"Tremendous nurses; arrogant, patronising doctors"

Had nine hours at the AU department on Saturday, and cannot praise the nurses enough; cheerful, friendly, warm, working together so well, cajoling and kind to the elderly man on my left, maintaining his dignity,responding to his chatter, and his concerns about his feeling " neglected" as he had no visitors that day. Equally responsive to the gentleman on my right, who was slightly agitated that his wife might not have been able to get through on the ward landline to say that she had arrived home safely.The nurse happily went off with their home phone number, rang her and came back to relate to him that all was well. He sounded relieved. Then, there are the doctors. The first, a woman doctor, perhaps in training, who did introduce herself, and smiled beautifully till the inquisition started about my lifestyle. When I said that I had some reservations about taking statins for my high cholesterol, I was told, firstly that she had access to information I did not have access to on the Internet and , secondly, that there was " 100 percent proof" that statins were beneficial in preventing heart attacks. What I thought, but did not say, was then why all the raging controversy about it? Is anything in medical research " 100 percent"? But what really grated was that there was no treatment of me as a person who deserved an explanation. Does a doctor not know that if a patient is wary of taking medication, and a medication which once started, I gather, has to be taken for life, he or she needs convincing, not bullying? But it all became clear when she came back, smiling beauteously now, accompanied by , from what I surmised, a Superior Doctor, whose opening line, without introducing himself was a cross, brusque "Why did you come here?" * After rapid fire instructions and comments, which she dutifully recorded, he left with a swish of the curtains without a goodbye, making me feel like a time waster and a fraud. If that is the training she is getting, what hope is there for the compassionate treatment of patients? *Chest pains radiating to the jaw that a.m. Just in case, rang 111 (please note, not 999) after the pain subsided. Three ( wonderful) paramedics later, rushed off to the Conquest because they wanted to rule out a heart attack.