I upset a lady at GP surgery today

It was very possibly the same medication in different packaging anyway. I wonder if she’d tried to speak to the pharmacist about it, which would be the sensible thing to do.

I would definitely turned round and told you to shut the fuck up

The fault isn't with the older woman for the lengthy discussion, the fault is with the receptionist for not dealing with it. They could have gone into the GP between appointments or called through and found the answer to the ladies question.

She is right to question, it could have been an incorrect perception mistakes happen and that is dangerous. The GP should have originally explained the change to the lady and this wouldn't have happened.

Your stepping in is to self serve and that's up to you but the staff are poor at their roles.

OMG THAT WAS MY NAN haha not really, i probably would of done the same. i constantly offend people

I would have ended up missing my appointments I literally turn up with a couple of minutes to spare since they always tend to run late. I hate waiting about. I’d definitely would have had to say something.

This happens to me literally every single time I go to the GP surgery. There is always someone at the front of the queue having a long discussion with the receptionist so that nobody else can check in. There’s a self check in screen which seems to be permanently out of order. I was 10 minutes late for a cervical screening test recently because I couldn’t check in!

I think it’s the receptionists fault. They should check whether anyone needs to check in and prioritise that, rather than ignoring the queue while dealing with a long query. They must know that people are waiting to check in for appointments.

I'm dumbfounded. How can anyone believe a patient querying unexpected changes in their medication is unacceptable?

I can appreciate standing in a queue to check in (for however unbelievable a length of time as described here) is annoying. But the issue is with the receptionist/understaffed/ill-equipped surgery, not the patient who isn't just mindlessly popping the pills prescribed to her.

Patients should be active participants in their own care. They should be questioning unexplained changes in their care. A change in medication can have serious consequences for a patient, particularly if the change was due to an error. Doctors aren't infallible, and patients aren't wrong to query them.

It's really concerning that the focus was on the woman stating what the issue was again and again, and not being offered a solution. Why the assumption that she is the problem, and not the receptionist who from your description was not offering any solutions? Of course, the queue needed something from the receptionist, not the elderly lady, so that could well be why there was the assumption about the elderly lady being the issue.

I was at the drs the other day and elderly man told the receptionist his wife had died yesterday and he was coming in to tell them. She said sorry, took her name and then looked at the next person and said 'How can i help you'
When the poor man was still standing there
She Had no compassion at all

I know its different but i think the elderly sometimes need a listening ear and the lady in the Q was obviously confused and needed some empathy and advice
Everyone was in the Q so im sure you all still would of been seen
I personally dont rush elderly people

You seem very rude

We simply don't know that. Neither does OP. There's no information in her post confirming the change wasn't significant. And it was none of her business anyway.

It really doesn’t matter whether the OP considered that the woman’s query was importantly, valid, or whatever. What matters is the OP’s very rude way of handling her irritation at the delay. It would have been perfectly acceptable to have politely said thst she was worried she might miss her appointment because she couldn’t check in but instead she chose to be unnecessarily rude and talked loudly enough about another patient that other, more tolerant, patients made it clear that they thought she was being unreasonable. The fact the the woman she was complaining about was elderly has nothing to do with anything either but is yet another example of the unpleasant ageism that seems to be so acceptable on Mumsnet. One day the OP will be classed as elderly and I hope she is treated with more respect than she showed to the woman in the surgery today.!

Of course it was a nothing query.Shes got her prescription, she just is making a meal out of not “being told “ for 25 minutes.
And yes most people stand back at the reception area to allow privacy but everyone is going to tune in to wonder what the hell the queue hogged is going on about.
It’s not interfering when this woman is holding everyone up, other patients, doctors and the receptionist.
If anyone was rude it is this woman who thinks she can get her own way by being entitled to everyone’s time with a nothing query.

We don't know that it was a nothing query. The fact that people here can guess at a likely reason doesn't make it a nothing query.

It's the receptionist's job to handle the interaction. Why didn't OP tell them off if she thought she should criticise someone?

OP was unnecessarily rude and interfering. She only needed to ask to check in - not to criticize a stranger engaged in a personal conversation.

And she would have been able to if the woman was not hogging the only available receptionist with a nothing query.

Doesn't matter. OP had no business interfering in another person's medical affairs and didn't need to. There was no reason for her to be so rude and officious. She just needed to check in.

Well by that idea the woman who was spending 25 minutes repeating herself unnecessarily was interfering with the running of the practice, interfering with the duties of the receptionist and interfering with everyone else who was waiting in the queue.
And quite honestly she doesn’t sound like a little old dear who needs sympathy and understanding but someone who is entitled and needed a reminder that the world doesn’t dance to her tune.

I can understand your frustration at having to wait but the way in which you complained about the woman was extremely rude. I’m not at all surprised that people got a ‘bit sniffy’ at your unpleasant attitude.

OP did interfere. She told the receptionist the discussion was going nowhere and blamed the woman, loud enough for others to hear, for repeating herself. That just wasn't her business and it wasn't necessary.

I would have asked to check in, politely. That's all it needed.

I used to run a public service point (not a doctors) but there are skills involved in dealing with time wasters when there is a queue. One way is to make a note of the person's contact details and call them later in the day when you have the required information. Another is to ask them to wait while you deal with the queue. However its ineffcient and unprofessional to keep a number of people waiting while you attempt to deal with a problem that is not immediately solvable. Im surprised the receptionist did not deal with it by offering to call the patient later or asking the GP to do so. She clearly neededs further training. In the circumstances other customers sometimes have to step in to deal with a difficult situation like this.

I find it hard to believe that there was only one person available to deal with this. Where I live - small rural town, not in the UK - there are several admin staff floating about in the back room and one of them would have come out, either to deal with the woman holding up the queue or with the patients behind her.

The op wasn’t interfering though.
And yes it does sound likely it was a generic item.
The person holding up the queue for 25 minutes was complaining the doctor didn’t tell her.
Its not going to change anything, will still get the same prescription, no matter how many times she repeats “ she wasn’t told”.

My surgery has a self check-in screen, and this situation proves every surgery should have one!

OP can't possibly have known that though, any more than we can. I agree it's a likely explanation but bullying the woman into standing down wasn't the
OP's right or business.

All OP needed to do was ask to be allowed to check in on time.

What another patient was discussing with the reception isn't her business, and it's irrelevant. Just say sorry to interrupt, may I check in please. Don't interfere in someone else's medical issues.
.

Sorry-was it really 25 minutes? Honestly?

The tutters were probably cheering you on, internally 👏👏👏

It sounds like she was just given a generic one so correct meds but just another name. Especially as she kept repeating “no one told me”.
No doubt she bent the ear of the pharmacy but they were swifter in dealing with the situation.