Why familiarity can breed content in hospital

SIR – When I recently spent a few days in hospital, the use of my first name (Letters, March 18) made me feel like me, not just the older woman in bed number five.

But what I really liked was that staff introduced themselves by their first names before starting a conversation or treatment. It greatly added to the feeling of friendliness, openness and warmth on the ward – always appreciated in surroundings and situations outside one’s comfort zone. Ann Garbett

Sheffield, South Yorkshire

SIR – Terms of endearment not only establish an immediate friendliness, they also avoid the thin ice of formal titles: Mrs (married?), Miss (spinster?), Ms (feminist?), Mr (surgeon?), Dr (PHD?), Mate (Australian?).

I live up North and enjoy being called “luv”. Graham Smelt

Huddersfield, West Yorkshire

SIR – I have always taken an egalitarian approach to titles. If somebody of whatever rank or occupation addresses me by my first name, I immediately ask for theirs. If this is not forthcoming, I explain that I expect to be addressed by my surname.

“Dear”, “darling” and “my love” are common parlance down here across the river Tamar. Taking offence would be a waste of time and probably insult the speaker. Denise Shackell

Newquay, Cornwall

SIR – A few years ago, when I was an outpatient at a local hospital, the Polish nurse asked how I preferred to be addressed. I said I preferred Mrs Mcweeney.

Her response was one of relief. She said that in Poland they would never dream of addressing a patient by their first name and she felt awkward if she was asked to do so. There are two sides to every coin. Felicity Mcweeney

Morpeth, Northumberland

SIR – When a doctor asked my late aunt, who lived in modest circumstances, if he could call her by her first name, she demurred: “Oh no! That’s what the servants call me. You can call me Miss Grimshaw.” Dr John Doherty

Stratford-upon-avon, Warwickshire