"Extremely rude & un-professional Sonographer"

We arrived at the hospital for our first scan at (3 months) on the 21st Sep and were really looking forward and eagerly waiting for this day as this is our first experience of having a baby and the 3 month scan has its significance.

However all our excitement and happiness turned to disappointment as we met the sonographer as they were clearly not in a mood to be working and lacking some basic courtesy that a health professional should possess when meeting with their patients.

Once we were inside the scan room they started to proceed with the ultrasound without providing any information about the scan in terms of the duration, what they would be checking, how should we see the images or any other information that we should be informed before conducting any scan or procedure. They seemed to be nervous and behaving in a very erratic manner and oblivious to our presence in the room and probably trying to rush up as quickly as they could.

As they started the scan, my husband pulled the chair he was sitting on next to me so he could also see the screen at which point they stared at the my husband and in a very rude manner said ‘move the chair back to its place, its there for a reason, do you go everywhere and move the chair like this’ obviously if they would have informed us that there is a screen hanging from the ceiling behind them he would have not moved the chair.

We were stunned, as we had never expected an impolite, sarcastic comment or this sort of behavior & language from a medical professional. Both myself and my husband are well qualified and we could have given them a befitting reply back in their own language but we decided to keep mum and ignore their behavior as we had been waiting for this moment for a very long time and didn’t want to ruin our special day.

Within 10 – 15 minutes they rushed and completed the scan, providing as little information as they could and rushing in a manner so we don’t have the opportunity to ask the person any further details.

We have now booked another scan privately as we don’t have the confidence in what they did or what they were murmuring to themselves and not even sure if they carried out the scan in the manner it should be carried out under NHS guidelines.

We have heard lots of good things about your hospital and we are very pleased with all the other staff members that we have interacted with so far at your hospital, however this individual is a disgrace to your esteemed hospital and hence we decided to take the time out and share the details with you as we hope no other couple has to experience this on their very special moment.

Also, if possible we would like to ensure that we don’t have any more interactions with this individual whilst we visit the hospital for further scans.