Why are so many GP receptionists rude?

[Jenna2212]

I don't think I've ever heard of a surgery where people have positive things to say about the receptionists. At a time when people are most vulnerable and in need, why do GP surgeries tend to recruit such hostile people to greet sick people?

Have you had any bad experiences with your GP surgery? Feel free to post below. 💊

Had an issue recently, went to pick up my prescription and the receptionist finished her call and was typing notes up on the computer. Over 5 minutes later I'm still stood there waiting being completely ignored. The dispenser then comes back into the office and asks if I need help. At that point I did snap (i know i shouldnt have) and say 'yeah that would be great considering I've been ignored for over 5 minutes' to which the receptionist snaps at me 'I was busy'. I told her I could see that but all she had to do was acknowledge I was there and say be with you in a jiffy and I would be more than happy to wait but to be point blank ignored for so long was utterly rude and unnecessary. The dispenser quietly agreed and I haven't seen that receptionist since.

I absolutely agree they’re rude but I also recognise the communication fatigue of constant distressed people all day, missed appointments. The useless tech/apps that mean no one can actually make an appointment online. So the phones are inundated I wouldn’t do the job.

Are we at the same surgery? My last one had extremely thick glass so you basically had to shout 'I'm here for my smear test' to make sure everyone in the waiting room could hear you. Big signs on the wall not to attack the staff too.

My current gp reception is actually lovely (not always helpful but always sympathetic and kind)

My last place was so unfriendly it was almost funny. I called up after discovering I had my first pregnancy - I had no idea what process I should follow to see a midwife so I called the GP and said to the receptionist “I’m pregnant” and she replied, “well I don’t know what you expect ME to do about it!”

😂

Sadly, right across the NHS, there's an attitude of "it's free so you have to put up and shut up". Receptionists are the front line of the attitude, but it goes right through the organisation. Patients are seen as reference numbers and not humans.

My OH has had cancer for several years and sees it even in the oncology department. He had endless problems with trying to make appointments, get his chemotherapy drugs, get blood tests, get infusions, etc., constantly passed pillar to post. Even the specialist cancer nurses have an "attitude". I've been listening to phone calls he's had on speakerphone and couldn't quite believe how rude and dismissive some of they have been when he's been politely pointing out that they've made him appointments in the wrong order, or forgotten to include one of his drugs, or sent the prescription to be picked up at the wrong hospital, etc. He's certainly had comments back like "you're lucky you don't have to pay for your medication" when he's pointed out that he'd rather not spend an afternoon travelling to a hospital across the county border to pick up a prescription that he's always picked up at our local hospital half an hour away due to an admin cock-up!

Part of my job is explaining The NHS to people who move here from overseas (often USA).
I tell them that they really have to shift their mindset from being Customers to being Service users

I just use the text service on PATCH's on the NHS app. This goes straight through to the Doctor, avoiding all the jobs worth's.

Mine are lovely but I’m neutropenic so they always seem terrified if I ring with an infection!

Not rude, but making a wrong judgement, I had a blood test booked on a Monday morning 9am. About 2am I woke up with excruciating stomach pain and vomiting with the pain, I managed to get to my blood test told the nurse and she said to speak to reception so a doctor can see me. She snapped at me you shouldn't be here with a stomach bug and there's nothing anyone can do about it, I insisted it wasn't that and my stomach was so painful, another receptionist took over and booked me in, 24 hours later my appendix was removed.

I can remember when one of my DDs was a lot younger and in serious pain (paronychia - horrible fungal nail infection which had failed to respond to meds and swollen her whole finger to three times its size and was oozing puss) the receptionist telling me - whilst we waited for the GP having been told to go to one by the pharmacist - rather unhelpfully, that I should take DD to A&E as it 'looked pretty nasty and her finger was probably broken.'

When I tried to explain what it was (i.e. that it was paronychia [a fungal nail infection] and therefore just needed antibiotics) she gave me the filthiest look and said, 'if it was my daughter, I'd go to A&E.'

