"Hello my name ..."

It would seem that Dr Kate Granger's campaign "Hello my name is ..." has completely by-passed Fairfield General Hospital. I took my partner to the Emergency Department. In that department we saw what we believe to be one receptionist, a triage nurse, two staff nurses and two doctors. None of them said either, "Hello, my name is ...", or in any other way introduced themselves. I think Dr Granger's campaign needs to go one step further. A name is insufficient. It would be nice to know what post the person holds. From the Emergency Department my partner was transferred to Ward 7. One of the people from the Emergency Department who we believe to be a staff nurse accompanied us. The trolley on which my partner lay was pushed by what I assumed to be a porter, but we never learned their name. On arrival on Ward 7 we were seen by three nurses. They did not introduce themselves so we can only guess. It would be reasonable to ask why we did not ask their names or enquire who or what they were. Even though people have got used to this I was interested to see how many people we would see who did not introduce themselves. It was everybody we met. Dr Granger's campaign should be unnecessary. I do not know when NHS staff stopped introducing themselves but it has not always been like this. It is a shame that NHS staff cannot treat people as human beings. When someone is ill and you are concerned it is a human touch that would make people feel a little better. Just how difficult is it to say, "Hello, my name's John and I'm a staff nurse", or "Hello, my name is Sue, I'm one of the junior doctors". There is no reason that they should not give their forename; they are very keen on addressing patients by their forename without asking if the patient would be preferred to be called John or Mr Smith. On the occasion of our visit they did not have the excuse of being rushed off their feet and too frazzled for niceties. Both the Emergency Department and Ward 7 were quiet at the time and staff seemed to have enough time to be laughing and larking around.