How do you like your 'professionals' to dress?

Perhaps I should mention DD who is now 44 and a research scientist at the University that she has now attended as student and then staff for 26 years. Her normal attire is fairly scruffy although she might make an effort for a meeting with important foreign colleagues and she looks a good ten years younger than her age. It's only a few years since the librarian has stopped trying to throw her out of the library because "Students aren't allowed in here in the holidays"!

I apologise before I type" judge ye not that ye be judged" ooo-er.

Alexa Yes, I realise there are exceptions and do agree about ancillary staff. Suits always worried me as I am sure they are not changed daily!

I agree with you Tweedle and I used to be nurse with special interest in infection control. The exception is when there is a specific virulent infection e.g. smallpox or ebola or if the uniform has been grossly contaminated with body fluids. I do agree that ancillary workers should wear clean and otherwise suitable clothing too.

I tend to distrust workers in suits and ties but that is just my prejudice.

SOO1 I could not agree more but, it is not always easy. When I started work at my local hospital, there was a laundry for uniform and a changing area with lockers and showers. As time went on, the laundry facility was withdrawn and the changing rooms taken over by the maintenance department for storage.
I think that, as long as a clean uniform is worn daily and covered by a suitable coat while travelling, that is OK. After all, community staff have to travel between patients and their hygiene is just as important. When dealing with patients, disposable plastic aprons, hand washing and gloves should be safe enough,
I do hope, though, that the plastic aprons will soon be replaced by paper ones when there is little danger of spillage soaking through to the uniform underneath.

When my MiL had a short spell in a local nursing home she was seen by our GP. I don't think she ever got over it! "I've never seen a doctor dress like that in my life!" She came from central London where, apparently, all doctors wear suits. Our GP looks like a country vet with lumberjack shirts, body warmers and spiky hair. He also happens to be very good at his job!

A typical social worker looks like a typical human being. It's another GG wind up of course.

I don't mind doctors wearing casual clothes but I was amazed by a female doc's aggressive cleavage on show once. We were burgled and shortly afterwards a stranger appeared at the door. He looked like a criminal returning to finish the job but turned out to be a very nice detective. Lesson: don't judge a book etc.

What about social workers?
I could pick them out from any line-up.

How's that then?
What does a typical social worker look like?

For goodness sake* GG54 * ,I merely told you of MY experience here today .Believe it or not.... I dont really care.Its what happened .I dont believe I mentioned England or Scotland just my GP surgery .I'm sure there are many just like it .I'm sure Dr H isn't the only middleaged man who still wears a collar and tie to work!!

What about social workers?
I could pick them out from any line-up.

I try never to shake hands...you don't know where they've been.

Ah!...of course that could only happen in Scotland where their services, across the board, are second to none.
Here in backwards England we have no time to look like a magazine ad for the medical profession.

I called the surgery at 9am this morning and saw the GP at 9.45 .He was well turned out, suit(jacket hanging on the back of chair) white shirt with sleeves rolled up and a tie.He was polite and friendly and, as someone who rarely comments on someones looks,an exceptionally good looking and well groomed silver fox.He greeted me with a handshake and shook it again as I left when he walked me to reception.
What a pleasant experience ,having a kidney infection was much better than I thought .lol

I'm more worried about hospital staff (and there is one very near where I live) who slouch into their place of work in a "uniform" that looks very lived in and slept in, hair straggling all over the place and generally of very questionable hygiene......too many look like tramps who have spent the night dossing down on the last bus!

The problems with the old fashioned white coats is that they were expensive and troublesome to launder, the sleeves couldn't be easily rolled up, and the wearer seldom bothered to button it up.
Incidentally school blazers are unhygienic as sleeves can't easily be pushed up for wiping when on the toilet or for hand washing.

I thought that the white coats were more to protect the doctors than the patient from infection?

I think many people have made the point about hygiene, and it's an important point.
When my daughter was training, she never wore a white coat, just a name badge pinned on to her clothes, now I realise why, the white coats carried infection.
When she qualified and was doing her F1 and F2 years in hospital, she always wore scrubs, and they were laundered daily by the hospital laundry. Again much cleaner. She told me she washed her hands regularly but she wasn't able to use the hand gel provided, she was very allergic to it.

They can wear what they like as long as they are competent and approachable

I do miss the doctors' white coat and nurses' starched cap and apron! I guess the GP can wear his/her smart casual clothes, but in hospital it's hard to know who's who. I still don't understand the reason why the white coat was scrapped.

Most of all I want them looking clean and tidy, wearing clothes that can be washed daily, for hygienic reasons. Apparently ties are horribly unhygienic!
Most of all I want them to look at me, not their computer screen when they are talking to me. God help anyone who dares to call me "Dear"! I may be 67 now but I was shipping steam engines round the world at 23, and used to ride a road racing motorbike in hot pants and a midriff top, skinny dipped in the Indian Ocean, drove 9,000 miles once to go to a steam rally. As I was born on Feb 29th, I only want to admit to the number of leap year birthdays I've had - I'll be 17 next year!

Men, to the left and women reasonably modestly.

I realize society has changed; it is not so formal as it was in the past. As long as doctors are tidy that is good enough for me.
When my husband was in a busy city hospital for bypass surgery it was sometimes difficult to tell if someone was a nurse, doctor, or lab technician (blood taker). But they all introduced themselves so no issue.

I wish doctor's would still wear white coats. I wouldn't mind what they wore underneath.