea. But I hadn’t read yours when I posted mine. You’ve put it more succintly than me.
No problem. The idea’s the thing.
My thought came from something Peter Hitchens said about the police.
He thought that the middle management (police) was full of fast-track graduates who would resist change forever. Reform could never happen so why not create another police force.
So, he suggested copying Italy where they have the city police for show and the carabinieri to solve the crimes. Both are in competition with each other and this livens up the debate.
No problem. The idea’s the thing.
My thought came from something Peter Hitchens said about the police.
He thought that the middle management (police) was full of fast-track graduates who would resist change forever. Reform could never happen so why not create another police force.
So, he suggested copying Italy where they have the city police for show and the carabinieri to solve the crimes. Both are in competition with each other and this livens up the debate.
Apologies – I’ve accidentally replicated your idea. But I hadn’t read yours when I posted mine. You’ve put it more succintly than me.
Time for a new, competing service which will allow patients to choose between NHS1 and NHS2.
The former, NHS1, can continue as it is, allowing the employees to be more important than the customers. NHS2 could concentrate on what the customers want instead.
As a late onset hospital user it was quite refreshing to hear the disdain from a clinician doing the tick box exercise on the computer and simply filling in the correct boxes from having seen this obviously old, bald man without asking the irrelevant question.
As a late onset hospital user it was quite refreshing to hear the disdain from a clinician doing the tick box exercise on the computer and simply filling in the correct boxes from having seen this obviously old, bald man without asking the irrelevant question.
Will they have to rename Guy’s Hospital?
Thomas Guy never married so no doubt he can be claimed as a closer gay and so OK.
in any case Guy’s is pretty near the gender neutral “Hi Guys!”
Of course they could rename it the Guys and Dolls Hospital to be inclusive of the major binary genders.
Thomas Guy never married so no doubt he can be claimed as a closer gay and so OK.
in any case Guy’s is pretty near the gender neutral “Hi Guys!”
Of course they could rename it the Guys and Dolls Hospital to be inclusive of the major binary genders.
Will they have to rename Guy’s Hospital?
We should set up a parallel national health service free from all this wasteful overhead and bureaucracy and let the patients choose which they prefer.
We should set up a parallel national health service free from all this wasteful overhead and bureaucracy and let the patients choose which they prefer.
Apparently Stonewall has withdrawn from the Diversity Champions Scheme.
‘Our continued association with ourselves is not the best way forward, says Nancy Kelley’ :
https://grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/stonewall-withdraw-from-stonewall
Reliable news source?
‘After recent court revelations, it is no longer tenable for us to be involved with an organisation which shares our views. Nevertheless, we wish ourselves all the best in all our future endeavours.’
Reliable news source?
‘After recent court revelations, it is no longer tenable for us to be involved with an organisation which shares our views. Nevertheless, we wish ourselves all the best in all our future endeavours.’
Apparently Stonewall has withdrawn from the Diversity Champions Scheme.
‘Our continued association with ourselves is not the best way forward, says Nancy Kelley’ :
https://grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/stonewall-withdraw-from-stonewall
Unfortunately the public sector has way too many people spending way too much time on activities unrelated to the core task.
Romans 1:24-28
The NHS should no more be entertaining gender identity ideology than the Church of England should be offering to give people appendectomies.
Romans 1:24-28
The NHS should no more be entertaining gender identity ideology than the Church of England should be offering to give people appendectomies.
Unfortunately the public sector has way too many people spending way too much time on activities unrelated to the core task.
I think it’s a way to feel virtuous without really doing anything! Here in Canada I went to see my dying brother – who has had very fragmented care – and every crosswalk in the hospital complex had a newly painted “progress pride” on it. Slap in the face when getting basic care is the real struggle.
I really don’t understand it. LGBT people have never been so accepted by society. Maybe that’s the problem.
