to think that doctor's receptionists should have a little bit of empathy?

[oldmcdonalds]

Yes I can appreciate they get a hard time from some members of the public, and I know its a generalisation, but usually if you are in a doctor's surgery you are likely to be ill, worried, stressed, nervous or all of the above!
It would be nice if they could appreciate that.

I had to leave this morning because she made me cry, over something that was easily fixable.
I'm now so worked up and just want to cry.

had a few that have been grumpy etc but had a nurse make me cry i moved gp after that.

Yanbu but our receptionists are just wonderful, really friendly, kind etc. The fact they know me by my voice on the 'phone now may have something to do with it!!! They even know my date of birth! (got a few health problems, it has to be said, but nothing requiring sympathy haha!!)

No, seriously, they have always been great in the 15 yrs I have been with practice, and now I have my 2 ds, they are even better. In fact, I would name the practice if it didn't mean I'd probably out myself!

One of them has 2 ds as well, and we often chat about the sheer horror joy of having 2 young boys.

I'm sorry you've had a horrible time. She might be under a lot of pressure herself/ be feeling rotten, but that's NO excuse.

I had a lucky escape.

When we moved to the area we stayed with my parents for 6 months as our house wasn't ready. the local doctors to our house refused to register us as we were out of catchment so we registered nearest to my parenst house.

When we moved into our house 6 months later they said we could stay with them as we were just within their area too.

The original doctors I tried to register with I have heard nothing good, impossible to get appointments, even for babies and children. At my doctors if I rin up between 8am and 10am I may have to put it on callback but when I get through I can get an appointment for that afternoon in an emergency or the following day if not.

When ds had cellulitus and refused to swallow his antibiotics they got us into the nurse straight away who phoned round all the pahanramcies for us and put an action pkanb in place for if he didn;t improve (it was Friday afternoon and they wanted to make sure we knew how to call out of hours/emergency docs and also put them on standby that we may call.

Today I needed a small piece of info for a medical form for dd's school trip. Phone engaged so I emailed thinking I woudn't tie the line up. Got a call back around lunchtime with the info I needed.

I'll never change.

Our practice's receptionists are a bit non-discript. They all tend to be quite young though...maybe it takes years upon years of being surrounded by sick people to develop an air of 'I couldn't give a flying fuck'.

Now, our dental surgery's head receptionist really is a nasty bit of work. I recently had the gall to ask them when they did their banking so I could make sure I did a transfer in time so the cheque didn't bounce. She actually looked at me liked I'd just asked her to shit in a mug.

Receptionist have made me cry before.... i dont cry lightley. They wouldn't give me an appointment for my son who was just out of hospital from a brain op without me 'speaking to a doctor to see if appointment was needed'
Doctor called me - an hour later and i was sitting in GP room within 1/2 an hour of the call..... receptionist made some snidey remark on our way out of the surgery about how she had got a bolloking from the dr. at which point i held up my 3 year old turned him round so she could see the large fresh scar running down the back of his head and suguested that this job may not be the vocation of the unbelivabley rude , uncompasionate cow bag she appears to be..... All the receptionist's jaws just dropped to the floor as i flounced out of the surgery

She is as nice as pie to me now if i phone........

One of the receptionists told me that we couldn't register at their surgery as we didn't live in a half mile radius to the surgery (a quick call to the PCT soon sorted that). Then was told "Well don't tell everyone in your area - they'll all want to register" like we were living in a leper colony and the surgery was an expensive Gentlemans club.

At 9 weeks pg had been getting tummy pains all day - went into the surgery from work, explained that I was pg and was in pain. Was told no appointments and to phone in the morning. Phoned my husband who came to the pick me up from outside the surgery where I was in tears - and he went in to find out why I been sent away. The cow lied and told him i never said i was pregnant. Got to see the doc - who suspected ectopic and sent me straight to hospital. After 24 hrs in hosp and an emergency scan all was well (thank God). I think she was tore strips off by the GP because from then on she was as nice as pie.

