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"Confusion in the ward"

About: Falkirk Community Hospital / Opthalmology

(as a relative),

I accompanied my relative to an ophthalmology appointment. After seeing the clinician who they presumed was a doctor, they thanked the doctor and went back out to the waiting room for the 2nd part of the process.

When asked by the nurse who they had seen, they described the doctor and staff were visibly confused. It turns out, it was not a doctor, but an optometrist. Nobody but the nurses were in uniform and when my relative used the term doctor in the consulting room, they were not corrected.

Surely this is impersonating a doctor and illegal? It is also confusing for both patients and other staff members. Surely it would make sense to have all clinical staff in uniform to prevent these misunderstandings? I can't see the difference in a nurse wearing a uniform to treat patients and the optometrists and opticians wearing a uniform and name badge. In the interests of transparency, I certainly think it would prevent confusion and also stop patients thinking and being made to believe they had seen a doctor.

My relative felt they had been hoodwinked as the clinician did not correct them when they called them doctor, this was on more than one occasion during the appointment. Disappointing. 

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Responses

Response from Senior Charge Nurse, Ophthalmology, NHS Forth Valley 2 months ago
We are preparing to make a change
Submitted on 16/04/2025 at 10:50
Published on Care Opinion at 10:53


Dear Fifi78,

Thank you for taking the time to feedback your experience of our department. I am sorry that we did not meet your expectations on this occassion but I would like to reassure you that we take all feedback seriously. Our prinicple optometrists does not have responding rights but I have shared your feedback with her and she has given me the following response.

"Thank you for getting in touch.

I’m disappointed to hear of your experience in the eye department, all the team members are meant to introduce themselves by name and also role when they meet patients.

I have shared your feedback with the optometry team to ensure we are all doing the above routinely.

We have placed an order for new name badges and will also ensure that these clearly display name and clinical role and that these are worn at all times.

Regarding your suggestion of uniforms, this is something that will we will review across the ophthalmology multi disciplinary team.

Again I'd like to thank you for getting in touch and reassure you that we are taking action regarding the concerns raised

Kate Docherty
Principal Optometrist
Falkirk Community Hospital"

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