Unfriendly, insensitive, threatening ...plain rude

all times. The government- appointed figurehead was forced to apologise for the comments after a backlash from unions.

Patients’ groups have warned staff rudeness and a basic lack of compassion is a significant problem in our hospitals.

However, health bosses have said the number of complaints is small compared with the huge number of patient interactions taking place every day.

And union leaders have defended the issue pointing out that stresses, such as burgeoning workloads and increasingly demanding patients, are taking a toll on hard-worked frontline staff.

Margaret Watt, chair of Scotland Patients Association, said dipping standards could set patients back.

“We’ve had a lot of people complaining to us about the attitude and behaviour of staff over the years,” she said. “These patients are ill and a bit of compassion will help them heal more quickly.”

In total the NHS received 4,800 complaints about the attitude and behaviour of staff between 2013 and 2015.

Consultants, doctors, nurses, administrative staff, GPs, nurses and “allied health professionals” were among those on the receiving end.

Top of the table of NHS boards with most complaints is Greater Glasgow and Clyde. It received 329 complaints in 2013, 410 the following year and 424 last year.

Next was Tayside with a total of 808 over the three- year period, followed by Forth Valley on 478, and Lanarkshire on 439.

Eight NHS health boards, including Ayrshire and Arran, Borders, and Dumfries and Galloway, have seen complaints about staff behaviour and attitude rise between 2013 and 2015. Many also provided details about the allegations made against staff.

Jacqueline Heath, 53, from East Dunbartonshire, said nurses made her feel like she was wasting their time when she was in hospital. She said: “Normally NHS staff are polite but in my case they were rude. I found they were quite curt.”