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. 💊

The last time I phoned which isn't very often, I was told there's no appointment for at least two weeks. The receptionist sounded delighted about it.

Or sharing anyone’s details. My intensely private DM was once mortified by having a receptionist call loudly across the waiting room, ‘Is it about your waterworks, dear?’

IMO some are ‘just’ bossy and nosy. I once had one who I knew slightly anyway, call loudly across the waiting room, ‘What’s it about?’

‘I’ll discuss that with the doctor, thanks.’

However all at our present GP practice are perfectly pleasant.

I have had awful ones and lovely ones. In general I think they are under huge stress: their instincts tell them to be kind and helpful, but the rules they are bound by make that hard. They might want to be helpful, but they have no appointments to offer.

I agree that the general public can be awfully rude (I work in a customer service role too, although not at a GP surgery). But, there are ways to handle that, and starting off by being rude yourself is not the best approach. Also, I don't get the excuse of they are not paid well. If you have a job, you have the obligation to do it to the best of your ability, in my view. Even if you don't agree with that, surely expecting customer service personnel to interact with a modicum of politeness is not unreasonable?

A receptionist at our surgery probably saved my Mum’s life when she had pneumonia but didn’t realise how serious it was by fitting her in for a same day emergency appointment, then taking one look at her in the waiting room, fetching a doctor and calling an ambulance. They've also fitted my kids in quite urgently when needed, and were so kind to me once when I just cried down the phone. When Mum was in hospital they were super helpful with getting me access to her sick note for work and things like that.

I suspect if I had to deal with the general public every day I’d be fairly brusque too!!

OP not been back to tell us about their own experience? Another Daily Mail reporter fishing for stories?

It's such a hard job that often the ones that stick it out are the ones with a thicker skin who aren't trying to go above and beyond for people. It's a constant barrage of people ringing asking for access to a very limited resource, and often being abusive. A couple of weeks ago I saw someone screaming at a receptionist in person that he will kill himself and she'll have to tell his little boy why he's dead. We've had to call the police for someone threatening to come and beat up a receptionist because there are no appointments left. It's not all that extreme, lots of people are just justifiably frustrated that they can't get what they need, but I think that takes its toll on staff too.

I went to the GP surgery yesterday to pick up a BP monitoring form. It was late in the afternoon and the waiting room was completely empty apart from one receptionist who was putting up a poster. I stood at the counter and she ignored me for several minutes, and I didn't want to be rude so just stood there. She then went back behind the counter and started to sort letters into the pigeonholes directly in front of me, still completely ignoring me. Eventually, I asked if I could just have the form so I could be on my way and she actually tutted. If I behaved like that in my job, I'd be in serious trouble. She genuinely seemed to see one patient making a reasonable request as a hassle, and it certainly wasn't because I was rude or pushy - if anything I was overly patient! The self importance was off the scale.

the ones at ours not too bad but there is one who thinks she is better than anyone else. she is a right misery my GP said even the Drs are scared of her!

At ours, it depends which receptionist you get. I went to hospital for a pre-op check and was told that my blood pressure was way too high and that as a matter of urgency I needed to see the GP, preferably that day. Our GP was closed for training that afternoon so I phoned ithr next day and was told that there was a blood pressure machine where I could take my blood pressure. “And what will happen then?” I asked. “Oh well, one of the doctors will look at it next week”. I told her I had been instructed to make an appointment as a matter of urgency, so she grudgingly gave me one and said, “Well, you’ve only got an appointment because you insisted’, with the implication that I was being difficult, so I pointed out it was the hospital that had insisted. On the other hand, when I needed a prescription renewing after I had been in hospital, the other receptionist couldn’t have been nicer, and put the form in herself for me to make sure I got it in time.

Gosh they have such a hard time dealing with the public though. The last time I was at the gp’s I nearly felt like I needed a drink after listening to what the receptionist had to deal with, let alone the receptionist. A man came up to her to rant about how rubbish the art work on the walls in the waiting area are, and how poor the pictures of the staff on the board had been taken, and how they should have used x local photographer 🙄 Then she had someone come in who’d missed their appointment by a long time, tonnes of excuses, none her fault of course, and the abuse she gave for not being accommodated same morning was something else. And when I came back out she was getting it in the ear from someone else. I wanted to give her a hug.

I have had a fair few runins. My current ones are ok although they refused to release some test results because I said I wanted to show them to a consultant. Saying the hospital need to request them. I then had to ring up and say well I want them! So release them! Made a simple thing stressful.

My DP has one angel receptionist and one demon. Literally. The bad one shouts at him patronisingly. He now just hangs up and rings again if it’s the awful one who answers.

But that's the case with lots of jobs. I know everyone moans about retail staff but when I worked in retail I'd have been on a warning for speaking to customers like some doctor's receptionist s do.

They are just people and some are nice and some are not, some are having a bad day and some are not.
I have never had an issue with a GP Receptionist and I used to have to deal with them in a professional capacity as well.
On the odd occasion one has been a bit abrupt I have find that being pleasant back has changed the whole conversation.
They have to deal with a LOT of nonsense but I think that the stereotype of them all being awful is completely unfair.

What are your experiences @Jenna2212 ? You haven't shared, just come in along and asked everyone else to tell you.

Should we expect another lazy DM article with a pile of these responses copy and pasted?

They are really good at the practice I use. I went though something really terrible and was using the healthcentre quite often, sometimes phoning in a very distressed state and they were wonderful. Told the GP how good they had been and she told me that they were very proud of them and really valued them. I think that valuing staff has a positive effect on how well they do their job. I must add that this was pre-pandemic and luckily I have not had to go to the doctor's for ages so have no experience of the fearful 8am phone race.

I don't think I could do it, I would probably be really calm for ages and then just snap!

When I worked in retail the customer service desk was split so people swapped partway through the shift rather than doing a whole shift on it for this exact reason. Dealing with complaining all day long is too much to deal with. And at least in retail there's the option to call the shift leader over to deal with the worst customers, GP receptionists don't have that support.

Always. I think they have an underserved sense of superiority because they are who you need to go through to get to a doctor.

We're in Herfordshire and our receptionists are nice and helpful. There was one horrible one but she left or was pushed.

I wouldn’t want to be a GP receptionist for all the tea in China. Some are inexcusably rude, but it’s a really, really hard job.

I had an NHS phisio appointment at the local community hospital this week. The receptionist there was charming and kind, there was also a notice up to ask patients to check with reception if they had not been called within 10 minutes of their appointment time. The phisio suggested I arrange a GP appointment, the response to my phone call to the surgery was abrupt and I was told they might be releasing some appointments early next week for June. I responded that I would just go to A&E then - which I won't. The truth is I will have to fund a private GP appointment for the third time, which I can ill afford. NHS GP service is fast becoming like NHS dentistry, not something that exists in real life.

I completely agree with this. I'm a teacher and of course, teenagers are not always their most polite selves. If I behaved with the same contempt that some GP the receptionists do, I'd be sacked.

Receptionists at our surgery are awesome. Very friendly and helpful

I'd hate to be a GP receptionist, must be so stressful for such little pay.

I think part of the problem is people expecting the same service from 10+ years ago. Our GP has gone from 8 Drs to 3 plus locum, probably serving more patients than ever with increasing needs as the population gets older . I'm more than happy with a phone appointment but my MIL won't have one and will only go into the surgery, I'm sure they've probably got loads of patients who also want face to face. My DF had an issue that could have been dealt with at the prescribing pharmacy down the road but he insisted on going through the doctors and then gets frustrated when he can't get an appointment.