> And nowadays in the NHS you will be hard-pressed to spot a white coat - people wear ordinary clothes, scrubs, or nurses uniforms. At least that's my impression as a recent in-patient.

Yeah, they were banned in the name of hygiene (sleeve length) not that long ago. 2007 in England & 2014 in Scotland I think.

The BMA has some lingering objection to it from what I understand, but since Covid they're all in scrubs anyway. If they want prestige and distinction from nurses/PAs it would probably make more sense to do differently coloured scrubs, as they do in some US TV shows (but not all; no idea about reality).

> as they do in some US TV shows

It depends on the hospital and it might also be regional.

At the hospital I go to in California, green is for surgery and everyone else seems to be in a free for all. I know they reserve dark red for visiting specialists, but the doctors and nurses both wear whatever they want.

They do this at my local hospital at least. There is a plethora of colours for different staff roles. I understand this is not consistent across the whole NHS but in general the principle is mostly followed. eg, see

  https://www.workwearexpress.com/blog/NHS%20Uniform%20Colour%20Codes