Rude gps

Yes, this also. But mine have never been rude. Sometimes they don't exactly exude charisma but as you say it's stressful and they probably get a lot of unwarranted abuse.

Well for starters because they haven't even heard of my condition so why would I trust their judgment as to whether or not if I needed to see GP?

Oh definitely. Obviously you need to give some information as you say, so they can put you with the best person to deal with it. It's the ones who want it all in detail I can't stand. It's ridiculous to not tell them anything because that's just running to he risk of being sent to the wrong person and wasting an appointment like you said happened to you.

You always get posts on these threads saying 'why do they triage you', and it is always answered multiple times.

They just want to know if you are seeing the GP about your dodgy knee, or to get your HRT changed or that weird rash that has come back. The GP can then read up any notes on that issue, rather than you going in and having to spend time explaining what you are there for.

I am sure receptionists don't want to hear in detail about your medical problems, they, and the GP just want a clue about why you want an appointment.

Then how else do they prioritise patients ? Just give everyone with the sniffles an appointment meaning there are none left for people with say, infections or a concerning lump ?

They may not be medically trained but they do have a procedure to follow.

How do you know what medical training they have had? And triaging doesn’t need medical training just common sense!

I got told by a GP receptionist when I rang to use lemsips and cough medicine for a chesty cough, despite throwing up for 4 days. Was told by her “nasty viruses are everywhere”. Ended up hospitalised with bilateral pneumonia after another day of lemsips!

She was really rude. Other ones have been ok, I guess it depends who they are as a person

I get that but I also know that some people are simply against telling anything on principle that they are not "medically trained". Receptionist rarely need to know detailed explanation of your enquiry but giving them basic information like "I need a skin lesion checked out" or "I've had a persistent cough for two months" shouldn't be a big deal. After all, they need to make a decision on how urgently you need to see a GP or whether you will need to see another professional at the practice. Yes, they are not medically trained but they ARE trained to make triaging decisions like that.

This is not my experience at all!
I'm 58 and have moved around a number of surgeries, there have been a few not so great over the years but generally helpful.
The staff at my current GP are brilliant, and have gone out of their way to help, I have a son with additional needs and they are so accommodating.

I left one practice because of the receptionist. Patients were routinely ignored as the queue grew longer and longer. She’d be sat there in the window staring at her computer screen and just blank you as it got closer and closer to your appointment time and there was no machine to check in. If you said ‘excuse me’ she’d say ‘I’m busy’. One time she was behind the desk discussing loudly what she wanted to put on their new shelves with another receptionist as if that took priority over patients and after being ignored for over five minutes with a queue forming behind me I leaned forward and said ‘excuse me’ once again and she said ‘I’m busy, you’ll have to wait’. After that she purposely blanked me every single time I went in and made me wait longer and longer as punishment for daring to ask her to serve people and I just walked out three times after being blatantly ignored by her and eventually thought why the fuck am I putting up with this crap from her so I joined another practice and made a formal complaint about her. People she was on first name terms with were always seen immediately but if she didn’t like you, you were made to wait while she pretended she was doing something on her computer. One time an old lady who was incontinent was in the waiting room and after she went into consultation this receptionist came out holding her nose and spraying air freshener everywhere in a really exaggerated fashion then rolled her eyes as she walked off. Proper piece of work she was. I hope she smells pissy one day too and other people follow her around spraying air freshener everywhere.

I am just really glad that the vigorous gate keeping didn't exist when I was very suicidal because I think if I had had to justify my need for an appointment to a receptionist that day I am not sure I would be here now. I only felt able to open up once I was face to face with a GP not least because my abusive (now ex);husband was in the background when I made the call asking for an appointment

I actually do understand and I am polite when I am engaging with receptionists that they may just be following a script they have been told to use but that doesn't mean we shouldn't have a conversation about appropriate levels of gatekeeping and requests for information.

