A woman says she was taken aback by a nurse's "potty mouth" while accompanying her grandmother to the hospital.
During the appointment, the woman says she was left reeling at the comments made by the staff member to a student nurse.
But she wasn't unsure whether she was acting unreasonably, or if "times have changed" in the medical profession.
Taking to Mumsnet, the woman said the nurse was referencing a "dodgy curry she’d reheated for her breakfast."
In her account, she said she wasn't planning on complaining but previously had been told that similar behaviour was not allowed.
Get the biggest news delivered to your inbox. Sign up for the Mirror's free newsletters
She wrote: "I accompanied my grandmother to a nurse appointment today. Before the nurse started she said, “Can you excuse me for a minute, I must nip to the bog."
"I know it’s not exactly swearing but I was a little taken back by it. She had a student nurse in the room with her and the student started the appointment whilst the nurse was out of the room.
"When she came back in the student said "Another one?”. And the nurse replied, “Yep, that’s three today now, my arse feels like it’s on fire”. They both laughed.
"My grandmother laughed too and the nurse looked at her and said “God I’m so sorry, ignore my potty mouth” and they started joking about the nurse swear jar (actually set up near the computer!!)
"Obviously, I’m not looking at complaining or anything daft like that but is this really acceptable now?"
After sharing the anecdote on Mumsnet, a lot of people felt that the nurse shouldn't have spoken about her stomach issues so freely.
One wrote: "Gross!! I would complain tbh. A joke between your colleagues if you like and know they share your humour but patients don't really want to be hearing about their nurse’s s*** they’ve just had."
Another said: "Unprofessional in that setting, though I don’t think it would prompt me to complain. It is the sort of language I use frequently at home. I am more careful if I am elsewhere."
"It wasn't very professional. She could have just said, "Could you please excuse me a moment?" - No explanation was required," opined a third.
Another advised: "Bog and Arse are perfectly acceptable words where I live, especially if the patient had used those words to describe their symptoms.
"However, it was very unprofessional to have discussed her digestive issues in front of the patient and I’d be concerned what the student must have made of her bedside manner.
"I think you should mention it to someone as the nurse could probably do with a refresher training opportunity."
