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No first name terms in the NHS: Drive for ‘professional courtesy’

  • A Kent NHS Trust has a policy banning use of first names without a title
  • Comes after ‘unease’ among senior staff being addressed by first names
  • The Trust has now introduced a professional courtesy conduct rule

By
Jenny Hope


Published:

18:12 EST, 5 May 2014

|
Updated:

10:51 EST, 6 May 2014

Being on first name terms with work colleagues may seem friendly, but NHS staff have decided it can be a little too familiar.

A new drive for ‘professional courtesy’ at one NHS Trust means staff will address each other more formally in future.

Pressure from senior staff at Kent Community Health NHS Trust has led to a policy telling staff not to use first names without a title – unless permission has been expressly given.

A new drive for ‘professional courtesy’ at one NHS Trust means staff will address each other more formally in future (stock picture)

No longer will a doctor or nurse use first names only when speaking to each other.

Instead, they will say ‘Sister Megan’ or ‘Nurse Lisa’ – a tradition that has been dying out.

‘There has been unease among senior staff at being addressed by their first name, particularly by junior staff ‘ said Trust source.

‘It was noticed that cleaners and clerks were talking to senior personnel as if they had known them for years’ they added.

It comes after there has been unease among senior staff at being addressed by their first name, particularly by junior staff

The Trust has now introduced a professional courtesy conduct rule whereby staff no longer just use first names.

It comes after consistent complaints by patients that they object to their first names being used by NHS staff who are strangers.

A number of Trusts have responded with new rules, saying staff will ask patients how they wish to be addressed, for example as Mrs or Ms.

Staff are also advised to avoid lapsing into over-familiarity unless this is acceptable to, and agreed by the patient.

Using colloquial terms such as ‘dear’ and ‘petal’ are banned by Dorset County Hospital, for example, unless the patient’s agreement has been sought.

Patients at Kent Community Health Trust now want to get in on the act, according to a letter published in its internal journal.

‘May I ask that you consider also asking your staff to refrain from using first names for patients unless the patient specifically asks them to’ writes a former patient from Maidstone.

‘I am aware that many patients do prefer the use of a first name and this should obviously be an option.

‘However, some people prefer not to be infantilised by the use of their first names and the use of ‘ dear’ and ‘ darling’, particularly with more elderly patients.

‘Patients should be given as much respect as nurses and doctors have’ says the letter.

The Trust source said the idea was ‘under consideration’.

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Comments (75)

what you think

The comments below have not been moderated.

Southdownlad,

Sussex, United Kingdom,

26 minutes ago

What they should do is get them back into respectable uniforms. Secondly they should drastically reduce visiting hours, so the staff can get on with caring for patients and the risk of infections being brought in would be greatly reduced. Of course courtesy between staff is important but this may be a step too far.

udenihc,

London, United Kingdom,

48 minutes ago

I think addressing each other as Miss this and Lady that is the least of the problems facing the NHS at the moment.

Christiane,

Todmorden, United Kingdom,

51 minutes ago

Not before time. I always preferred it when nurses were addressed as “nurse” by senior staff when I was in hospital last year. Having them chatting about their private lives was a big “no” as well. It sounded like you were in the middle of a flock of twittering birds.

commontater,

Stafford,

1 hour ago

“Pressure from senior staff at Kent Community Health NHS Trust has led to a policy telling staff not to use first names without a title – unless permission has been expressly given.”…………………………….The latest form of bullying junior staff. Some people command, and get, respect by their very nature. Those who demand respect, do not deserve it.

mary,

Whitton,

3 hours ago

They use first names with patients not as a friendly gesture but to put patients in place, like school teachers and pupils.
My 90 year old mother hated being called by her first name by some total stranger teenager. I insisted she was called Mrs….
And now I find I am of an age when I expect title and surname rather than first name from many I encounter. I either as fir their first name back (never get it of course!) or ask if I know them and when they say no I say in that case I’m MS to you.

Brother Anthony,

Reading UK, United Kingdom,

5 hours ago

A typical conversation – ‘Hi Mike I think I’ve given Mrs. Smith 10 times the dose I should have’. ‘Please call me Mr Jones, you know the new rules – now what were you saying’. ‘I think me and Mary have given Mrs Smith too much anti-biotics’. ‘Look its not Mary, its Mrs Curson, how many times do I have to tell you don’t use Christian names – now what did you say’.

b ward,

newport, United Kingdom,

5 hours ago

little things like respect were the things that made this country great. I do not want doctors, nurses, companies
I buy clothes from addressing me by my first name, it is so rude.
When a doctor or nurse calls you by your first name, they are completely losing the doctor/paitent balance
that is necessary.
Lets hope it catches on. And that all the laws that silly fool in the labour party brought in to undermine this
country are soon speedily reversed too.

Freddy.Johnson,

Pennan Aberdeenshire,

6 hours ago

I dont like anyone being overly informal it bugs me. Who are these ‘right-on’ folk who think they have been my mate forever? You go into a pub and some snotty nosed kid asks you ‘what you want mate’!! My first thought is ‘who ever told you I was your mate’? Obviously has delusions of grandeur. I wee bit of respect wouldnt go amiss and a ‘sir’ thrown in somewhere along the line. Plonkers.

talbothound,

Rome – Italy,

7 hours ago

At last. A return to respect. The only people who should use your first name are those of your family and your intimate friends. From anyone else it is invasive and insulting.

Sid55,

Bolton, United Kingdom,

8 hours ago

Even more PC nonsense.

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