Some issues are very intimate or embarrassing or difficult to talk about and patients may not want to go into that in detail with someone who is not medically trained. And then there are the issues like I mentioned up the thread where a patient is actually very knowledgeable about their condition and/ or has a rare condition and they know full well what they need and the receptionist is unlikely to have any understanding of the issue

On each occasion when I have been quite assertive in order to ensure I or my child get in front of a GP that day but GP has been very clear that I have done the right thing

Sorry I didn't see your later post. I completely understand needing to know the reason but with some things you obviously don't want to be explaining in detail what's wrong, that's why you want the doctor. Some things you just don't want to tell someone who isn't a doctor.

Yeah, don't get started on that one because I already addressed it further in the thread.

I understand that to some extent but I have a rare condition that is well understood by GP's but most receptionists can't even spell it- that's not being derogatory to receptionists it's just that I have often had to spell it out to them. Both the GPS and I understand exactly when I need GP care and when I don't and I wouldn't expect ever section is to have any understanding of the subtleties of my condition. It makes no sense for them to try and make that decision and they do need to trust that patients with chronic conditions often have a really good understanding of what they need and when.

I think GP receptionists have to deal with a lot of arseholes. Not an excuse to be brusque with everyone but you see how that could happen.

The ones at my GP surgery are absolutely lovely though, I’ve never had an issue like that.

I must be very lucky where I live, 14 years on and the receptionists have all been lovely, helpful too. The doctors however.... lol. There's always one when your heart sinks if get an apt with them.

Agreed. Our GP receptionists are kind and understanding. There are rude people in every walk of life and job.

But they make for poor judgements. On a number of occasions I have asked to see a GP urgently and be met with huge resistance from the receptionist only for the GP to agree that they did need to see me or my child urgently and that they very much we're glad that I had pushed. It's clear there is a disconnect between what GPS think receptionists are doing and what some of them actually do.

One time my son started feeling really dreadful and we were around the corner from the GP practice. I went in and said I thought he needed to see a doctor urgently and the receptionist refused and said we would need to go home and ring and wait for the duty doctor to call. Thankfully my son refused to budge - he was only a little boy at the time- and the receptionist spoke to the GP who checked his health records and realized he did want to see my son straight away and rightly so.

I really don't think it was within that receptionist power to try and turn us away at that point

Our NHS surgery had 4 regular receptionists. One was really lovely but the other 3 were really rude. Whilst in the waiting room, it was a regular topic on conversation between people who were together and sometimes it was discussed by patients who didn’t know each other. It was really bad.

After a particularly bad encounter with one of them, we decided to use a private GP and see if it was any better. That was 10 years ago now and the difference is like night and day. The receptionists at the private practice we use are always polite and helpful. I suppose that’s what some of the £70 for an 20 minute appointment goes towards. 😬

Maybe it’s an English thing?

They were quite off in my last surgery and didn’t want to forward our medical records without a lot of fuss.

Conversely, here in Ireland, they’re incredibly helpful. They try to fit you in where possible or arrange a call back from the GP. They’ll go out of their way to find the number for the consultants secretary so you can ring directly to chase appointments etc. Honestly, our local surgery is fab.

I certainly don't mind the receptionists asking questions about my call. They've saved me plenty of time by either getting me a call back from the gp or discovering that a prescription request can go directly to the gp without me being seen. I may be biased because mine are absolutely lovely and very helpful and professional. Ive witnessed people shouting at staff before and the receptionists de-escalated it impressively.

I don't call for an appointment anymore. I do a consult through their web page/NHS Direct and then either get sent an appointment or a message to say prescription is ready. I think they come across quite short sometimes because they are busy and there's constantly a queue of people trying to get through on the phones

You must be so lucky. I've encountered many rude ones. It's as though they try and make you feel like you're being a major inconvenience for wanting to see a doctor. Oh and don't get me started on if you don't want to tell them the ins and outs of why you need a doctor 🙄 they're like gatekeepers from hell😂

Mine have never been rude, ever and are very polite and helpful.

So you think they're asking to be nosey? For fun? To gossip to their colleagues? They're doing the job that they're employed to do. They will have been told by their manager (at a guess the GP) what questions to ask.