[Sundae]

If all the consultants accessed via the holding pen were Doctors I would have made that connection too.
Instead there was a mixture. Maybe it's filtering through. Maybe it's the old gender-bias. If she's Mrs/ Miss/ Ms K then she might be perceived as a filing clerk...? Not after a minute of conversation though.

Things are certainly less formal.
Back when I was still a troubled teen (hormone issues, not alcohol!) I had to be introduced to a Consultant by a Nurse. He - always he - would then not look at me for a while, shuffling my papework and telling it facts disguised as questions, "So I see you were referred by..." "You've already seen my colleague..."

"I'm not sure I understand why you are here." Oh that was addressed to me, eye contact and all. Funny that, Mr whatever your name is. I didn't ask to be taken out of school during my favourite afternoon of lessons of the whole week (why couldn't I miss Physics?!) to be treated like a malingerer when I was actually here as a result of blood tests and your learned colleagues.

Oops. Old hurts.
Gosh, hospitals/ referral units actually have improved in my lifetime, even if they don't clean them anymore. Now it's just a health gamble. Which it always has been, really. Back then belittlement was mandatory.