DS got bitter by a dog on the face outside a doctors surgery. Sensibly I took him in so that he could get it cleaned up. Old bag on reception reluctantly squished some wanted from the drinking fountain on it and refused to either get a doctor or nurse, or let me have any savlon to put on it. This was the only bloody time I went out without my first aid kit.

Smells like cats pee, get your dh to ak for the new 'Jext' pen. It works in exactly the same way as an epipen, but has a 2year shelf life.

Ours are usually very helpful, alhtough I did once witness a three-way arguement about swine flu (where the receptionist was giving advice that contradicted the doctor stood next to her).

Always helpful, sort out appointments quickly and are useful when I need paperwork/samples sorting outl

We have a really nosy receptionist at our surgery. Every time I phone up for an appointment she tries to insist that I list symptoms so she can decide if I need to see a doctor. It drives my DH mad: "She's not a fucking doctor, she has no fucking medical qualifications, who the fuck is she to decide if we need to see a GP?"

I really should follow the example of my friend, who always answers "rectal prolapse" to the nosy receptionist, even if it's for her baby DD. She gets an appointment every time.

Just do a Larry David 'I have a hamster stuck up my arse'.

I used to be a doctor's receptionist, in a surgery where there were about 10 of us, and honestly we were all nice and would do whatever we could to help.

I've never had another job where I've had to take so much shit from the general public though - not that that's any excuse for the behaviour some of you have experienced - but you do learn to take the abuse with a pinch of salt and a smile on your face. My particular favourite was the constant dirty looks and tutting because the doctor wasn't running on time - as if I had a secret button I could push to make them go faster.

SinisterBuggyMonth & diavlo

Thank you for that info.
Re: the appointments I have argued till I was blue in the face about this, but if we can get the Jext pen so much the better.
Luckily it?s pretty east to avoid fish, and if in doubt I taste it first I hate the bloody stuff and can taste it a million miles off

is sitting on reception (dental) reading this...

love to see that people are still imagining that receptionists ask their symptoms out of nosiness and not because they have possibly been asked to do some basic triage..

if you don't like the appointment system you really should contact the Practice Manager to question it, not shout abuse at the receptionist and call her a cow bag

my job involves following 1000 rules about appointment making while trying to do best for the patients and not piss the dentists off too much and I'd imagine medical receptionists jobs are the same..it's not "be on a power trip and enjoy doing whatever you fancy with appointments"..nor is it just "smile and answer the phone"

It was the snidey - you got me a bolloking from the doctor comment that pushed me over the edge..... i thought cow bag was fairly polite judging that there were a lot of children present....

Who wouldnt give a 3yr old recoving from major brain surgery an appointment?

Having seen the stick our receptionist was given for explaining to someone they couldn't have an appointment about their cold at 3pm on new years eve I have more sympathy for them. They take the brunt of everyone and some people are down right rude.

That doesn't excuse them being rude but it does explain why they have a lack of patience sometimes

Fanjoforthemammaries I appreciate that some receptionists are asked toconduct triage, but there are some I know who are nosy to the point of being way beyond basic triage, and rude with it.

Focus on the good test results :)

Doctor's do often chose robust receptionists as it's not a job you could really do if you weren't. The problem is this means they are often rather unpleasant with people who are treating them politely and just want the same courtesy shown. The ideal receptionist would be polite and friendly with a core of steel which only came to the fore where necessary.

We moved practices because the reception staff at ours were so awful. Not only were they rude and lacking in empathy they were also completely inept. We should have complained but I just wanted to get out of there. There was no way I would trust them with DS's health.

Probably the least serious but most ing amongst many, many other errors was when one of them typed DS's name incorrectly when they were registering him, then said it couldn't be corrected. So were we supposed to change his name to a completely made-up word because of this incompetent woman?

I gave the doctors receptionist a box of chicks
Today I have good ones. There are two sites for our practice but
Only 1 is nice