Yes, it is. The “T” is nothing like the “LG” – in many ways diametrically opposed. Hitching Trans to the LGB wagon worked for them, as they acquired conscientious social support that stemmed from the hard work put in decades ago by gay & lesbian campaigners. Organisations like Stonewall clearly stated that, having achieved their final goal of same-sex marriage, they would now prioritise gender issues. It’s a huge betrayal, handing gains to a minority demographic at the expense of all others.
Yes, it is. The “T” is nothing like the “LG” – in many ways diametrically opposed. Hitching Trans to the LGB wagon worked for them, as they acquired conscientious social support that stemmed from the hard work put in decades ago by gay & lesbian campaigners. Organisations like Stonewall clearly stated that, having achieved their final goal of same-sex marriage, they would now prioritise gender issues. It’s a huge betrayal, handing gains to a minority demographic at the expense of all others.
I really don’t understand it. LGBT people have never been so accepted by society. Maybe that’s the problem.
I think it’s a way to feel virtuous without really doing anything! Here in Canada I went to see my dying brother – who has had very fragmented care – and every crosswalk in the hospital complex had a newly painted “progress pride” on it. Slap in the face when getting basic care is the real struggle.
Non-belief is a legally-protected characteristic, as the Maya Forstater case clarified. Legally, no-one should be compelled to go along with this twaddle, any more than they have to pretend they believe in Xenu the intergalactic overlord.
But in reality people can get in trouble and even lose their jobs for failing to obey compelled speech or failing to abide by a very silly (and detrimental) ideology.
How is it that no senior politician is seriously opposed to this? Talk about an “open goal” – yet not one of them will take it.
Non-belief is a legally-protected characteristic, as the Maya Forstater case clarified. Legally, no-one should be compelled to go along with this twaddle, any more than they have to pretend they believe in Xenu the intergalactic overlord.
But in reality people can get in trouble and even lose their jobs for failing to obey compelled speech or failing to abide by a very silly (and detrimental) ideology.
How is it that no senior politician is seriously opposed to this? Talk about an “open goal” – yet not one of them will take it.
This era is going to be laughed at as the “Tulip Mania” of the medical profession.
The difference is that tulips actually exist.
The difference is that tulips actually exist.
This era is going to be laughed at as the “Tulip Mania” of the medical profession.
The “chest feeding “ term really makes me angry. Women nurse with their breasts, not chests, which would be impossible. The term was created by trans women who were upset because they were jealous and felt left out. Trans men who give birth often have amputated their breasts. No feeding breast without breasts. Chest feeding has nothing to do with trans men and everything to due with keeping trans women happy. That’s why they get to use “woman,” and why I’m just a body with a vagina.
Excellent comment, but would you mind in future quarantining “trans women” and “trans men” inside quote marks where these ridiculous phrases belong.
Excellent comment, but would you mind in future quarantining “trans women” and “trans men” inside quote marks where these ridiculous phrases belong.
The “chest feeding “ term really makes me angry. Women nurse with their breasts, not chests, which would be impossible. The term was created by trans women who were upset because they were jealous and felt left out. Trans men who give birth often have amputated their breasts. No feeding breast without breasts. Chest feeding has nothing to do with trans men and everything to due with keeping trans women happy. That’s why they get to use “woman,” and why I’m just a body with a vagina.
What I hate about LGBQT is how so orthopedic it has all become. No doubt one day soon the term will come to include adults who need their nappies changed by NHS nurses.
What I hate about LGBQT is how so orthopedic it has all become. No doubt one day soon the term will come to include adults who need their nappies changed by NHS nurses.
April 1st – every day of the week – and every month !
April 1st – every day of the week – and every month !
Looking at that picture with the bald loon, I can’t help feeling that the NHS is focusing on the wrong sort of whistleblowing.
Looking at that picture with the bald loon, I can’t help feeling that the NHS is focusing on the wrong sort of whistleblowing.
Spot on in every respect. Institutional capture indeed.
Spot on in every respect. Institutional capture indeed.
