"Uncaring Doctor dismisses family's concerns!"

My husband was admitted to Ward B12 on Thursday for investigation of major dyspnoea that had caused him great distress. We had been seen on the previous day by a respiratory technologist who had assessed him and recommended a portable oxygen concentrator as during her assessment his O2 sats had been 84. At home, we had been monitoring same with an oximeter and they were consistently in the low 80's, occasionally dropping down to the mid 70's and even as low as 69! Admission was precipitated by our inability to obtain a concentrator in time when my husband was in distress from hypoxia, so we were advised by our family doctor to go to A&E at Peterborough Hospital. I was visiting him on the ward when the consultant physician appeared. I had wanted to talk with someone who could tell me what the treatment plan was, whether he was going to be given supplemental oxygen, and had been told to wait for the nurse in charge to speak with me. When the consultant arrived, I assumed she was a nurse as she did not introduce herself.

She proceeded to tell me that my husband did NOT need oxygen because his O2 sats that morning had been 94, and therefore he did not need any oxygen. When I tried to relate our consistent findings of low resting O2 sats at home, she did not listen and these were dismissed as irrelevant. I felt lack of respect from her, and felt that she was condescending in manner. She was abrupt and rude and interrupted me when I was trying to relate my husband's symptoms and history. Not only did she not listen to our concerns, as she left the ward, she shouted "I am the consultant!" We felt as if our concerns were not important, and were left with more questions rather than answers.