Rude gps

This is definitely an issue where we are. What frustrates me is actually I am well aware that developers are required to give quite meaty contributions to towards additional healthcare funding but the CCG ( or whatever they are called now it seems to change all the time) just sits on their hands and doesn't work with everyone to get new provision implemented. I've sat in so many meetings where there are funds to be spent but it's not happening.

One of my patients commented to me that our admin team start off quite business like and warm up when they realise she is polite 😀 their like airport staff, show any humanity and you’ll get liberty taking.

Ive also had to encourage them to report incidents of verbal abuse when patients have made them cry. Patient came in and was an NHS nurse so that was an interesting consultation.

My last surgery had a very officious one 🤷🏻‍♀️

I have this issue too. I phone in to book an appointment and that’s it, receptions are not doctors, I should not be having to explain in extensive detail what my issue is, that’s what the doctor is for
It was very predictable that this would cone next...I bet there is a direct xorrekation between people with that attitude and those complaining of rude receptionists.

Receptionist are trained to triage in as much as they can get a rough idea whether the call warrants an appt with a GP, a nurse, a pharmacist or any of their other trained staff.

Their problem is when they are dealing with members of the public with an attitude demanding an appointment with a gp when they issue could be dealt with another trained staff, employed by the practice to manage the conditions they are ringing for.

That and patients calling and demanding antibiotics.

The last time I stood in my GP surgery I was behind a man who was berating the receptionist about the fact that the surgery was going to be closed over bank holidays. He mansplained to her over and over why he needed the surgery to be open, she ended up having to be really firm because other people were waiting and she couldn’t help. I am not sure how much self awareness people really have when they speak to GP receptionists, often you might be anxious and already decided it will not go well so you launch into verbal diatribes and find it hard to listen to the responses, you repeat yourself over and over, the receptionist is telling you the process and you are asking them to bypass it as you are a special case. Then you come on mumsnet and complain you didn’t like the way you got spoken to!

I started out in a first line role in a rough area and initially i was so polite, gentle, smiley, very understanding and accommodating but as time passed the role and clientel had ground me down, my attitude changed because I was sick of their bullshit and jaded to all the usual excuses and the high turnover, the higher starter pay and the stinky attitude that my colleagues had all made sense then...so I blame the horrid patients who ruin it for the rest of us. They all think their case is emergency and need to be seen now and if we don't give them what they want then we are useless🙄🙄🙄

There problem is that, as communities have grown in size - new housing estates built, no additional GP’s are taken on (or certainly not enough). Each GP has approx 30 appointments a day available…. There will be at least double that number of requests for appointments. Receptionists HAVE to filter the calls so that GP appointments are being used by those that need them the most. Lots of general Illness can be dealt with by nurse practitioners or even pharmacists. It’s not the same as a retail customer service because in retail generally you have ample supply of the item in demand and that’s not the case of GP appointments. Having done the job for several years if we booked every GP appointment requested the doctors would need to work 20 hour days by the time they’d also done things like referrals, home visits, safeguarding meetings etc.

Mine have been awful for years. They had to overhaul the entire admin staff twice in less than 10 years because they were egregious, ignored the phone, rude, always losing paperwork. I had to wait for the same scan 3 separate time because they kept losing letters or the referrals or the bloods. Turned out I had a tumor sitting around over year waiting for the scan and growing massive.

they eventually got taken over by a new group. Not great but not as garbage as before. I have solved this by avoiding them unless in dire need / deaths door.

So did I 🤣

I do think staff across NHS plus anyone front/customer-facing in any job gets the brunt of people's anger and always come polite and apologetic. If their job is to gatekeep the GP's time, they're doing a great job of it! And I can understand their irritation with people wasting GP time in fairness.

Also some pharmacy workers come into this category. I have a long term health condition and just 💀

My last couple of surgeries I've had good experiences but all the ones before that (many moves but all in London) were awful, shockingly rude and patronising.

Turn right you d-head! 🤣

The problem with ours unfortunately is their level of spoken/understanding English is awful. You have to repeat yourself constantly and I've had a few wrong prescriptions. It does make them sound rude at times.

At my last practice, a lot of the reception staff were rude and to be honest it felt sometimes like they were deliberately making things difficult. They also attempted to triage before actual triaging which I felt was out of order. At my new (more than five years!) practice it could not be more different. They are kind, helpful and honestly go out of their way to make things easier, even during Covid when things were naturally more stressful.

I became a gp receptionist specifically because of the high pay and the uniform. I find I’m like Mary Poppins after a 10 hour shift of listening to impossible to answer questions and scrabbling around for appointments.

To be fair most patients are lovely, but the mental load is hard. I’ve regularly cried after a long shift.

Ours are absolutely lovely and go out of their way to help.

So why is it called "rude GPs" and not "rude GP receptionists?"

The receptionists at my surgery are all lovely and helpful. So it’s not all.

And your title says GPs. Are you having a go at them too?

