"Spoken to in a condescending manner"

I want to firstly thank the nurses on the APU ward and registrar that I dealt with / they provided amazing care for my child who is under 1 and was very poorly. 

I initially wasn't keen on this being published but was encouraged by a friend to give feedback. I’ve had rubbish luck recently to encounter two medical professionals in Altnagelvin who spoke to myself or my child in a condescending manner. 

First experience was with orthoptics department where the staff member raised their voice (with a stern tone) when my language impaired child wasn’t understanding what they were being asked and then told me they’d be discharged from the service. It was really disappointing as we have never had such an experience in our years of attending this clinic. It was our first time meeting this member of staff and maybe they’d an off day but I left feeling uncomfortable and sad for my kid who was trying their best to follow the instructions given the fact they have difficulty processing language and very limited speech. 

Then we had an unfortunate experience in the APU ward, where a member of staff commented to my infant that they weren't ill and that they had been "lied to" by our local doctor about this. Also proceeded to ask me questions about symptoms my child had and responded in a patronising way when I said I wasn't sure what those symptoms meant, and suggested that I should know. I apologised as I’d had an hours sleep being up with the baby the night before and said I didn’t know I was genuinely clueless and the staff member looked totally unimpressed and again patronisingly said what the symptom indicated, and said that my your child wasn’t sick enough to be there.  

I fully appreciate there was an initial miscommunication between my local doctor and this doctor about regarding my child’s age and their weeks at birth .

I felt embarrassed and like I was wasting their time and I even offered to go but was told to wait til they spoke to their Registrar. 

It’s such a huge shock to me to have this sort of approach from a doctor at this hospital; my children have unfortunately had to attend various clinics before for different medical issues but this experience has really jarred with me. I don’t want to be identified so I have no interest in giving specifics but I was so embarrassed I just wanted to leave as soon as possible and not continue to waste their time.

I was sent up by the GP not of my own wanting; I spent several hours in the ward when needed at home for my other children. Next time I’m told my child needs to attend I don’t know if I’d want to in case I’m made to feel so stupid and belittled again.

I do want to stress that these two experiences are limited to the two individual health providers and are not a reflection on the department or ward. The other staff members of staff were extremely kind and attentive and thorough with my child’s care.