Receptionist attitude should I complain

You can report it but I'm quite convinced that the purpose of GP Receptionists is to deter people from going to the GP at all and they deliberately recruit the most mean girl jobs worths they can find. I certainly have given up on trying to get through the wall of dragons and if I have a health problem I just hope it goes away.

Why? People should call out abusive behaviour when they see it

If enough people complain about her the surgery will absolutely discipline her.

Absolutely report it. I'm a doctor's receptionist and there's absolutely no way I would speak to patients like this. It's abusive!

One of the issues with this shortage of appointments (which is not the fault of the reception staff) is that by the time people see the doctor, they have A List! Our GP, who is lovely, once said to me "Oh no, you have a list! Right, hand it over. The most important thing is almost always at the bottom." He was, of course, absolutely right. 😆

Mr G has dementia and there is nothing he enjoys more than a medical appointment, during which he masks and appears perfectly normal. This is fine with the GP, who understands, but I currently need to persuade a rather arrogant ophthalmic surgeon that if he performs lower eyelid surgery I will not be dealing with the gory consequences!

@DestituteDesperate
Do something about what you witnessed
I've had my share of snarky impervious receptionists in my time
So now if anything arises when I'm at rhe doctors
I've told a few that without the sick
They'd not have patients
And I'm going to make a formal complaint

They're not trained to recognise these things at all. They don't have the basic underpinning to differentiate between the computer said no to actual medical knowledge.

This little trend should have died with COVID lockdowns.
I want to see a medic not a member of the admin team thanks.

As I said on earlier in this thread. I am a HCP and know substantially more than a receptionist when it comes to health. I was able to advocate myself and override her lack of basic medical knowledge and shitty attitude. Not everyone can do this. I ended up in hospital. An 80 year old who can't advocate for themselves would have probably gone home.

And I imagine a lot of the shit they deal with is very well deserved.

Its tongue in cheek sarcasm obviously it didnt click

What did you see though? Do you have any idea the shit they have to take? Emergency appointments are just that - things that need immediate attention. She's been trained to recognise those cases, you have not. That patient could have been the one that gives them shit every day. But yeah, if it makes you feel better, write to the practice manager.

We've found that it's the places where they have the "anti abuse signs" that offer the worst service, hence why they get abuse. Funny that places with good customer service don't have those signs!

Our local practice moved the two original receptionists to another branch because so many reviews said they were so horrible. It’s one job where personality really needs to be looked at and not just efficiency/ receptionists’ tasks

Why should you think that? There are good people around.

PLEASE report her. It is not too late. The next person she does this to could be someone like my late mum, who is desperately ill and vulnerable.

6 weeks before she died from cancer, my late mother was subjected to similar treatment. We'd been in A&E/Urgent Care all weekend, having an emergency MRI on her spine. Her cancer was so advanced she was unable to stand. The hospital only discharged mum on the understanding she would see the GP the next day.

The oncology team wrote to the GP requesting a morphine prescription but asked mum to telephone as it would be faster than waiting for the letter.

Mum was then met by the GP's intractable telepohone receptionist, who despite being told she'd been held in A&E all weekend, refused to add mum to the emergency appointments list, on the grounds that "they had enough patients for the day". My desperately ill mum gave up pleading to speak to a GP and phoned me, distraught.

My mum was lucky. She had a daughter that doubled as a Rottweiler. When I rang the surgery, I got the same treatment, before calmly asking to speak to the practice manager and requesting details of their formal complaints procedure.

A telephone appointment miraculously became available within the hour. The morphine prescription (which the spiteful receptionist had said no doctor could issue as my terminally ill mum "might have got better since her last appointment") was dispensed immediately .

Sadly, I've spoken to a number of vulnerable elderly people with extremely serious medical conditions, who've been treated the same way by practice clerical staff. They didn't have a bolshy relative to step in and fight their corner.

Please, please report it.

Harry has probably been hired by the UN to sort out the Middle East.
😂

Yes. Send a message to the practice manager and mention it to your GP when you speak to him/her. It’s totally unacceptable behaviour. Do you know the receptionist’s name? If not, describe her/him.

I agree, write to practice manager. Some of the others may too.

Absolutely complain. It is likely the surgery will back her but it does put a shot across her bows. You can also put a reviews on Google, if you don't get a satisfactory response from the surgery.

As you say, you don’t definitely know what happened. It might not have been appropriate to wade in, don’t be so hard on yourself. But if you mention now that from your perspective as a patient, the volume and tone from the receptionist gave the impression the receptionist has low patience and is rude to patients, then they can assess. You are providing the practice with information they can handle given their wider context of whether this is usual, what was happening for the receptionist that day, what happened with these patients etc.

And asking them to do their job properly is apparently abuse.

For example, giving patients the right prescriptions in a pharmacy.

Given we have a million unemployed youngsters (plus all the older people who can't get jobs) how are such useless people in work?

Totally agree with others that you should report it. Hopefully other patients have already done so.
If you don't want it to sound like a complaint put it as a training issue.
Does your surgery have a website with space for comments?

Write in to the practice manager detailing it .

I had trouble breathing and went to the GP. Receptionist said no appointments. I said I can hardly breathe and my face was swollen beyond recognition. Still no. I had to stand my ground as I knew something was gravely wrong with me. I just said I am sitting here until a doctor sees me. Anyway a GP did come look at me. Oxygen sats and appearance worrying enough for ambulance. Hours later after X-ray then CT I was told there was a large tumour next to my heart and pressing on blood vessels etc. Kept me in on oxygen and next day was diagnosed with cancer. I then underwent months of chemotherapy and major sternotomy surgery. I was close to death when that receptionist refused to engage with me. I could barely talk.

This. Doctor’s receptionists can be bloody awkward. They need to fo what we all need to do. Put their big girls pants on and (non abusively) stand their ground. 🙄

I think you should report it. I absolutely hate going to the doctors. I have had my absolute fill with the gaslighting. I have to really brace myself to book an appointment and rarely do unless there is no alternative. So, long story short, yes please do, because those women may not come back this time or in the future and their illness may be missed all because they were treated like shit when they tried to get some medical help.

We have to book appts on the day from 8am. My DP went round to book in person, and was told he wasn't poorly enough to be seen! No advice as to where else he might get help.