I upset a lady at GP surgery today

Ah in that case she sounds like she's one of those people with a skin thicker than a rhinos. She obviously met her match in you.

I mean, I probably would have worded it a bit more politely, but I don't blame you at all.

Most people queuing in a doctors surgery aren't there for fun. They are probably people who are ill, tired, elderly, sick themselves, so they don't want to stand there listening to some inane circular conversation.

Because the op said it was an old woman.

But it IS difficult to demand an explanation from a receptionist and persist with this when the explanation wasn't provided.

Yes, it was the receptionist at fault here. Her responsibility was to check everyone in, in a timely manner.

I would have thought a clinician in a GP surgery would have a much better grasp of language and grammar than demonstrated here and also might appreciate that other practices may function differently to their own before suggesting the OP is lying.

It isn’t difficult to want to understand the reasons behind a medication change.

Wouldn’t surprise me if this was my mother. She has been incredibly difficult all her life, cannot be told anything and is always right. It’s not clear if it was an actual different medication or just a different brand of tge same medication. My mother would insist it was ‘wrong’ because it was in a different package.

Due to medication issues she was issued a dossette box. Her local pharmacy didn’t do dossette boxes so it was coming from a different pharmacy but it was of no issue as it is hand delivered every week. No amount of explaining that it didn’t matter helped. She cancelled the dossette box because it wasn’t coming from her preferred pharmacy. She then turned up at her preferred pharmacy demanding her prescription which of course they didn’t have because it had gone to the other pharmacy to make up a dossette box. My aunt was with her and she was mortified at her behaviour. It kept being explained to her why they couldn’t issue her medication with my mother repeating that the doctor had prescribed her medication. Apparently they were in there at least half an hour going round in circles until my aunt managed to sort out a plan and drag my Mum shouting that she wanted her prescription.

In your circumstances the receptionist really should have taken charge. When she was going round and round in circles she should have told her to take a seat whilst she dealt with the people in the queue and she would try to address her problem. It may have needed a doctor to come and have a quick word. My mother would be much more likely to take notice of what a doctor said rather than sine ‘silly woman’ (her words not mine).

I’m an ‘older lady’ happily I still have a sense of self-awareness!

Basil Fawlty popped into my head straight away: 'I could spend the rest of my life having this conversation!'

Good for you, OP.

I guess none of us know exactly what happened objectivly; we only have OP's subjective account.
But people who were actually there seemed to disagree with OP's approach, some of them tutting audibly. So, despite this lady holding the queue up, some people seemed to support her, or, at least, didn't approve of the way the OP went about trying to resolve things.

The receptionist in question looked to be in her twenties and seemed hyper-efficient- PC headset, etc

Wearing a PC headset doesn't make you "hyper-efficient" any more than wearing sunglasses indoors makes me Anna Wintour. If she was hyper-efficient she wouldn't have let the situation continue. She probably will become more efficient with experience, as you said she was lacking in it.

'Doddery old fart'

So unnecessarily cruel.

So you could have said your piece standing where you were, without criticizing the patient based on your assumptions about her attitude. There was nothing stopping you from just asking politely to check in. That's obviously less aggressive than involving yourself in their conversation and criticizing a stranger.

You got this a bit wrong. With luck there's no consequence for the older patient who left, and I agree she is probably okay. But you've said you had misgivings and I think you know they were justified, really.

It's quite a common thing to wait too long to assert yourself and then come at it in a rush with strong feelings and say more than you need to. I'd ask to check in within ten minutes/ sooner if I was going to be late next time, rather than let the emotions build up.

So does ours but its out of action nearly every time I've been

The fact that she stood up for herself doesn't mean it wasn't bullying, OP. I mean, it's not the worst crime ever and with luck no harm done, but it was a bullying approach. There's a reason you had those initial misgivings and you should take them seriously.

The fact that the GP surgery then opened another line at the reception doesn't mean this woman deserved your public criticism. It does suggest you were right to interrupt and ask to check in and I don't think a single person on this thread has said you weren't.

So -

Reasonable to interrupt
Unreasonable to criticize this woman to the receptionist and the rest of the surgery
Unreasonable to assume that you know what the problem was - sure, it could be generic medications but there are lots of less innocuous explanations and you have no way of knowing which it was.

Just ask to check in next time and don't put other people down unnecessarily.

I missed a consultant appointment because the receptionist spent 22 minutes dicking around with a parking pass, they then blamed me. Classic NHS as far as I can see, wasting time, money and the nations health so they can be as inefficient and unhelpful as possible.

But not more ready to be assertive about the woefully unprofessional receptionist, who was the one actually holding you all up?

But so much more enjoyable to shame some doddery old fart making sure there isn’t an error with their medication than to take up the issue with the people who can actually fix it - the surgery.

Yes, that would be the sensible thing.

No, she expected help to explain why medication she was not expecting had been prescribed. Appropriate responses might be, “take a seat whilst I check in these people and I’ll ask teh GP to check it is correct”, getting the check screen sorted out or if available calling someone else to help with reception.

If I had an unexpected medicine in my list I would also want to check it was correct before taking it, not just blindly take it. Your problem is with the surgery processes not a patient with unexpected medication ensuring they have the right prescription before swallowing it.

This ⬆️ absolutely.

I really dislike the narrative that older people are some sort of entitled burden on society. Selfish, doddery and inconvenient.
I once saw a documentary about Spitfire Women - they flew planes between air bases for the fighter pilots. One of them, now very elderly, said that every time she felt talked down to and marginalised, she said "I once flew Spitfires, you know!".
I've always remembered that.

Sadly, I think SOME elderly people love the chit chat as well as not being in tune with other people's needs (the bigger picture )

Fixed.

Noted that the age of the seemingly incompetent Receptionist was not gratuitously mentioned.

Why didn't the silly cow ask at the pharmacy - could be just different brands