How much do doctors receptionists get to see of our private issues

[Pinkday]

Two issues,firstly I just tried to book an appointment and the male receptionist wanted to know why I wanted the appointment..so I said gynecological reasons .
And he wanted to know exactly what that reason was .
Surely me just saying gynecological was enough ???
But he said the doctor needs to know in advance what I'm going for .
So I've written it in a letter to pop through the surgery door ,so the doctor knows why I'm going in advance....
But is my doctor going to open the letter with her name on ??
Or will one of the receptionists open and read the letter , despite it saying my doctors name on..in which case I won't pop the letter through
Unfortunately a sport I do regularly,one of the receptionists also does ,and I don't particularly like her ..so not sure I want her knowing my personal business

Receptionists are effectively doing triage at my surgery. It's dismal.

It is usually because they need to book you with the most appropriate practitioner and depending on if an examination is needed to book a longer appointment. Receptionists don’t ask because they are being nosy, it is so they can do their jobs properly. And also because they get told off by the GPs if they don’t!

My doctor doesn't read a thing!

We have to do econsult to even be considered for an appointment, and then if you do get a face to face appointment, after sending in oodles of information and photos in some cases, they look at you completely dumb founded and ask what has brought you in today! 😂

The system is designed so that receptionists use a triage process to get you to where is most appropriate, and to stop everyone just saying "I need to see a GP for a an unspecified issue". The reception person isn't making a medical judgement about you, they are following a flow chart, basically. That's how it works and why they are asking. Yes you are entitled to privacy and dignity, if you're stood in the middle of reception and ask to speak to the receptionist in a private room to explain you can do. But you need to give some information so they can follow the process to get you to the right place.

The "it's personal I'm not telling you" person wastes their own time and the doctor's time when they're sat in front of the GP saying they have XYZ specific issue that the specialist nurse runs a weekly clinic for but the GP isn't trained to do.

I don’t get upset about drs receptionists asking what the issue is. I understand it’s confidential and they are professional. I will generally say straight out what the issue is . However, I can understand why someone would not want to explain a gynaecology or certain personal issues to a randomer on the phone . If this is the case I say I’d rather talk to the dr in person about it . This happened to me once and there was no issue with it. Some things are just uncomfortable to discuss over the phone to an unknown person.

So many women on here defending a poor system. Saying gynae issues should have been enough, the receptionists are not medically trained and regardless of the triage system patients are completely entitled to privacy. At the best she would probably have been triaged to a female GP, not some expert gynaecologist.

Could you put Private & Confidential. Addressee only.

I would never open a letter at work that said that. (Not a medical receptionist).

setting aside the in public issue, would you not want to see a male doctor either?

My surgery is the same if you say something vague and it’s always a bit jarring because the appointment process is arduous anyway. So you’ve been listening to hold music for 30+ mins at that point and rehearsing how you’re going to ask for an appointment. But I think they’ve probably heard all sorts so the average problem is just another patient to them.

I think their questions are fair because they want to know whether to give you an advance appointment or use up a same day appointment. I once described a really awful bout of thrush in detail to the receptionist and she gave me a Saturday appointment, if I’d have just said gynae issues I would’ve had to wait days. It actually turned out that the receptionist was the only woman in the building that Saturday so she was my chaperone for the examination. That was much more embarrassing than telling her my problem on the phone 😳🙈

Absolutely this. They really aren’t interested. It’s all in a days work for them.

How would that response help? You might not be medically trained but you don’t need to be to tell the receptionist the symptoms you’re having. You would just sound difficult if you tried to be clever like that. They aren’t there to be nosy they are there to triage you which is why they ask symptoms so they can help you in the best way possible

I do understand this, i personally don't care and will just say what it is or a good enough outline of the problem,
but if you are shy or embarassed or maybe culturally you don't want to tell a man what your medical problem is then there should be able to by pass awkward intrusive questions that could really put a woman off getting an appointment.

all the people who say "we don't care" are absolutely correct. When I worked in the NHS as a clinician, it was while notes were still paper. In theory, I could have gone anywhere in the hospital (or if I was in uniform, probably other hospitals) and read anybody's notes that I fancied. In fact one of the things I had to do as a student was learn to read medical notes. Honestly it is all in a days work and not interesting or significant. Yes you do get employees who have big noses and bigger mouths but by and large its part of the job and not an interesting part.

Equally what if you're a young man who would feel embarrassed telling the woman at the reception desk, possibly the age of his mum or nan, about how he'd like to talk to a GP about erectile disfunction? I'm sure most surgeries would try to facilitate finding someone you feel comfortable disclosing the reason for you needing an appointment to, but they won't be able to guarantee you can share that with someone of the appropriate sex, age, ethnic background, who doesn't live in your immediate neighbourhood or use the same supermarket as you...

Next time you phone you can ask to speak to a woman on reception if you feel uncomfortable explaining your symptoms to a man.

At my GP surgery they don't insist you say why. It's up to you whether you give the info or not.

Maybe do an e consult to the surgery, they'll triage and a relevant health care professional will get back to you...

If they asked me what gynae issues if say 'well if I knew that I wouldn't need to see a doctor'.

Or 'something feels bad in my reproductive organs. How much more specific can I be?'

Because people are different, have different levels of ability and comfort speaking about personal matters. Medical professionals are qualified and regulated and people understand that they have a professional confidentiality requirement. The same doesn’t apply to reception staff, who may be very good but who are not qualified or even trained in anything specific, therefore they don’t evoke the same immediate sense of trust.

That’s fairly straightforward to tell a receptionist the high level detail they need to give you an appointment with the right person.

I have ongoing discomfort/pain from a previous birth injury, could I have an appointment with a female Dr if possible (if that is your preference)

but I can absolutely see how you’d get tongue tied if not expecting the question.

I mean I understand that you may feel queasy talking about your uterus with a random, but if I wanted help with a particular problem, I’d be shouting it from the rooftops so that it was very clear exactly what I needed in the 6 minutes or whatever the GP has time to see me. My health is much more important than what anyone else on staff might know about my private life.

That said, a friend working at the surgery who did not take the call should not be rifling through your appointment notes to see what you have going on. That access is tracked and she can get in trouble for just having a nosey.

I understand all the people saying receptionists don’t care, and sure, most won’t but over the years, in my small town, I’ve known more than one GP’s receptionist who would gossip about patients. Not everyone is as professional as they should be and some people just can’t seem to help themselves.

This is a really valid point that seems to get glossed over.

Doctors/clinicians and patient is a specific relationship. Where you know they are fully qualified to ask questions, examine you (sometimes intimately) and prescribe treatment. We know this and it's part of the "deal" of seeing a medical person.

Jenny on reception is completely different. She has none of the clinical training in the first situation so can be hard blurting out highly personal details to her.
And it's even worse, if you know her from the pub/school/yoga.

I think we all get the difficulties and shortages of appointments and the need to streamline who sees who. But there's a mismatch between what is needed (the triage) and who is doing it (random person with no medical qualifications whatsoever).

And all those people saying "oh we don't care, you're just a name on a screen", bully for you. Because unfortunately you DO have plenty of peers who do gossip* and look up records of people they know and ask inappropriate questions. And you being perfectly professional doesn't help when there are rotten eggs and we don't know which one we're speaking to.

(*I have personally heard reception staff on an open front desk commenting about a male patient in very personal and rude manner, loudly enough that I was easily able to tell the Dr his name when I went in for my appointment.)

Your problem may need a longer appointment or with a specific doctor nurse, no idea why you didn’t just say they are use to it.

Even though I tell the receptionist my issue for seeing the dr, the dr then always asks me why I'm there.