Rude gps

I agree I think that’s shocking tbh

This!

I respectfully tbink that is absolutely mad. I know its not your fault at all and you were just doing your job but I just can’t Imagine someone, say a middle aged man having to explain to a woman receptionist over the phone that he was having prostate trouble. It just seems crazy that people should have to answer medical questions asked by a receptionist to get an appointment.

Were they rude or just a bit firm?

“They” don’t think they can act as a triage system, they are trained to do so by the practice, and it’s an expectation of the manager that this will be done. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that a child with an ingrown toenail is not as high priority as a 90year old with suspected cellulitis.
I speak as a former gp receptionist who was always polite despite dealing with some truly unpleasant people all whilst on minimum wage.

Mine are all lovely

I think it's because it's tolerated. Businesses put a lot of effort into giving decent customer service. I'm a supermarket manager & I'm constantly managing & coaching customer service that falls below standard (which it often does when you pay a smidge above minimum wage & have a high number of neurodiverse & disabled employees).

It's not something that NHS & GPs in particular value & give importance to so it's very dependent on individual staff. Many poor staff who are rude & lack customer service skills are never pulled up on it. It makes their job a lot easier. There's some things on a CV that are a massive red flag when I'm recruiting & working for the NHS is definitely one of them.

Customer service training is extremely important as it boils down to effective communication skills, empathy etc. A lot of professionals stick their noses up at it as they believe their skills make them above basic standards. Many professionals now offer customer service training but re-named as things like 'advanced communication & problem solving' to get around that.

Exactly. That’s just ridiculous.

Thank you, that's very kind of you ❤️ while I was waiting to be seen on Monday, I was called in 15 minutes late by the nurse. I went early in the morning and no other patients were even being seen. Another lady turned up to reception as she'd also been referred for a blood test. She was told 15th February. Just ridiculous. It's a 5 minute job.

Boo, it’s not a thread about stroppy guinea pigs. I thought you were getting attitude from them for daring to rustle a packet and it wasn’t for them!

Glad to hear that 😊

Try a different practice. Mine used to be rude a few years back, but now they’ve seen the light!

Not everyone needs to wait for blood tests. I got mine the same afternoon and the results 24 hours later. I seem to be very fortunate with my GP surgery.

Its absolutely ridiculous that people need to wait for blood tests. You can get a prescription in the afternoon from a dr in France and turn up the next morning at a ‘labo’ and have your test with results usually back within 24 hours . I just don’t understand why the UK government cant at least sort this out.
Glad you got your slot in the end and fingers crossed everything turns out well for you.

I’ve not lived in the UK for a long time but have always visted alot especially while caring for an elderly close family member. What I found astounding is the medical questions you get asked by the receptionist ( was helping incapacitated family member ) when we phoned to make an appointment. Not the receptionist’s fault at all but it feels so strange to me to have ti explain why you want the appointment to someone who isn’t medically trained.

Yeah I get that. I've just never had one that was outright rude. I think until we've worked as one we can't really say how much crap they have to take and how much internal rules and targets they're forced to adhere to.

I worked on reception in quite a few places and was always treated with the utmost respect. But I guess it wasn't the NHS which is a different animal altogether.

DM loves the receptionists at the surgery she goes to. They're very accommodating and always follow through for her. At the surgery I go to they're fine.

We were talking the other day about the surgery we used to go to when we were kids. There was one tartar of a receptionist. Even when you saw her in the street, you'd be terrified. The other receptionist was a lovely lady who'd always be accommodating.That was at a time when you could just walk into the surgery and get an appointment there and then - not always, but a mostly; and they opened Saturday mornings.

I think most of them are good but like in any job there are always some bad apples. I think you have to bear in mind that they are on low pay so that is not necessarily going to attract the best people.

I did have trouble with one at my last GP surgery. I had a stress fracture which needed an urgent referral to the hospital. I discovered that she had been lying to me about not having received my x-ray report, although she was perfectly polite. The doctor was supposed to do a same day referral and it took a week - only because the hospital phoned them and asked for it because they were fed up of me ringing them to see if they had received the referral. The GP may well have been at fault too.

The GP was, however, VERY rude to me. I had a telephone appointment and when they called I told them that the health problem that I had reported to them and discusssed various times was getting worse. The GP said to me “There’s nothing more I can do. Bye” and with that she slammed the phone down. I was always very polite to her. I was absolutely outraged by her behaviour and changed
to another surgery. The GP I saw there was absolutely lovely and did a referral for me. I then got referred from that consultant to
another one and the second consultant knew what my problem was and how to treat it. Thank goodness!

I had a lovely lady this morning when I called up at 8am today. But I get your point. Some of them before I left London were shocking. They just looked so annoyed all the time, and would audibly tut in your face.

When I turned up for my GP appointment today, one elderly gentleman decided to tell his life story to the poor girl on reception. He would tell a full story about "the time I..." then would say bye, then would quickly hop back to the window and start a new story. I watched it as I waited for my appointment. Large queue formed behind him. I guess she felt unable to ask him to move on, but I can see why so many of them get fed up!

I wouldn't dream of being rude, or even "off" with them. I did a lot of reception work in my younger days and it was HARD. Always getting yelled at and talked down to.

I kill mine with kindness and it works every time. I didn't need to tell the receptionist I was on the two week cervical cancer pathways when she wouldn't fit me in for a blood test. She said there weren't any slots until February and she didn't exactly say it in a polite manner. I was very kind in my response and she managed to find a spot this week.

Same 😂

I used to agree with you, however my mum now works in gp practice as receptionist/admin and now I hear the flip side that they are so unbelievably busy. I don’t think they mean to be rude just stressed.

Yep ours are rude too! I was at the drs with dd last week, dr had requested that I quickly nip to reception and get a urine sample pot for dd so she could do a sample for him to dip there and then. Two receptionists one on the phone so I approach the other one, she would not stop what she was doing on the computer to deal with me, and kept huffing and puffing as if me standing there was interfering with her in some way