to not want to give symptoms to GP receptionist?

[vintageteacups]

So I called the GP surgery this morning and, as like the last time I rang, the first thing the receptionist said when I asked to book a doc's appoinment for dd (9) was:

"what seems to be the problem? We have a nurse's clinic this afternoon"

I calmly said that I would like a doctor's appointment and didn't tell her the symptoms.

What on earth? We pay our taxes and it's our right to take dd to see the gp, yet this cold fish of a woman just went "right, Dr .... at 11:50 then", took the name and address and put down the phone.

As has happened before, I felt really guilty about taking DD and felt as though I was wasting their time (even though I hadn't said what was wrong wtih dd).

Surely they can sift out the ones who turn up every monday morning with a spot on their finger and another runny nose (however, it's surely their right to book an appointment if they want) compared to me who has taken dd and ds probably twice each in 2 years. I have been once in 2 years!

They have a comments sheet - was thinking about extending it into a letter.
The receptionists have a really bad reputation for being grumpy and unhelpful.

Perhaps they should better publicise what the nurses clinics can deal with, rather than trying to triage over the phone.

There really aren't enough GPs to meet demand and I believe that it's a deliberate gatekeeping policy by central government. God knows there are enough young people who would be well to qualified and eager to go in for a medical degree. Instead, the general public are getting a worse service than they deserve and the doctors are bearing the brunt of their ire. For example, instead of practicing what they are trained for they are caught up in a piece rate system and valuable surgery time is taken up with monitoring people for whatever the illness is high up the governmen't agenda. That's why if you've got a long term condition like high blood pressure or diabetes you will be hounded to attend various clinics every few months, plus essential prescriptions are doled out monthly so you have to attend the surgery to get one. Bring on the pharmacists involvement in these routine monitoring sessions and free up the GPs. Although this will reduce the 'quality' payments to GPs I suppose.

oooh that phrase
"we pay our taxes"
Its so annoying, the taxes you pay would probably only just pay for you to have one appointment with a highly qualified doctor in a surgery once every 10 years!
you dont have to say what your symptoms are and of course you entitled to an appoiintment but nurses are there to take the weight off the doctors and have had lots of training to be able to prescribe and to see minor patients. my favourite though is patients who come to a& e wanting to see a doctor because they were not able to get an emergency appointment with their gp!!! HELLO!!!

Jamie - i know that patients don't always know best - that's why they usually want to see a GP. The receptionist don't know best either. Your or I could get a job as a receptionist. No disrespect to receptionists, because I know what a difficult job they have, but they aren't medically qualified to diagnose and so shouldn't be put in a position to have to triage. Why should they bear that burden?

Why would they spend your taxes money on publicising something? They are telling you on a case by case basis what the nurse can help you with.

Lots of people know what a nurse can do but still insist on seeing a GP for minor ailments when a nurse would be quicker and just as good. It's not so much for information, more a case of deterring "time wasters" from taking GP appointments from those who are in need.

Acatcalledbob - Surely nobody wants to be ill or go to a doctors surgery. And as I said before, timewasting works both ways.

Like it or not, we are consumers and GPs are business men and women, with a bottom line need to make a profit- however this doesn't sit easily with the professed government policy of a free health service or the idea that medicine is a vocation rather than a job.

crystal glasses i am not sure that you could get a job as a receptionist in a surgery! triage over the phone is not what they are doing they are, as acatcalledbob pointed out filtering patients, it is a fact that the nhs is constantly under fire but is massivley abused by patients who expect more and more, who are rude and abusive and who expect to be seen straight away... many gps spend there time seeing long term patients and the nurse practitioners are there to see the emergencys..

crystalglasses if you/we are truly consumers how would you feel about paying every time you used the hospital or the docters surgery, it is crass to say that all gps are buissness men, there are much easier ways to make money that 7 to 10 years of hard training and rotations in hospitals dealing with things you have no idea about. I fear that you are too led by the media and the belief that all gps earn £100k

Carolanne, I used the word triage because that's the term being bandied about on this thread. Describing it as 'filtering out' is actually worse because it's still the receptioinist that 's making a judgement on which patient should be seen by the doctor or nurse. What is an emeregency anyway - I always thought it was something that required a visit to A&E - it's a misuse of the word in relation to visits to the GP surgery.

I think the main problem is that nobody really know what to expect from their surgery in terms of service. They seem to make it up mas they go along, depending on demand that day or the reseptionist on duty or what ever has been discussed at the most recent partners meeting. They are providing a public service like any other and have to watch costs, of course they do, but they also have a duty to publicise what their service consists of. If they want most people to see a nurse, they shoudl be upfront about it and also tell us when the nurses are on duty, what service they provide and how many slots they have in the day to see patients.

I'm afraid I don't see what your problem is OP. Sounds like the receptionist asked you a simple question, got a simple answer then dropped the subject and made you an appointment to see the Dr. I think it's fair enough for her to try and establish whether you could see the nurse as long as she doesn't push it too far which she didn't.

There are lots of NHS resources other than GPs and I don't think it does any harm for us to be reminded of that.

If you take the approach that you have a right to see a GP, well that's your view, but I think you then need to develop a slightly thicker skin. If you've made up your mind that'swhat you need then have the courage of your convictions. No need to be offended.

