"Fracture clinic"

I recently attended the fracture clinic at Pilgrim hospital with a suspected broken ankle. I saw a consultant. I do not know their name because they didn't bother to introduce themselves. They weren't wearing a name badge. There was a nurse present. I don't know their name because they didn't introduce themselves either. The consultant acted as if I was barely there. After examining an xray taken two days earlier when I attended A&E, they turned to the nurse and said two weeks - get a walker then turned to me and said goodbye. That was it. No attempt to explain what was wrong with me. No attempt to explain what the treatment plan was. No attempt to explain what a "walker" was and how I use it, for how long. No attempt to communicate with me at all. I might as well have sent a cardboard cut out or have been on the 'phone.

I only know what is wrong as a result of my own reading. Had I not read enough to ask the consultant to confirm that I had a fracture to my lateral malleolus, I would have left the clinic with absolutely no clue what was wrong or how it would be treated.

I think that this is a shocking lack of basic respect and an off-hand treatment of a patient which I think is unprofessional in the extreme. The fact that I am having to rely on a leaflet produced by another NHS Trust to understand what my problem is and how it will be treated is beyond belief.