“And someone who doesn’t have English as a first language might not know she is a “cervix-haver””
How dare you assume that such a person is a ‘she’ – that is classic trans-exclusionary language!
if we are talking about a man, there is no question of needing a Cervical smear, so yes we are talking about women
You miss my point. What about a biological female identifying as a man – still has a cervix, won’t want to be called ‘she’.
Tough. She needs to get over herself.
Tough. She needs to get over herself.
You miss my point. What about a biological female identifying as a man – still has a cervix, won’t want to be called ‘she’.
I’ve upticked you on the basis that your comment is satire. If I am mistaken and you actually believe in “trans” nonsense, please disabuse me.
I assure you it was meant to highlight the nonsense that ‘woke’ pseudo-logic gives rise to. Thank you for the uptick.
You’re very welcome!
You’re very welcome!
I assure you it was meant to highlight the nonsense that ‘woke’ pseudo-logic gives rise to. Thank you for the uptick.
if we are talking about a man, there is no question of needing a Cervical smear, so yes we are talking about women
I’ve upticked you on the basis that your comment is satire. If I am mistaken and you actually believe in “trans” nonsense, please disabuse me.
“And someone who doesn’t have English as a first language might not know she is a “cervix-haver””
How dare you assume that such a person is a ‘she’ – that is classic trans-exclusionary language!
In a hospital context the trans ideology is really dangerous to women as well as being utter nonsense when the required health services are often determined by the sex (note I don’t say gender) of the patient – it’s terrifying that some hospitals can swallow this BS to the detriment of good patient care for women and respect for women suffering. Women are often at their most vulnerable in hospital and just don’t need this BS.
“I very much doubt whether they want to share a “gender neutral” toilet with biological males while they absorb the bad news.”
*I very much doubt whether they want to share a “gender neutral” toilet with men while they absorb the bad news.
“If a trans-identified male insists on being recorded as a woman in medical notes, he may miss out on screening for prostate cancer. And someone who doesn’t have English as a first language might not know she is a “cervix-haver” and needs to have a cervical smear.”
*If a man insists on being recorded as a woman in medical notes, he may miss out on screening for prostate cancer. And a woman who doesn’t have English as her first language might not know she is a “cervix-haver” and needs to have a cervical smear.
Presumably if he insists he is a woman he will not consider he needs to screen for prostate cancer. That said I presume if he is serious about identifying as a woman he will have had his male prostate removed along with all the other stigmata of maleness so the issue will not arise.
“stigmata of maleness”
Haha!
At the risk of re-purposing a very old joke, the worst bit about making the transition from man to self-declared trans woman is having your brain taken out and your mouth made bigger.
Speaking as someone who was badly treated when I was younger because of being gay, don’t be so quick to squeeze compassion out of the system. This will all settle down, but it may need a bit of excess zeal in the first instance.
I am sorry about your experience, but you should not confuse compassion with oppression and bullying.
Sexual orientation and gender identity are two fundamentally different things, and should never have been shoehorned together. The former is a matter of behaviour, the latter an article of faith.
I am sorry about your experience, but you should not confuse compassion with oppression and bullying.
Sexual orientation and gender identity are two fundamentally different things, and should never have been shoehorned together. The former is a matter of behaviour, the latter an article of faith.
Speaking as someone who was badly treated when I was younger because of being gay, don’t be so quick to squeeze compassion out of the system. This will all settle down, but it may need a bit of excess zeal in the first instance.
When communicating with NHS employees, always take care to say “Wuhan Flu” instead of “Covid”.
And I am sure they laugh right in your face!
Oh no, ‘Poo Fashist has shut me down, how am I ever going to come back from such a humiliation?
That moment passed a long time ago, gramps
Poor old ‘poo. I’m so sorry not to have given you the attention you think you deserve.
Poor old ‘poo. I’m so sorry not to have given you the attention you think you deserve.
That moment passed a long time ago, gramps
Oh no, ‘Poo Fashist has shut me down, how am I ever going to come back from such a humiliation?
And I am sure they laugh right in your face!
When communicating with NHS employees, always take care to say “Wuhan Flu” instead of “Covid”.
I understand the laudable aim to try to provide people with equal access to treatment.
