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. 💊

I’m in London the receptionists at my old surgery were SO rude to the point I complained. I moved surgery and my new one the receptionists are lovely :) makes such a difference x

I’ve come across a couple of rude GP receptionists over the years, but on the whole they have been fine. Some patients are extremely rude though. I was at the GP surgery the other day and the amount of people that were unnecessarily rude to the receptionist was astounding.

Ours are all absolutely bloody lovely and fall over themselves to help. Small town Scotland..

I put them in the same box as Post Office staff who are always unhappy when you'd like to post more than one item, you know, to keep them in business.

Yes there are rude receptionists sometimes but the word 'vulnerable' nor language barrier is not an excuse for rudeness

That must be the most overused word on MN

Especially when you have to explain at 8am that the patient could have a phone call back any time up to 6.30pm. It's draining, upsetting when you speak to hostile patients who think we are being awkward, who when you answer the phone the first thing they say is "I've been on the phone for 47 minutes". Yes I have too but I've spoken to about 15 or more people.

You get an untrue scathing Google review from a patient naming you and the only truthful statement he made is that I ended the call because he was so unpleasant to me I couldn't take any more. He used an anonymous name on the review but we all know who he is because he's been unpleasant to other Receptionists. He is the only patient I hung up on but because it's not his name Management can't do a thing. It sets me on edge when I see his telephone number coming up and I'm the only one in the surgery so I have to speak to him and then get through the next 10+ hours.

I'll never forget the phone call I received "I'm going to come down there and rape you". Management dithered about calling the Police but they eventually did and he was charged with malicious communication.

I've been with three doctors surgeries in the past 20 years and all have had lovely receptionists. Can't remember a time when they weren't helpful, and unfortunately with my dcs conditions I'm forever ringing them 😅

It's not an excuse, it's a reason people may not be at their best or come across well. It gpes both ways. Some people are nasty whatever you do, but many can be disarmed by politeness, friendliness and having someone actually listening to them.

They are called healthcare co-ordinators in my surgery.
Have a rule you can only book appointments on the phone.
I was there over the winter it was about 9 am and an elderly lady walked in. Freezing cold day. She’d been trying to call from her landline since 8, couldn’t get through.
15 minute walk to the surgery she looked desperate.
They told her to walk home and ring back as they couldn’t deal with her at the counter. She was in tears.
So I told her to sit with me… and ring from my mobile!
She got through and had this then ridiculous conversation whereby we could hear her and the receptionist. And she got an emergency appointment for 9.30 am!
Then another lady comes in, again desperate. Caring for two elderly parents, one very ill and one dying, asked for a home visit for the very ill one. She was told no, there were no spaces. Was told to take the very ill one to A and E if it got worse, and if she couldn’t get help, to take the dying one with her as well.
She was sat on a plastic chair sobbing.
I then got called in, and when I came out she’d gone.
Absolutely appalling.

Ah no! Ours are absolutely lovely! Super helpful always.
On the phone they are cheerful and very fast, they find you from you date of birth then direct you to the best clinician, somehow doing that without coming across as intrusive.
On the rare occasion I need a nurse or Dr appointment, they are brilliant.

Also just a small consideration, they are likely abused many times a day by people.
They work with the public who can of course be arseholes. That has got to impact you day in day out.
I expect that staff turnover is high.

I think you might have hit on the reason that (some) receptionists are so rude.

I spoke to two yesterday and they were great, helped me with about 4 or 5 really complicated things, went over and above and were lovely.

My GP’s surgery is staffed by hard-working and professional receptionists. They have all sorts of abuse and entitlement that they put up with sometimes. But they are great.

My previous GP surgery had a receptionist who was almost a caricature of a terrible receptionist (the rest were okay). I once arrived with dd2 for an immunisation. Went to book in on the screen thing. Shouted at that it wasn’t working - no sign or anything. Booked in by the receptionist. Waited. Waited more. Waited again. Went to ask when we might be seen (baby dd getting cranky) as I’d been there for 40 minutes. Receptionist snapped “You didn’t book in”. I told her I had - with her! “You need to do it on the screen and you didn’t”. Reminded her she told me not to and to go to the desk. “But I didn’t do it properly so you aren’t booked in. You won’t be seen today”.

It was bizarre. We were seen eventually and the nurse was so apologetic - I was mortified at how “late” we were.

Same receptionist refused to let me book appointment for immunisations because the slip said I wasn’t allowed to ring until a certain date. The slip said “should be arranged during w/c xxxx”. Wouldn’t have it that that was when it was ideally meant to be (second child, last baby immunisation - I knew the schedule!).

