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by OJFord 82 days ago
> And nowadays in the NHS you will be hard-pressed to spot a white coat - people wear ordinary clothes, scrubs, or nurses uniforms. At least that's my impression as a recent in-patient.

Yeah, they were banned in the name of hygiene (sleeve length) not that long ago. 2007 in England & 2014 in Scotland I think.

The BMA has some lingering objection to it from what I understand, but since Covid they're all in scrubs anyway. If they want prestige and distinction from nurses/PAs it would probably make more sense to do differently coloured scrubs, as they do in some US TV shows (but not all; no idea about reality).
2 comments
karlgkk 82 days ago
> as they do in some US TV shows

It depends on the hospital and it might also be regional.

At the hospital I go to in California, green is for surgery and everyone else seems to be in a free for all. I know they reserve dark red for visiting specialists, but the doctors and nurses both wear whatever they want.

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clort 82 days ago
They do this at my local hospital at least. There is a plethora of colours for different staff roles. I understand this is not consistent across the whole NHS but in general the principle is mostly followed. eg, see

  https://www.workwearexpress.com/blog/NHS%20Uniform%20Colour%20Codes
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OJFord 82 days ago
Oh, interesting. The few hospitals I've been familiar with through my wife's working there have all been single colour (or slightly different shades with different ages of stock!).

I don't think there's a rule about it though, it's just what they stock & launder. I don't think they're mandatory for doctors at all – my understanding is they pushed to be allowed to wear them during the pandemic, at least at the hospital she was at at the time, and it just stuck, 'nobody' wanted to go back to 'professional clothes' and washing them at home, and it'd be hard to enforce once you've dropped it I imagine.

Edit: see this doc (2024), seems it's being standardised nationally, and there's nothing for doctors at all: https://azuksappnpdsa01.blob.core.windows.net/datashare/NHS-...

(So what they'll do in practice, no pun intended, when the trust moves to this system I have no idea... Keep using the old ones washing them at home? Buy Figs etc.? Stop wearing scrubs?)

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enoint 82 days ago
I didn’t see maroon on there for anesthesiologists.
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