But the rainbow badge scheme is ham fisted, patronising, superficial and counter productive.
I don’t find straight people wearing a “I don’t hate the gays” badge reassuring.
It reduces us back to being a token, just this time one used for virtue signalling.
The rainbow has also changed meaning for many – myself included – to potentially suggest adherence to a particular set of beliefs about sex and gender, often forcefully held and aggressively defended, but one I, and most others fundamentally disagree with,
Evidently a huge market-place for the new wave of consultants pushing the social credit system legislated for by the Conservatives having seen its effectiveness in communist China.
Evidently a huge market-place for the new wave of consultants pushing the social credit system legislated for by the Conservatives having seen its effectiveness in communist China.
Time to put this tiny minority of “trans” weirdos back in their boxes, I’d say.
I actually told my GP’s never ever to bother me with woke nonsense again, because of the impact it has on my blood pressure, for which I am on medication.
I was with you until you called for the government to ban voluntary speech “everywhere else”….
As much as I love and respect the English, thank “god” I am an American (for at least as long as our free speech laws last)….
For trans people we are talking about app. 0,002 percentage of biological men and of app. 0,001 percentage of biological women. Indeed the trans are running the asylum!
If only you had a monarch who could step in, exercise firm oversight and correction of institutions containing the word Royal…. but wait you do, why does the Prince escape scrutiny in all of these scandals?
If only you had a monarch who could step in, exercise firm oversight and correction of institutions containing the word Royal…. but wait you do, why does the Prince escape scrutiny in all of these scandals?
As someone semi-retired but still doing some shifts in a hospital setting this I can assure folks this is a pretty marginal issue and more being made of this in the Article than in reality happens. Bit of click bait really. Seen the Rainbow logo and fine with it. Beyond that the idea there is an increasing range of banned language isn’t borne out by the reality. Trans a tiny issue and most of us way too busy to be overly fixating on it.
Someone in my family – also old – went to visit his wife in hospital last week. He was talking to two nurses as well and as he left he said (without thinking), “Bye ladies.”
Answer – “You’re not supposed to say things like that!!”
The lunetics have taken over the asylum. It doesn’t matter what the nurses think – in such a reasonable, mild matter. The patients and the visitors (to a certain extent) are the customers. The nurses are the service-providers and they are paid for that role – and only for that role.
They say that with tongue in cheek. No one really takes this stuff for real. I agree, it’s clickbait.
Yes, I agree 100%. The response was semi-automatic. BUT it doesn’t take so long for such a response to morph into something more serious.
It is a slippery slope. Let us wait until the NHS staff refuse to treat a sick person because of how they speak. This will happen!!
By the way, if you work in the environment and you are part of a union – you can disagree with the way things are going.
Yes, I agree 100%. The response was semi-automatic. BUT it doesn’t take so long for such a response to morph into something more serious.
It is a slippery slope. Let us wait until the NHS staff refuse to treat a sick person because of how they speak. This will happen!!
By the way, if you work in the environment and you are part of a union – you can disagree with the way things are going.
Another interpretation is that using the “ladies” label wasn’t about their sex, but about showing a lack of respect to professionals. Would your member of family have said the same at the end of a conversation with two female doctors?
Why on earth not? What would you want the person to have said – ‘bye doctors’? What would you want them to say if it was two male doctors? OK, ‘bye gentlemen’ is a bit pompous, but surely not disparaging or disrespectful.
There’s simply no need (as you allude to in the case of male doctors) to say anything other than “goodbye”. Adding any other reference is quite simply out of context, that’s “why on earth not”.
There’s simply no need (as you allude to in the case of male doctors) to say anything other than “goodbye”. Adding any other reference is quite simply out of context, that’s “why on earth not”.
I suppose you are right but I still don’t agree. The NHS is nothing but the people working in the NHS. They are there to provide a service and that is all. If they are so easily upset when they meet a customer, then they shouldn’t be working in that job.
What other ‘raison-d’être’ do they have?