They aren't all rude, usually if the surgery is in a rough and stressful area (lots of anti social behaviours) you will find an abrupt and stern receptionist because the nice ones the patients will walk allover her and because the surgery manager hires ones who are rude and encourage them to be bolshy if thats how you spell it.. they are like a cushioning buffer to absorb the conflict and manage patients expectations so that when you finally see the GP you're worn down ans grateful to any civility.

Maybe you could have put that in your title instead of slating the doctors

I’ve recently moved from an excellent practice to another and both have had amazing and brilliant staff across the board.

Two things spring to mind. Firstly the ethos of the whole practice. If the management is positive, proactive and looks after the staff then the whole atmosphere is different and more positive.

Secondly you may find that using a practice that books appointments via an online form suits you better. Ours is excellent and assesses and triages the forms straight away ( I believe one of the GPs is responsible for this each morning).

So it’s very possible to find charming and helpful staff but sounds as if you’ve been unlucky or would suit a different system.

The last two gp practises I have signed up to the receptionists have been really nice (though abrupt/stressed when busy) but I have had a few like you are talking about. I've had quite a few who speak in a stern tone and act like everyone who calls is a hypochondriac so you have to convince them to let you see the doctor and when they do give you an appointment they tell you in a cross tone how they had to squeeze you in and how it has really put them out! It's like the power of being an appointment gatekeeper has gone to their heads!

I had one who was outright unprofessional and rude - eye rolls when I went to the desk and "oh it's you again" in a condescending tone. On one occasion she told the doctor I was waiting, did her customary eye roll and sniggered. I changed gp after that as I felt the whole exchange was unprofessional, bordering on misconduct and made me feel very uncomfortable - to this day I do not know if the gp was talking about patients to her receptionist. New gp and receptionists were all lovely and put me on to the relevant specialists who sorted my issues!

GP receptionists aren’t providing customer service. They’re funnelling people to the appropriate care, and the resources are very finite.
And being direct (and blunt) is more efficient than giving people what they want, rather than what they need .
Of course there are always accounts of people who knew better than the receptionist’s triage process and were mardy sods (who then had a knock on effect that impacted on another 14 people) but were ‘proved right’ / but I bet the other times they were difficult at the receptionist the receptionist would have been right to turn them away.

I also think I have a different threshold for the meaning of rude. If I call up and get a functional person to talk to, that’s all I am asking for. If someone starts calling me a cunt down the phone for no reason, that's ‘rude’ but their tone of voice has no bearing on me. I know I’m not being rude (energy matches energy a lot of the time) so I keep my cool and ask what I need, say thanks and go. I wouldn’t say being firm and functional giving out info is rude in any way so what action would you like practice managers to take?

This! My mum used to be a gp receptionist. She didn't originally apply for this, but for an admin role at a GP's processing referrals, test results etc. But the receptionist left and she was told she had to go on reception whilst they were recruiting.
You literally couldn't meet a more mild mannered polite person as my mum, but she got horrendous abuse. Yes they act as a gatekeeper to the GP, as the GP is their boss and thsts what they were told to do. If someone came late, she would send an instant message to GP 'Mr Smith has arrived late, I can see a cancellation at 3.30, can I ask him to come back then'. GP would say no and she would get an earful blaming her when it wasn't her decision.

I'm also a health professional. In my clinic yesterday I had 5 out of 15 arrive late. The letter clearly states that wont be seen if arrives more than 10 mins late, I had patients shouting at our receptionist when they arrived over 45 mins late and told couldn't be seen. If people call to inform us we try to juggle things around if possible and see another patient early and see the late one in next slot, but if they don't let us know, we can't even try to see them.

As a HCP I have experienced so much abuse. I get people are anxious and vunerable, and I have had a few apologise at next appt for their prior behaviour. But there are some who repeatedly behave badly and a couple we have had to ban from our premises for being physically aggressive.

I saw are comment regarding if patient 1 is rude then it OK to be rude back, but not for any of this to influence patient 2. We try not to, but we are human. Can you say that you have never let one interaction affect the next one?

It’s a stressful job they usually do burn out, it’s min wage, they get a lot of abuse, not even occasionally - most of the day. I don’t think it’s as easy to say just go get a new job when it’s min wage…really? GP receptionist hours often suits people who can’t work in retail. Retail hours are really shit. You can’t compare retail with healthcare AT ALL because someone being a bit rude about a trolley or some bread is not the same as someone screaming at you about their unwell elderly parent, the context is completely different, it’s not emotive and deeply personal in Aldi is it? Patients are afraid they might die and get abusive and threads like this perpetuate how it’s acceptable to speak to GP receptionists badly because they deserve it.

The most I have spoken to are just quite firm and have clear boundaries and limitations of their role - they are not there to ask you if you had a lovely Holiday, it’s not the hairdressers. Just tell them what you need and get the info. Plus people speak to them as if they are mini GP’s and expect them to know everything when they do not, and blame them for things they don’t do.