Why do hospital consultants write like this?

DH does receive a copy of correspondence between his renal consultant and his GP after each consultation.

gracesmum my DH is much the same if I don't attend appointments I have to give him a note with a list of all he needs to ask, that is of course if he doesn't manage to leave the note in the car.

We aslo get copies of all the consultants' letters to GP and others who are cc'd in. DH has a green file with 7 sections for each "bit of him" which is about 3" thick. He'll need another section labelled "bad back" from carrying it around as it goes everywhere with us when away from home- even if just out for the day, even if left in the car

aslo?? "also"!

Oh Gadabout I attended a crucial consultation with my mum las week, at the end of which the very sexy, hunky surgeon said " I must speak into my whatsit while it is all fresh in my mind"

" I have in front of me a lovely lady and her daughter who blah blah blah...... Operate... Blah blah blah...... Tuesday week .... Very worried.... Scratch..... Concerned..... Scratch.......blah blah blah.........nice strawberry sweeties......blah blah blah .... Scratch....."

I kid you not ....blah blah blah

"nice strawberry sweeties"?????

I have requested many times to be 'copied in' but still have to obtain copies from my doctor (at a cost). I would also like to have the results of nerve tests and an MRI scan at least discussed with me but despite many requests this doesn't happen - how am I supposed to make a considered decision? Apparently I am supposed to follow the consultant's recommendation without question or face him throwing angry comments at me on matters about which I knew nothing. This has just happened to me and I am still shattered.

LizG change the consultant.

I worked in CAHMS for a while where I was "trained" in the art of writing a one page latter that set out complex family situations, diagnosis and treatment plan. I was told that GP's are too busy to read anything longer than a page, so it's important to be concise. My brother in law was recently described as "this charming gentleman" after he had a stroke (alongside cancer, diabetes etc). He was very pleased to be so described when he felt so miserable about his circumstances, and isolated from wider society.

Another 'pleasant lady' here, whose letter from one consultant to another was left on my hospital bed whilst the doctor toddled off to look at my x-rays. Of course, I read it. The bit he hadn't read aloud covered the broken machine that shatters kidney stones, the burn on the consultant's hand as a result, and the delay waiting for another machine to be delivered. It ended with another 'compliment' praising my patience now that the waiting list had grown. I looked up to see the doctor gesticulatng and looking back at my bed, clearly annoyed about the situation. He returned to my bed and said I could go to another hospital that day, and make a complaint, if I wished.

I was described as a neurotic mother by one consultant because I knew my child was ill and he didn't think she was. I was right. I eventually found out (by going private supported by my GP) that my daughter was sensitive to gluten and needed to remove it from her diet. The results were miraculous. Within a few days her joints were no longer swollen and the lump on her spine had disappeared. Within a few weeks she was a new child....no she was a normal healthy child.

I have also been described as someone who self diagnosed and wouldn't listen to reason. This was just before I was diagnosed with ME. The neurologist told me he didn't believe in 'yuppy flu' and therefore I didn't have it. He sent me to see a psychiatrist who told me she was fed up of him sending her people who had ME (the first time I was officially diagnosed) and she sent me back to him. I was confident he would accept my illness as real now I had official backing. He didn't. In fact he was downright rude, told me I needed to get a life and discharged me. Before I left I asked him if he'd sworn the Hippocratic oath when he'd become a doctor. He said he had so I reminded him that he had promised to help people who were ill and I was ill but he wasn't helping me. His face was a picture. The nurse thought it was hysterical and told me she'd never seen him lost for words before and I'd certainly told him a few home truths. My GP was horrified when she got the letter and wouldn't tell me what it said so I assume it was less than flattering lol. She never doubted I had ME but begged me never to speak to a consultant like that again as I could get a mark against my name and it could make future referrals difficult. After that consultant left the new one believed in ME so life was much easier.

I'm a charming lady, apparently! Compliments are usually thin on the ground, so that was fine by me!

I remember being described by a consultant in a letter as "this rather anxious young lady" - this was when I was much younger........ This was in the days when consultants wore white coats over their three piece suits and often bow ties. It's such a patronising manner..............

I'm taking DH for a hospital appointment this afternoon!

DS was sent from school to a doc and given his notes to take with him, he discovered that when he was 3 he 'didn't watch enough TV'!

Not quite the same but just as amusing, when I couldn't get pregnant we went to see a consultant and firstly there was only one chair in the room and they were taken aback that DH had come with me. Then he and the consultant talked about me as if I wasn't there. At the end DH was given one of those urine sample bottles and told 'you can fill this in can't you' (meaning the label) but he heard 'fill it up' and looked embarrassed and said "No"! Every time we went back to that unit people looked at us and giggled!

My consultant describes me as a 'truly delightful lady' Bless!

Vampire, I was also considered to be a neurotic mother when I insisted on returning to the GP three days in a row with my baby daughter, begging for tests. I was absolutely positive that she was seriously ill, but it was only when she had a fit in the surgery that they took me seriously. If they had listened to me when I first went to them it may have saved her many years of illness and hospital visits.

I remember getting a letter from a registrar stating ' we have placed Mrs y under Prossor M who will endeavour to get her pregnant' Honest!

They'd probably go bonkers without that sense of humour, galen

Indeed Galen

Unfortunately there are some over anxious mums out there, who perhaps give all the others a bad name. One I remember took her child several times a week for over 2 years- until the doctor helped her face her anxiety.

I remember the acronym : lpts

Can you work that one out

These are not used much now in these days of 'copy to patient'. Unfortunately now doctors can't say frankly what they see, as they could get into trouble, even though it is the exact truth, often.

The one I've just seen discovered that I was his daughter's tutor last year. Fortunately, she is very bright and very diligent. Dread to think what the consequences might have been otherwise

No matter what was written or by whom, someone will always take offence. You can't please all of the people all of the time.

Bobl was my favourite when handing heart sinkers back to their regular gp. Best of British luck!

Years ago I saw a letter which my GP had written to a consultant referring to me as a 'difficult patient'.

I wasn't aggressive, just depressed and a little bit hypochondriacal and inclined to panic when she called me in one day to say there was 'something wrong with my liver' and perhaps I should ask my husband to go and see her.

She was hopeless with anything mental!

Just had to chase a peacock round the lounge to evict it!

No acronym for that. Hope it wasn't an incontinent one.