I worked for years in private industry and met many customers. In my training I was told that ‘the customer is always right’. I hold many more qualifications than do nurses but I had to put up with all kinds of bad behaviour. Why does everybody have to pretend to be so sensitive?
“They” are there – as i was – to provide a professional service and are deserving of better than being referred to in an unprofessional manner. It’s really as simple as that. If one has spent some time involved with them in the care, either of oneself or a relative, then it’s not unusual for first name terms to be adopted by mutual consent. Other than that, far better not to make assumptions, which the rejoinder from the staff illustrates, even if it was meant tongue-in-cheek or with a smile.
So patient = customer, and the customer is always right? Think that through for a moment.
The NHS is not private industry. A few decades of pretending it is and trying to make it one is a large part of how it’s reached its current parlous state.
“They” are there – as i was – to provide a professional service and are deserving of better than being referred to in an unprofessional manner. It’s really as simple as that. If one has spent some time involved with them in the care, either of oneself or a relative, then it’s not unusual for first name terms to be adopted by mutual consent. Other than that, far better not to make assumptions, which the rejoinder from the staff illustrates, even if it was meant tongue-in-cheek or with a smile.
So patient = customer, and the customer is always right? Think that through for a moment.
The NHS is not private industry. A few decades of pretending it is and trying to make it one is a large part of how it’s reached its current parlous state.
Why on earth not? What would you want the person to have said – ‘bye doctors’? What would you want them to say if it was two male doctors? OK, ‘bye gentlemen’ is a bit pompous, but surely not disparaging or disrespectful.
I suppose you are right but I still don’t agree. The NHS is nothing but the people working in the NHS. They are there to provide a service and that is all. If they are so easily upset when they meet a customer, then they shouldn’t be working in that job.
What other ‘raison-d’être’ do they have?
I worked for years in private industry and met many customers. In my training I was told that ‘the customer is always right’. I hold many more qualifications than do nurses but I had to put up with all kinds of bad behaviour. Why does everybody have to pretend to be so sensitive?
He should have repeated “Bye ladies.”
Yep. Brilliant.
I think we may have a different definition of brilliant…
I think we may have a different definition of brilliant…
Yep. Brilliant.
They say that with tongue in cheek. No one really takes this stuff for real. I agree, it’s clickbait.
Another interpretation is that using the “ladies” label wasn’t about their sex, but about showing a lack of respect to professionals. Would your member of family have said the same at the end of a conversation with two female doctors?
He should have repeated “Bye ladies.”
How unlike you to take a deliberately contrary position.
You can’t say things like that on here. Think of all the column inches on Unherd that would need filling without this sort of stuff . Perhaps a column from a current NHS clinician or nurse should be sought by the editorial staff. Anonymous obviously!
What do you know by actually being there? I’d rather hear from people who hear from other people, who hear from others that read about what others are writing about what others are writing about the topic.
Someone in my family – also old – went to visit his wife in hospital last week. He was talking to two nurses as well and as he left he said (without thinking), “Bye ladies.”
Answer – “You’re not supposed to say things like that!!”
The lunetics have taken over the asylum. It doesn’t matter what the nurses think – in such a reasonable, mild matter. The patients and the visitors (to a certain extent) are the customers. The nurses are the service-providers and they are paid for that role – and only for that role.
How unlike you to take a deliberately contrary position.
You can’t say things like that on here. Think of all the column inches on Unherd that would need filling without this sort of stuff . Perhaps a column from a current NHS clinician or nurse should be sought by the editorial staff. Anonymous obviously!
What do you know by actually being there? I’d rather hear from people who hear from other people, who hear from others that read about what others are writing about what others are writing about the topic.
As someone semi-retired but still doing some shifts in a hospital setting this I can assure folks this is a pretty marginal issue and more being made of this in the Article than in reality happens. Bit of click bait really. Seen the Rainbow logo and fine with it. Beyond that the idea there is an increasing range of banned language isn’t borne out by the reality. Trans a tiny issue and most of us way too busy to be overly fixating on it.