For a fungal nail infection that, once given antibiotics, clears up in a few hours and stops hurting and usually goes in 1-2 days? A&E?!

My response of, "well, you're probably the reason why A&E wait times are so long. It's a fungal nail infection, not a broken leg," didn't go down well.

Ten minutes later, we left, antibiotic prescription in hand 😁And DD was fine within a few hours (puss drained and finger returning to it's normal size).

I'd never had a bad experience before, but the implication I was failing my daughter by not clogging up A&E over a bloody nail infection really pissed me off. I should add, I haven't actually seen her since (although I am not really a frequent flier at the GPs) so maybe her unsolicited and inaccurate advice got her sacked...

Mine are lovely. Never once had a bad experience.

At my surgery, the receptionists were really pleasant and helpful, both in person and on the phone.
However, they have recently taken on two young women and they seem like they can't be bothered. They give the least information and help possible and often the wrong information.

Ours are lovely and really helpful. It's not their fault that there aren't enough appointments or if results haven't come back.

Resilience is key, I agree. But it’s hard to instill in someone through training. I’m just having my lunch after a morning of one person calling me a fucking cunt repeatedly, one asking me if I was happy with the fact that if she killed herself and her children it would be my fault for not being able to house her appropriately, At least four people telling me that I was stupid for not understanding what they wanted instantly ( interestingly they were all over 80) and virtually every other person making demands that I can’t fulfill and refusing to listen when I explain why.

That’s not a particularly unusual morning, to be fair. I work in local Government and we are stretched beyond belief. I meet every call with a cheery hello and a helpful attitude. I think that’s the bare minimum and should be the baseline whatever industry you are in. I’m very much of the opinion that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

But the second you start talking to me like I’m a piece of shit, my inclination to help you dwindles massively. Of course I still do my job. But do I go the extra mile? Not particularly. If a customer is polite and friendly I will bend over backwards to help them.

There is huge turnover in customer facing jobs because they are often minimum wage or not much above. There is no time to do more than basic training as you are supposed to pick the rest up on the job. We ( much like GP receptionists) are trying to hold back the tide in the face of lack of facilities, funding, and manpower.

If they want people who can withstand rape threats, death threats, threats of general violence and being held accountable for the ills of all mankind, they could start paying more so they had a bigger pool of candidates to choose from and wouldn’t be bothered by ‘lower calibre’ applicants.

What a strange comment.
You can say that about any rude person that should be doing their job properly instead of not being bothered.
Go be a GP, nurse, teacher, sales person, dog groomer. Does it mean people can be rude and unprefessional? No.

But the second you start talking to me like I’m a piece of shit...

That works both ways!

You could have said "I'm here for my appointment with the nurse". No need to announce what it's for.

When faced with an Olympic-level of obstruction from a receptionist who was refusing to make an appointment for a jab, and who was insisting that the injection was not necessary, I've had to use the line:

"Well I think that's for the GP to decide, don't you?"

Is this a good time to explain that antifungals and antibiotics are two completely different things..?

They made me say what it was for. I think it was probably to make the appointment, not to have it.
They always made me shout publicly what was wrong with me. Completely wrong imo, but I realise that's the surgery rules and not the receptionists' fault.

Write it on a piece of paper and say you are preserving your privacy. Our reception is huge and it is way too public imo

@AusBoundDD I know the difference.

She required antibiotics. Clindamycin to be precise (which she used before after a similar incident) 😃

But nice try!

There is one lovely one at my surgery who is kind and helpful. There is also an absolute cow of a woman who I complained about because I was trying to get an appointment to discuss a potential termination where time was of the essence and she shouted “ABORTION, we don’t do that sort of thing here, you need to go elsewhere”. She might not have agreed with termination but she had no bloody right to do that in front of a whole waiting room. I complained. She’s still there 🙄

How didn't they get rid of her on grounds of confidentiality and data protection?

This is an excellent summary. I too have worked in an area where you receive rudeness and I've never been rude to a customer/client however frustrated I have been. Managing the public is a skill that not everyone possesses, and leadership is often lacking too.