Left that surgery when I was waiting for the first appointment of the day and overheard this woman laughing that we’d be waiting a while because the doctor wasn’t in yet.

New surgery is great.

I didn't think they were allowed to give out medical advice

I’ve worked in medicine for 10 years so often understood the receptionists pov in disputes. However, I’ve recently been really ill and trying to get a GP appointment. I was crying on the phone in the end as they were being deliberately awkward about letting me book one around work (that I was on probation and already struggling with as feeling so poorly) .
When I finally saw the Dr he commented on how he would take me seriously as I haven’t been to see him since 2019 and hadn’t had any tests since 2010! If someone with this history was begging and crying on the phone I can’t imagine being awkward.

Probably because they have to put up with rude entitled people who all think that their minor ailment is the most important illness in the world!

I had to get a pregnancy test result from the receptionist some years ago as I was suffering from secondary infertility. She announced that it was negative which was just as well as I was far too old to be having children (I had my 8mth old with me).

Receptionists being snappy or unhelpful is understandable when you've been dealing with arsey members of the general public, but there is no excuse for sharing your opinions publicly with a waiting room listening in.

We are well known at our GP practice, to the point I just email our gp directly and she sorts things, (DH has complex, chronic issues,) This means the receptionist loathes me with a passion. I find it quite amusing. Refer to the GP by their first name! Really riles the receptionist!

Never experienced our receptionists be as rude as some of the patients.

Same with the pharmacists.

My GP surgery has lovely receptionists at the moment but a few years back I called to get some medication to delay a period for my holiday (I suffer badly with periods) I’d left it a bit late (10 days until holiday). I have ADHD and find it really difficult to make appointments and get organised. She had a real nasty go at me and I told her I wasn’t demanding an appointment I just asked if it was possible and I have ADHD so it’s sonething I find difficult to organise. She said ‘well you need to just get better at being organised then’. 🙄 and just like that my ADHD was cured with her amazing advice!!!

I work in a GP Practice, I think this thread is very unfair and does nothing to help abuse towards reception staff.

Maybe I should start a thread on how rude call centre/retail/hospitality staff are. I won't, because I wouldn't tar everyone with the same brush as this thread is trying to do.

Yes, there are rude members of staff as there are in the sectors I mentioned above but until you have done a shift as a GP receptionist I beg you not to judge, if we can't offer a patient what they want (same day appointment, certain GP etc) we're seen as being rude, we can't offer something we don't have and would love to be able to give every patient what they need. We are asked to get more information about what you are presenting with when you contact us, we would be asked by the GP to call you back if we haven't done that correctly. We are also consistently lied to by patients who say they have called in the past/ordered medication etc when they haven't and there are audit trails to prove this. The amount of times staff have been abused because a prescription isn't ready for someone who never ordered it in the first place is unbelievable. Why should we put up with this?

I'm sure though, as I say some of these comments are valid, in that case go to your Practice and speak to the management team about the way you have been treated. Posting on mumsnet isn't going to resolve anything, only stir up more hatred!!

I've always assumed that being polite and understanding as a patient/customer was the best way to get good customer service. And in most cases that has worked.

But there is one receptionist at our new GP who seems to think she missed her calling as a bad doctor. She treats every patient I've seen her talk to (including myself) with distrust and disdain. Apparently she's been insufferable since she got a bit of light triage training.

Every other member of staff is lovely, but I have even heard other patients saying they don't call the surgery when they know this particular receptionist is on.

You asked for bad experiences.

Thats a shame, as if you only ask for bad thats all you will hear about !

The receptionists in my GP Surgery have always been polite and they have treated me with kindness.

I have been waiting for an appointment and witnessed them deal with horrible people, mouthing off about some rubbish yet they remained calm and dignified.

I think it comes down to the practice leadership, they set the tone for how the team behaves.

Most of my life I have found them rude and unhelpful. However in recent years my GP surgery has much improved. They are not friendly but much nicer to deal with.

Ours are all rude. One had a go at me saying I didn’t need my prescription (she thought I’d had it) it took about five attempts to explain what had happened (error on their part)

I was saying to dh I don’t know if it’s our gp or generally but I find them so unhelpful now. I remember going when I was younger and you give your symptoms, thry examine you tell you whsts wrong and prescribe meds/arrange further treatment. Now I go and they look at me gone out, ask me what I want them to do and I come away feeling like I’ve wasted my time. It’s like GPS are no longer first stage diagnosticians they are just gate keepers to the other services all which have long wait lists.