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. 💊

lots aren’t.

l recently moved surgeries from one I’ve been at for 18 years.

Not because they suddenly could provide a service no GP surgery can - but because the receptions it’s are polite and helpful and the previous one told me after 7 weeks of headaches it couldn’t be that urgent so waiting more time is just tough luck.

I went through 111 and 2 days later my GP called me in and referred me to neurology!!!

Practice manager told me receptionists are trained to triage and pointed out not that well if she thought I was fine and medically trained GP thought I needed a referral to a specialist!

How awful. Thankfully it’s not the same everywhere. I had a cancer diagnosis last year and when l need an appointment for anything connected with that l get one pretty much immediately.

Current receptionist is lovely. I have definitely experienced receptionists who were vile.

They are very nice and helpful at my GP surgery.

During covid dd (13ish) needed to have a ecg at our practice. I signed her in with one receptionist and took a seat.
Another receptionist comes running over and ask who the patient is tell her dd and she tell me I need to leave and wait for her outside. I say but she's a minor and needs me with her she was having none of it she wanted me to leave.
Luckly our gp was walking past and intervened and I didn't need to leave.
I've not seen the receptionist again at our practise.

To be honest I hardly ever go to the doctor's. Every time I've been it's been 'I'm here for my appointment', 'take a seat and you'll be called'. I'm sure the negative interactions are talked about more than just your average every day ones so it's seems like every interaction ever is rude.
My husband had an issue recently and said the receptionist was angry and power hungry. I also know that he can speak to me in a tone I don't like and doesn't realise so it was probably both of them to be honest. He thinks it was just her though and I wasn't there for it.
I worked a long time in retail though and people can be horrendous and think there's nothing wrong with how they're talking to you.

Rang the surgery to make an appointment for my son (specifically said son) gave his name date of birth brief reasons why I said he was feeling sick every morning could SHE be pregnant? You might want to get a test before making an appointment....no he is a boy this could have been laughed off as a mistake but the HUFFING I got for saying that I mean....he is a boy 😂 I have friends who work there she didn't last long as mild interactions like mine really irritated her

Our old doctor surgery was like this. Rude receptionist a who never smiled and made you feel like you were wasting their time.
Current doctor has lovely receptionist s. Really helpful and will always squeeze you in if they can.
But rude reception staff isn't new. Around 40 years ago my sister has appendicitis and the receptionist was insisting my mum walk her half a mile to the surgery rather than allow a home visit. She made my mum cry. She called my dad who was not best pleased with the receptionist. He phoned them. No idea what he said but doctor turned up at the house and hour later.
Also I needed a home visit when my daughter was younger. Receptionist told me doctors don't do home visits for children that old (4) but finally agreed to get the doctor to call me. He did and did come to the house. If you can get past the receptionist it's easy. It's just if you can actually get that far.

Ours are fine, I've never had any problems as we live in a rural area and the GP surgery is in a village setting. It isn't too busy and most people know each other.

However, I do think receptionists receive so many moans and complaints they're almost on the defensive every time someone comes in, never knowing what's going to be thrown at them next. It isn't their problem that the NHS is on its knees, or that the doctor isn't there that morning, or they're short staffed and the drugs can't be sourced for 3 days....

I always smile kindly and greet our receptionist effusively before she can even say hello, it makes her relax, she almost looks relieved to get a friendly patient for a change. Try it....it might make your receptionist's day!

I know lots of people know this already but many don’t - GP practices are also responsible for the vast numbers of frail elderly residents hidden away in nursing homes and care homes.

Receptionists/admin staff do a huge amount of liaison between care homes staff requesting a GP attendance, community/district nurses, community allied health professionals (physios & OTs), elderly persons social workers, hospital admin teams.

It’s a parallel layer of society and healthcare use that unless you have professional involvement or an elderly parent in that system, you don’t know of its existence.
That’s why GP practices were so hard to access during Covid (the accusations of GPs doing fuck all continues to this day out of ignorance and conspiracy thinking).

