I'm horrified (but sadly not surprised) that you were treated so badly in
your own hospital.
I had a similar, but much less dramatic, experience when I took ill on call
as a PRHO and was refused leave to go to bed by my reg. I ended up
catherising one patient while a nurse held a sick bowl for me that I
periodically vomited into! Not good medical practice at all.
However, I am not convinced that 'special' treatment is better treatment.
Most of the cases of special treatment I have seen have involved
over-investigation and over-aggressive treatment because people are
frightened of getting it wrong.
I think staff should get the same treatment that everyone else does, because
equality of access to public services is important.
What I'm referring to is staff skipping simple queues when waiting will do
them no harm, and may give them a better appreciation of how patients
perceive the service.
Staff should not get worse treatment, or special treatment (which is often
worse for the wrong reasons), but the correct treatment.
If we feel that the service we provide is substandard (as opposed to
inconvenient) to the point that we don't think it is good enough for
ourselves or our colleagues then we should be making this clear to people.
Privacy and access problems for colleagues are a different issue, and of
course need to be provided for.
Robbie Coull
email: [log in to unmask] website: http://www.coull.net
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