Dr Mark Gallagher 2015-11-27 Person 3 5 0

I saw Dr Mark Gallagher to discuss an ablation procedure (as the first one I had with a colleague of his was unsuccessful). There are two sides to my impressions. The first and crucial is this: he answered all my questions, with complete openness, even though the answers weren't at all what I wanted to hear! Knowing you have to go in and have the same procedure again (with a twist and under general anasthetic this time) isn't too comforting. As a patient, I need a lot of reassurance about this procedure and letting anyone near my heart! The other side of the appointment that left a bitter taste, for me, was his 'bedside manner.' He did not make eye contact once during the appointment and on leaving the room, offered me a hand shake with his entire torso rotated away from me. When discussing something so important as your heart, you want to feel connected to the Dr and professional sitting in front of you to build trust. Going in to discuss my heart's abnormal supraventricular tacycardia and having Dr Gallagher talk to his folder and not grace me with eye contact made it seem like the appointment was a scientific conference. My partner and I were shocked that he hadn't looked up for a good 5-10 minutes, and when he did, he talked to a spot on the wall and not our faces. Dr Gallagher certainly knows what he is talking about, which is great, and what I expect from going to see a top consultant, but the additional kindness and patience seemed to be lacking a little.. I'm still deciding whether or not to have this procedure done with him or go elsewhere.