AN unhealthy amount of disrespect is being shown to hospital staff who are just trying to do their job, according to a doctor preparing to open a new practice in Bathurst.
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Dr Rachel Jack, who grew up in Bathurst, has worked in hospitals in Sydney and the bush and has recently returned to town, has seen the problem first-hand.
"The rudeness and aggression is a huge problem," she said.
"I have been spat on and scratched. I have been called just about every four letter word that you could write down.
"I've been called a terrorist as well - I wanted to do a blood alcohol level on a woman's P-plater son who had just crashed his car, so I was a terrorist for wanting to do that.
"But that is actually my job and it is a legal requirement."
Dr Jack said the "complete disrespect" among some for doctors and nurses and those working in the state's health system is worryingly widespread.
"A lot of people go into the hospital expecting to be served like it's a cafe or like they're in a retail store. And it doesn't work like that," she said.
"So they get irritated that they're getting bounced down the line or that they're having to wait for what they perceive as being an inordinate amount of time."
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She said health "horror stories" were well-known, but said it must be understood that "99.9 per cent" of those working in the health system are "doing what we're doing for the love of it and to help people, not to make them feel terrible".
What is rewarding about medicine, Dr Jack said, are the "absolutely lovely people that you have the joy of being able to help and treat and figure out what's been bothering them for so long and finally get to the bottom of something or help them through a rough time".