The incident someone earlier described where the person caring for two highly vulnerable elderly parents at home was very upsetting to read. The person should have been directed to phone 111 and I’m confident to access an urgent or emergency paramedic assessment (not necessarily ambulance - there are some in a first responder role). Telling someone to take a dying person along with them to an ED visit is like some kind of Kafkaesque nightmare.

I'm based in a GP practice in a non medical role and see and hear the abuse receptionists get from patients every single day, I've seen them in tears and ready to quit due to the job. They are stressed and overwhelmed. Even with this they are friendly and helpful to all the patients that come in. It's a really difficult job and my eyes have been opened to the reality of it.

My GP surgery receptionists are professional, brisk and with no time for chit chat. Just as they should be.

Many of us are never rude, always extremely polite but still receive poor treatment and rudeness from gp/hospital receptionists.

I understand they have to put up with abuse and rudeness from some patients (which is not on, obviously) but before they’ve experienced that attitude from a patient, they need to always start from a place of kindness, especially as the patients they’re dealing with are often feeling extremely unwell or stressed about a health issue.

@Jenna2212 but doesnt everyone know that receptionists must work in doctors' surgeries as part of their training requirements for their upcoming jobs in border control?? 😆

I don’t expect chit chat (I actually hate small talk) but I would like the default attitude not to be that I’m a pain in their arse just for existing, before I’ve even said anything.

It's a demanding and often demoralising job for minimum wage, which is what most GP receptionists earn.
I work in a similar role and while most patients are fine, and some are lovely, others do seem to expect the world with no input from themselves - it can be very hard to stay patient with rude people who refuse to do anything to help their own situation.

I'd imagine dealing with rude people every day would suck the cheer out of most people. Its also probably quite a stressful overworked and boring job.

watch this. It was released during Covid, and sums up what receptionists deal with most days.

There seems to be a mixture of positive and negative comments - no different from any organisation.
DH was a GP - they were always getting complaints that patients couldn’t get an appointment but never accepted that there were appointments but other patients had them. They are less GP’s and more people wanting appointments.

At my surgery, they’re lovely. Just lovely. They’re clearly under pressure in the mornings but never rude, always helpful. I’ve had rude receptionists at other practices and it’s so fucking stressful as a patient, doubly so as one with depression and anxiety. But currently I think I’m lucky.

Worst job in the world for very little pay. Having to gatekeep one of the most strained areas of health care in our country. I can't begin to imagine the amount of abuse they receive daily.

I’m a nurse and a few times have had to help on the phones after my shift has finished due to receptionists off sick or training etc. I could not believe how rude the patients were , almost every other call. These were patients who were nice as pie when I’ve been treating them. It was as if they suddenly became horrors the minute the thought they were speaking to a receptionist. I take my hat off to the reception team in all honestly, that job is the worst job!

My current surgery are fantastic. The receptionists are really kind and squeezed me in last December when I was struggling to breathe ( turned out I had a chest infection).

I used to work in pathology and one of my daily tasks was to ring urgent blood test results through to the surgery. This meant I was ringing many different surgeries, just like patients I had to wait in a queue to get through.
The way I was spoken to was different according to the practice. I would explain I needed to give urgent results that should be passed immediately to the duty doctor.
A few surgeries had a system and it was easy.
Many hadn’t got a clue and I would have to explain to them what they needed to do. And spell everything.
Sometimes the receptionist would try to insist that they couldn’t accept results in the morning.
The thing that stood out was that those surgeries where the staff were well trained was always the friendliest. And that if the same person answered most days they were better run.

At my surgery I think there are 2. One is lovely and so helpful and kind, the other is horrible. Complete luck of the draw when you ring up at 8am who you get. I find myself praying for the nice one every time I call.

I understand that but it has nothing to do with my comment that receptionists are often rude to those of us who have not been rude ourselves, even when we’re very polite.