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.

That's a good point smokinaces. I was asked when I booked an nurses appt what it was for. It was for a smear test and blood tests and i told them so. They said ok, that's 3 appointments and they actually had to book me in for 3 appointment slots with the nurse as a smear takes up 2 appts and bloods is another appointment. If i had refused to say then I would have been given one 10 minute appt and I would ave had to re book most of it

There is often method to the asking as they know things we don't about appointment booking.

I don't see the problem - it's not as though you were denied a doctor's appointment because you chose not to discuss the symptoms. I think the receptionist was just trying to make sure your DD was seen by the appropriate person as soon as possible, i.e. not have her waiting unnecessarily long for a doctor's appointment if it was something that could be dealt with immediately by the nurse. You still had the right to see the doctor if you preferred, she was just trying to offer you a possible alternative.

That's two people who have said a smear takes a double appointment. What are they doing in there? A full service and MOT? .

No smear, takes more than 5 mins max.

A1980 totally agree that what you described allows the receptionist to allocate correct time to your Nurses appt.

But this is totally different to expecting the receptionist to be able to decide whether or not you need to see a Dr on the basis of a quick phone call.

Vintageteacups perhaps your smears don't take longer than 5 minutes. But mine do, the nurse always has trouble with them, they're difficult to take. Not everyones anatomy is the same. Mine take forever.

Nellie, the receptionist can decide on some occasions: e.g. child with verucca versus child with raging fever, sevvere tummy ache etc. It isn't rocket science for non medial staff to decide who can wait.

My old surgery had a nurse practitioner. The receptionists asked as if you presented with something simple like tonsilitis (which I did monthly) she could see you and prescribe quickly, freeing the GPs time for more pressing cases. I dont see anything wrong with this - as someone further up the thread says, its only like the Receptionist in our A&E who takes symptoms and then directs you to either Urgent Care or Triage.

Vintage, I think they do double appointments incase woman is nervous. Also incase they are oddballs like me (v. posterior weird cervix) where a smear takes a hell of a lot longer! Also because of the equipment I guess too.

Ladies - I was joking about the smear test timings .

Same as I rung up at 8am for an appointment the other week. They couldnt fit me in at all. However, the nurse asked what symptoms/problem was as then she could either a) fit me with a nurse b)as the GP to do a phone consultation or c)direct me to the local walk in centre (with a 60-90 minute wait)

This meant she picked b) so GP phoned me 45mins later, wrote the script over the phone and saved us all a lot of time!

Its nothing like A&E where they can see that if you are poring with blood/have a limb hanging off you should skip triage.

And yes I'm sure the receptionist could decide on some occasions but I would prefer she didn't confuse the sore finger with the infected finger that needs IV antibiotics. (Through no fault of her own.)

If I want to be assessed over the phone I will phone NHS direct.

Okay - so I'm now coming around to the idea of the receptionist triage system.

However, the potential flaw is the attitude/manners of the receptionist.

I would like all doctors receptionists to be softly spoken, mummy types who don't say boo to a goose. Then I won't mind if they ask me if I can see a nurse.

Sometimes when I 'check in' with the GP receptionist, the one next to her is on the phone saying loudly

"Oh its your embarrassing rash again is it Mrsteacups you'll need to get the Dr to write you a prescription for something strong for that"

Confidentiality could do with some work....

You get ill mannered people in all walks of life though. It is a flaw of human beings rather than of holders of a particular job. If a Drs receptionist is rude or discusses you, complain because they will be in trouble. However giving them grief for doing their job isn't fair either. Just the same as I would complain if a GP or nurse were to be rude to me.

Yes, see what you mean xstitch. I wasn't going to 'complain' as such; just write it as a helpful suggestion that there was perhaps a better way of phrasing it.

Nellie, round here the A&E receptionist does do that triage like system. Believe me, something like 50% of the A&E attendances for under 5s round here are for minor ailments - e.g. colds. The receptionists send them promptly to the Urgent Care Centre, round the back of the hospital to save everyone's time. Of course blood and gore are obvious though.

vintage, I have been with 3 doctors surgeries in my life and all of them had lovely receptionists, very Mummy like. But then again, I'm always sweetness and light and accomodating and never rude to them. Maybe that helps

I'm never rude to them either. In fact I go out of my way to be lovely. One of them is a friendly school acquaintance! She's bossy and rude too though when she's at work - even to me!

I still don't think that it's necessarily a problem if the exemplary sore finger referred to the nurse does turn out to be somewhat more serious. The nurse is going to spot that straight away and take appropriate action.

As someone else said earlier, an experienced practice nurse will have seen far more of most ailments than a young GP.

I agree Vintage no point in being rude to them as surely that makes you less likely to get the coveted appointments?

I'm also a firm believer that if you are rude to the waitress, she'll tell the kitchen to spit in your soup though

I wouldn't on account of she's my niece . AIBU to want to change doctors....

The first time the receptionist asked me what was wrong I was so embarrassed but i'm a little thicker skinned these days when it comes to discussing my ailments. I do think its a good idea, appointments are so hard to get at our surgery. They did bring in a system where you could book an appointment for up to two weeks time which was brilliant but now for some reason its back to this:

"can I make an appointment please?"
"we dont have any left today i'm afraid"
"oh, it doesn't have to be today...what about tomorrow or later in the week?"
"i'm sorry, you need to phone tomorrow at 8am for that, we cant book them any further in advance"

Then tomorrow comes and exactly the same thing happens.....it can go on for a long time and you cant make any plans in case you suddenly get an appointment.

So I would rather they ask, because the thought that someone like a woman I know who goes to the doctor for every sniff could be taking an appointment someone else really needs, when she could happily see the nurse grates on me a tad. She went to A & E with a sore throat because "it had been a week, the doctor wasn't taking me seriously and it still hurt"!

Thefrogs - I had though they had stopped only 'today appts' in most surgeries - I always though it was to get the money as they made their targets of people being seen within a certain time - which I thought the coalition had stopped

I have actually refused to play along with this especially when I used to have a two hour journey to work and my appointment was a follow up one if my appt wasnt until lunchtime It wasnt worth me actually going in to work.

I made a HUGE fuss once I was told my my Dr I couldnt have more meds until he had seen me - so booked a day off but couldnt get an appointment told to ring back next day didnt and went to the surgery

Told my Dr he was putting my health at risk as I had to chose between taking days upon days off just to get an appointment or not going to the drs at all and not taking my medication.

I got seen and a couple of weeks later they had changed their appointment system

vintage - you have been very gracious on this thread

I don't same day appointments only is a good thing. My surgery has a mixture of same day appointments and advance booking appointments. Seems to work reasonably well.

I'll be honest I haven't read all 5 pages.

For me it seems wierd that you would give symptoms and an un medically trained receptionist would decide whether nurse or GP is required. I would presume a GP for illness and nurse for rash/cuts etc and ask for appointments accordingly.

I would be slightly miffed if the receptionist was questioning me as a parent as to my decision about my child - who I can see at the time - needing a nurse or GP. When I've needed a nurse I've rung and booked for nurse and same with GP.

If it was just to highlight that nurses triage is available then it needs to be made clearer in a nicer way.

Hope your DD's ok btw.