I'm a GP receptionist AMA

[Lalaisloopsy]

I read a thread about GP receptionist yesterday so I thought I would add a thread here for questions. We seem a hated lot.

is it just in England the receptionist asks why you want to see a GP? i have never been asked at any of my surgeries in Scotland!

if someone was struggling to get work as a medical receptionist, do you have any tips
that would help them or boost their CV? my DM has recently retrained and is struggling to find work

why does the receptionist need to know what you are calling for?’
I have no idea it would be helpful if patients understood why we ask.

If you ever have privacy concerns for yourself of others you can report to the practice manager it could be they just have no idea how loud they are.

is it just in England the receptionist asks why you want to see a GP? i have never been asked at any of my surgeries in Scotland!
I'm in Scotland I think it depends how busy a practice is. The one I attend don't ask but the one I work for do. The ratio of patient to GP's is massivly different though.

No tips sorry I was lucky.

esk1mo they ask at my surgery in Scotland and I think it’s an NHS Scotland poster that I mentioned - maybe it’s actually just a local one. I think our receptionists actually do an excellent job of triage and finding creative solutions to avoid wasting GP time while getting patients the solution they need.

OP I had a situation recently where the receptionist refused to give me my repeat prescriptions for antihistamines stating I would need to buy them over the counter. I said I wanted to complain to the practice manager so she invited me into the surgery. She looked shocked that I actually arrived 15 minutes later and tried to fob me off telling me the practice manager had gone home so I knocked on her office door and she answered it. The receptionist started rolling her eyes at this point whilst I told the practice manager that the receptionist was advising me to purchase a prescription only medicine over the counter. The practice manager looked on her computer, The GP had already printed the prescription and signed it as fexofenadine is a prescription only medicine.

Anyway, my question is, are receptionists told to gate keep medicines? And why do they always insist on asking me for my date of birth and address in front of others? As a prison nurse I don't like saying my details out loud!

Bit cheeky to knock on the Practice Manager's door. For all you know the PM, the Receptionist's boss, had told her to say she'd gone home.

They insist on asking address or date of birth to ensure they are dealing with the right patient. Blame the person behind you for standing too close. You could always just give your postcode and house number if you want or part of your date of birth as long as they can identify you. Again these are not their rules but surgery protocol.

are receptionists told to gate keep medicines? No we have no power over the prescriptions if it is on the screen and not needing a review we can print. If it's not a repeat then we need to pass it to the medicine manager to sort out.

And why do they always insist on asking me for my date of birth and address in front of others? to ensure we are speaking to the right person we can't take chances on giving personal info out to the wrong person. Name dob and address is public info can can usually be found online or via public record things like medication and health conditions are not.

to ensure we are speaking to the right person we can't take chances on giving personal info out to the wrong person. Name dob and address is public info can can usually be found online or via public record things like medication and health conditions are not.

My data is not on public records - I ensure that. I don't want my patients knowing where I live. Surely I am entitled to privacy?

FruitCider mostly people can access your name dob and address it's easy to come by information. How do you suggest we check who we are speaking to without taking details? If you are not comfortable giving the info in public you could explain that and ask to speak privatly.

I suppose you could ask for a password on your file but you would still need to give your name to we could find you. Never has anyone complained about being asked these questions so far.

I am a HCP and I think GP receptionists have a really tough job.

On a personal level I’ve come across some fantastic ones- the one who ushered me into a side room and gave me a hug when I’d had a MC, the one who sorted me out with an urgent appointment when I had PND.

I take my hat well and truly off to you.

"Only doctors can write prescriptions." That hasn't been true for donkeys years! It's been many years since I've come across a practice nurse that can't prescribe, and I've moved around a lot so not even a case of just one health authority let alone one practice.

It does amaze me that for in person appointment requests it's not automatic receptionists if patient seems uncomfortable, don't just discreetly slip across a notepad & pen for the patient to write down what the issue is.

I'm in Scotland, 3 different surgeries always been asked.

Do you try and accommodate requests to see particular Drs? Or direct certain patients/ailments to certain Drs?

I find it particularly annoying when I'm repeatedly offered appointments for the ONE dr I don't want to deal with (I have mh issues and they are really unsympathetic and keep trying to ignore the psychiatrist recommendation re meds and put me on meds THEY prefer) I can't help but think the reason is because NOBODY likes this dr so they have lots of appointments free.

Hello fellow GP receptionist, you beat me to it, I was going to start one when I had the time. Do you enjoy your job OP?

I just want to say it seems a tough gig to me dealing with people is hard dealing with people who are ill harder again.I think everyone at some time in their life should have a dealing with the public job to see how great and awful the public are.
My SIL took DN to put of hours for a splinter to be pulled.The child was hysterical but it could and should have been dealt with at home.
You have my total sympathy.

Hats off to the receptions who work in the back office at my practice. I sit there to triage phone calls whilst working duty and I rely up their excellent people skills and ability to prioritise patients. Lives are saved daily by asking why you need to be seen. Some patients will not push to be seen asap especially when they feel unwell by asking you give a clue to the urgency of your condition.

I recently did a work placement in a GP surgery. All the GP's and Nurses referred to the receptionists and admin staff as 'The Girls'. I was horrified, they were certainly not girls, they weren't even all female! Is this a common way for receptionists to be treated or was that surgery just particularly bad?

With regards to asking for personal details over the front desk - if you aren’t happy then ask to be seen in a side room or write it down.

Yes, we are referred to as ‘the girls’ (despite having one male receptionist) but only by more patronising members of the clinical team.

All the GP's and Nurses referred to the receptionists and admin staff as 'The Girls
Our surgery had 3 female partners and 1 male who is gay there is no way it would fly to call us girls as each of the partners have been spoken down to or discrimminated against at some point for obvious reasons. Sometimes we are called the office ladies by patients.

With regards to asking for personal details over the front desk - if you aren’t happy then ask to be seen in a side room or write it down.
this
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Do you try and accommodate requests to see particular Drs? Or direct certain patients/ailments to certain Drs?*
We do but the popular GP's are always fully booked so if someone wants to be seen sometimes they need to wait, call every day until something comes up or see someone else.

I do enjoy my job for every one person who is rude or nasty i have 50 that are nice. I think the fact they can see I try helps they know I have done my best. It is not a job for the faint hearted though some of the people I speak to are having such a hard time I think about them at night wishing I could do more.

FruitCider mostly people can access your name dob and address it's easy to come by information. How do you suggest we check who we are speaking to without taking details?

It's not the taking of the details that is the problem, it's that I'm expected to give them in an open reception room with my own parishes stood behind me in the queue! I'm a prison nurse, I don't want my patients knowing anything about me!

FruitCider just ask to write it down for privacy if you don't want to say we can't guess that you don't want to say most people don't mind how can we guess?

@Lalaisloopsy do you ever get pissed off at the total entitlement of some patients? I know people that are literally at the doctors every week for nothing!

My doctors, receptionist and nurses are ace! But I'm lucky I only need to go once every couple of years. It was more when the boys were small though. Always got an appointment always got sympathy.

Also very very sadly I needed to arrange for my sister to be sectioned, everyone at that surgery (sister and I had same surgery) took such fantastic care of us all. When our mother passed away a week later they were fabulous again,

You deserve a medal for being so calm!

@FruitCider have you ever considered resolving that situation in a measured way, like op says writing it down......