OP you ARE being unreasonable.
Receptionists have a really tough job trying to make sure everyone gets the best and most appropriate care.

Were you ringing at 8am when the switchboard was jammed? Did you get the appointment you wanted?
Good grief.

Carolanne it is not crass. Ask any GP and they will say that is exactly what they are - they are running a business (apart from the salaried GPs of course - that's a different matter - but there aren't so many of them). GPS are contracted by the health service to provide a service but they are not employees of the NHS. And no I am not led by the media, I am very well qualified to say what I'm saying. Why don't you read some of the GP trade publications? Then you'll get an idea of what their preoccupations are?

OP - can I just quickly sort out how I would like your DH to be working at the moment, please? - You said he's armed forces - I pay my taxes you know.......

Sorry, I don't mean to sound catty but I really really resent the whole 'I pay my taxes....' (implying 'I pay their wages! So they should do as I say!')

crystaglasses, an emergency is subjective of course, to some an emergency will be a sty on their eye or conjunctivitis, neither of these will require a doctors appointment(let alone a visit to A&E) as a nurse practitioner can see, treat and precscribe for both these and many other ailments too many to list. The receptionist at the Gp surgery is just trying to point out that a nurse is availible
not making a desicion on who the patient should see, it is a gentle nudge making the patient aware. At A&e we know what patients should be coming in for treatment but sad to say half of those that do come in are not emergencys and we do dont and can not turn any one away. I agree that the public need to be educated in health care but where would the money come from for that? we can not babysit the whole population and some common sense should be used at times.

i used to be a gps receptionist. it is a shitty job, because many patients are rude and aggressive when all you are doing is following practice policy.

often there are too few appointments to see a doctor, so asking if its something the nurse can deal with is a way of keeping a few appointments open for those who most needed it. Without asking, many people just assume that its only the doctor who can deal with something, when in reality it isnt.

our gps would also prescribe over the phone for certain things, such as cystitis or thrush etc. so we had to ask if a telephone appointment would surfice.

i found when working at the gps that most patients are rude and snotty. much like OP. remember - the receptionist couldnt give a flying fig whats wrong with you, they are trying to weed out those who actually NEED to see a GP and those who could see a nurse or have a phone consultation, and they are just doing what they have been told to do BY the GPs. Only one of our GPs ever stood up for us - the others would run for cover when they saw us being shouted at by patients, despite it being them who told us what to do

in our practice, however, they did operate a "3 strikes" policy - if you were very rude, 3 times, you could be removed from the list and asked to find another GP.

there are more and more salaried Gps now, Gps do not want to be running business's well not all of them! not all trade publications speak for all of the trade.. crystalglasses i am sorry you have such a dim view of our health service

vicarinatutu, that made me smile :) couldnt give a flying fig tee hee ..

YANBU.

This used to happen to me a lot. The reception/waiting room is open planned, and the seats are only a couple of metres away from where the receptionists sit. As they would not pick up the phone, I went in person. Everyone heard the reason for my appointment - that I thought I had a verruca - as I did not make an attempt to whisper. Funnily enough, no one looked up.

The last straw was when I went in again to book an appointment to get my Implanon inserted. Although I said it quietly and discretely to the receptionist, she then asked across the desk to her colleague which GPs were able to insert the "contraceptive implant". She said the latter so loudly that everyone in the waiting room looked up at me. I announced to them that I already had 3 children. They quickly looked away again.

I did mention this to the doctor who admitted that I am not the first to have complained, and that the surgery will be taking steps to increase privacy at reception. Most people phone or book online for an appointment he told me, but as I explained, I tried to phone in but it was engaged all the time.

I now book on-line for any appointments at my GP surgery. Problem solved!

a verruca????????????? sorry but you have just proved my point, so sorry i dont mean to be rude to you directly

I was pregnant at the time and the midwife had recommended that I sought GPs advice.

Don't worry, I don't think the midwife is on mumsnet!

And there are plenty of people (not wanting to stereotype, but mostly the older generation in my sister's experience) who go to the doctor for minor ailments and a bit of a chat to be honest. When you make an appointment with a GP and are told that the first available appointment is in 3 to 4 weeks, you realise how necessary it is for the receptionists to try to filter out those who don't really need to see a GP and how long you'd have to wait if they couldn't send some minor ailments to the nurse...

oh dear maybe the midwife should have suggested a pharmisist or the nurse instead...

i tend to say (very politely) "i dont know what the problems is, thats why i need to see the doctor"

Oh well, I will know for next time. I guess that's one of the advantages of booking on-line. The questions triage you, and perhaps if I had entered "verruca", it would have organised an appointment with the nurse. Still, the receptionist did give me an appointment with the GP.

BTW, when I went to the pharmacist to purchase an over-the-counter verruca product, the moment she realised that I was pregnant, she point blank refused to sell me any treatments unless I had a prescription from the doctor! Many of the over-the-counter treatments for verrucas do state "if you are pregnant, do not use this product. Go and seek advice from your GP".

Seemingly, from carolanne6 on mumsnet knows better than the pharmacist, midwife, product manufacturers and GP.