To be totally fed up with Drs receptionists

[tjacksonpfc]

Background to this 10 days ago I was at gps with an emergency appointment due to coughing up blood. Gp was worried about tb due to there being an outbreak at one of the schools by us but not the one i work at. I was given strong antibiotics and sent for a chest xray. Gp said results take 7-10 days to come back so to phone for results today unless I hear from them first. If no better and my inhaler not working to go back.

So this morning I phone for results to be told by receptonist yes they were in. I ask for a drs appointment aswell as my chest is stillbad and inhaler not helping. I get told no appointments for 3 weeks I told her what the dr had said and all, the reeptionist said was I will sort out a repeat presription for a new inhaler for you. After 5 mins I ask for the triage nurse to call me back.

Within 10 mins I,m getting a phone call to come in with an appointment for 30 mins time. When I get in to see gp I get asked why I wasn't there last Tuesday as my results had come back and the dr had left a message for the receptionist to call me and ask me to come in and see someone that day.

The results showed up as me having pneumonia, so I am now on 4 diffrent lots of strong tablets including steroids to try to clear it and back at the dr in 2 weeks. So now our holiday is under jepordy due to teh receptionist not doing her job properly. Luckily I am fairly healthy normally so it hasn't proved a big problem. But god forbid I had been elderly or with other health problems it could have proved fatal. When I went out to make my appointment for 2 weeks later I mentioned the lack of phone call the previous week. To be told by receptionist it must have slipped her mind.

Now AIBU to be totally fed up with the reeptionist thinking the run the surgery and can make all teh deisions.

Sorry for length of post.

Did you not tell all this to the GP when you went in?

You need to put in a complaint with the practice manager. I don't blame you for being angry. I hope you recover quickly.

Ask to see the practise manager as I think it should be bought to their atention and dealt with. She is NOT doing her job properly, something as serious as this must not slip her mind

YANBU - This happened to me a few months ago .

You should have mentioned it to the doctor while you were there IMO .
Hope you feel better soon .

Thanks for replies I did mention it to the dr when I went in, as when he asked me why I had'nt been in sooner I didn'n tknow what he was on about.

I think your right about the practise manger as I don't want the same thing to happen to someone and it be fatal for them. The gp did say he was going to have a word don't know whether he meant with receptonist or practise manager though.

YY- formal complaint. GP saying he'll have a word isn't good enough. Might slip his mind!

Hope you still manage to have your holiday!

Don't just mention it to the practice manager. Put it in writing and tell them you want to know what they have done about it.

I had no end of trouble with incompetent receptionists and administrators at my old practice. They gave out test results incorrectly over the phone (told me something was positive when it was in fact negative so not just a bit wrong, completely wrong), put another patient's history and condition in a referral letter, left important correspondence from a consultant out of another urgent referral (to a private neurologist that I was paying for), they didn't refer me to the MW, I had to chase around and do it myself when I was nearly 12 weeks pregnant. When one of them input newborn DS's name wrong on their system and then said it wasn't possible to change it (were we supposed to change his name to this weird, random word?!) we decided we couldn't risk our family's health there any longer and switched practices.

I know they are not fantastically well paid and their job can be tough sometimes, as any job facing the public is. But their mistakes can have serious consequences. If they keep making mistakes they should be retrained or questions should be raised about their ability to do the job.

Hope you are better very soon and manage to enjoy your holiday OP.

the ones at our surgery are the bane of my existence. They have had me in tears on several occasions and my first scan for my baby was late due to their uselessness. Even the midwives and drs comment on them. I don't know how they have so much power. really need to write a letter. problem is, there are several of them and some are ok.....Wish I could just march in there and slap them round the face sometimes

Well I have just written a formal complaints letter and dropped it into the surgery for the pratice manager. I have asked in the letter that she calls me or meets with me to tell me what she is doing about it. I will keep you informed.

Update I have had a phone call from practice manager who has said she has reieved my letter and is looking into it. She has said she will inform me of the outcome so we will wait and see.

I was once told by a doctor's receptionist when I rang up for some test results that "there is nothing wrong with you". In actual fact, the test results showed nothing, but that was as expected and didn't change the fact that there was something wrong with me which meant that seriously ill for 9 months and didn't recover for 3 years. Had I not been warned by the Gp to expect negative test results, and that that did not mean everything was Ok, I would have put the phone down and thought nothing more about it.

Many years ago I asked for the results "of a test I had done on the xxth of Whatever" I was trying to be discreet because I was in an office full of men but thought if I gave them my name, DOB, address and test date it would be no problem.
The receptionist told me it was probably a throat infection. WTF, I'd had a smear test!!!
Maybe I was laying upside down on the bed.

Lol Bulmers as far as receptionist cock up goes that is quite funny, what did you say to her when she gave you that result?

YANBU, I hope you are feeling better soon and don't miss your holiday.

When we returned to UK DS was 22 months. I registered with the GP a few days later. DS DoB was inputed as XX/08/06 instead of 04. So I kept getting letters for jabs, turning up and being told he was too old - most memorable was the new meningitis one which they binned rather than give to him. Took a while to suss they had registered him in the wrong year and apparently he wasn't even born when he was registered.

I was told its an easy mistake to make.

lol Yak you've got to laugh haven't you or you would cry.