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Upset by abrupt consultant

Posted By scottiedog

"Upset by abrupt consultant"

About: Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital / Dermatology

(as a relative),

My mother noticed a brown blemish on her face was changing colour and growing. She went to the GP who. with her history of cancer decided to refer her to the NNUH mainly as a precautionary measure due to the history of family related cancers.

The appointment came through very quickly, however when she attended the appointment the consultant she saw was rude and abrupt. They told her that this appointment was a complete waste of time and NHS money.

As the practice my mother is a patient at is not part of the local CCGs dermatology pilot she had no choice but to be seen through this patient pathway and be treated like a second class citizen by this 'consultant'. My mother came away very upset and angry as there was, be it small, a chance that the mark was cancerous and not just a part of growing older.

Perhaps the NNUH management need to reconsider staff training around dignity and respect as it does not seem to be working.

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Responses

Response from Janice Bradfield, Senior Communications and Membership Manager, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 8 years ago
Janice Bradfield
Senior Communications and Membership Manager,
Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Submitted on 10/06/2015 at 09:28
Published on Care Opinion at 13:40

We are very sorry to hear about your mother's experience at our hospital. If you would like to get in touch about what happened, we would encourage you to contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Service on pals@nnuh.nhs.uk

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful

Update posted by scottiedog (a relative)

Thank you for your standard response.

I was somewhat disappointed as I was expecting to informed that you would at least carry out some kind of internal audit to see if there were any correlations or emerging trends regarding the treatment of patients being treated with dignity and respect as this is supposed to be an area of concern for other parts of your hospital system at this time as reported in the press.

My mother is of the generation where you do not speak up against doctors or consultants and to be perfectly honest, after trying to raise concerns myself a couple of years ago, it is not something I would encourage her to do - as my 'issues' were brought to the attention of everyone involved in my care at the hospital and it affected my ongoing care in the department in question, being passed from consultant to consultant until my GP and I gave up and I was referred to Addenbrookes.

Hopefully this will not put my mother off in future if she has any other concerns.

Please do not just dismiss this issue out of hand.

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