Staffing at hospital

Hi Sodo7985 

Yes, you can make that request but it’s another matter whether or not it will be possible on every occasion to see only female staff. In my experience of cervical cancer surgeries, I’ve mainly had female staff-all were female on the gynae wards where I recovered, my consultant surgeon was female, but one of my surgeries involved 2 surgeons who were male. For one I had a female anaesthetist, but for the other all were male. 

I can understand your have your own reasons for asking, and I didn’t have any reason to ask for this, and so have you made your feelings known to your consultant yet? You do have rights to ask/choose certain things on the nhs (I presume you are talking about the NHS rather than the private sector?) but it would depend if your hospital can accommodate your request. My understanding is that the hospital is duty bound to provide the correct care and treatment, but that may be determined by staff availability. 

Sarah xx

Hi Sodo7985

I am sorry to hear you are really stressed and struggling with things, sending hugs. 

I recently attended the hospital for my 3 monthly checks and a male registrar was present instead of my usual female consultant, as a internal examination was required and i had previously shared personal history relevant to this he offered to request a female colleague undertake that examination - i would urge you to share your concerns and your wishes with your consultant/the team.

During my radiotherapy treatment there was an expectation that you changed into a gown (that did not effectively cover you tbh) and then wait in the corridor to be called in, sometimes if your bladder was too full/not full enough etc you would be sent back out to wait in your gown etc whilst you drank more/went to the toilet etc. On one occasion, early on in my 5 weeks of daily radiotherapy I had a very upsetting experience of being stared at by a male patient who was also waiting in the corridor (along with many other patients their family and friends etc) and raised this with both my consultant and radiotherapy team. The team were very good at ensuring i and this male patient's radiotherapy schedules did not overlap moving forward but i actually took the decision that i was no longer going to get changed and wait in the corridor to be called in but i would change in the room with the scanners, the team were happy to accomodate this

Most hospitals are much better at being trauma informed and wanting to ensure they offer safe spaces and safe experiences for patients, from both a physical safety and psychological safety perspective, and without knowing your individual experiences please do advocate for yourself in regards to the nature of your care as from my experience they will want to do everything within their power (and resources available) to support you.

Hi Mochimoo, 

Just wanted to reinforce your comments about changing into robe etc. and then having to wait in public area. Same happens in some Xray departments. In the scheme of things it may seem a small thing but it is very undignified  when people already feeling vulnerable (without having someone staring at you). Yes you can take something to cover yourself but you should not be put in that position. I too  prefer to change in corner of scan room. Sorry but hospitals need to show more consideration. It may be convenient/ faster for them but perhaps patients dignity should be considered as well. It should not be necessary to ask.

Thanks for posting. 

Serena77

Can you request all female if you go private 

You would need to know if the private hospital you wanted to transfer to had the facilities to do the particular surgery you need, and then the same as the nhs, it would be a question of resources and availability. Not every private hospital can do every type of surgery-for example not every private hospital has intensive care or high dependency wards if they are required. 

Are you thinking of transferring your care to the private sector? 

Sarah xx

I was looking at the christie in Manchester 

If you wanted to change from the NHS to private, that might involve a delay for you but you said you were to have your surgery in March, so there’s not much time. If the Christie agreed to accept you as a private patient, your records would need to go to them, and it’s quite likely you may need more scans-and the Christie would need to confirm that they are prepared to do the surgery you need. They may propose a different treatment plan after reviewing your case for example.

You can of course change from the nhs to private but it’s not as simple as just wanting to have your op done there because you’re prepared to pay for it. 

Sarah xx