to think that doctors' receptionists are hated on here?

[lemontwist]

Okay so I may be a little biased (because I am one) but generally we work hard, often bend over backwards to juggle the needs of the patients with the demands of the doctors and other surgery staff and have to be constantly polite despite often being looked down on and spoken to like crap.
Certainly in my surgery we do everything we can to fit people in if they feel they need an urgent appointment. Yesterday the phone never stopped and there was standing room only in the waiting area at times. My colleague had a patient shout at her while doing everything she could to help him and remaining polite.
We get ridiculously busy at this time of year because we close for a whole twodays. AIBU just to ask you to cut us some slack and be polite back?

Perhaps people would dislike the receptionists less if they stopped trotting out the line 'we have no appointments but if you want to come as an emergency you need to call at 8:30 and then come down and wait'.

FFS, have LESS emergency provision and more appointments, otherwise EVERYONE says 'YES IT IS AN EMERGENCY' when if they could get an appt within three days they'd be fine with that.

And yes I know it's not the receptionists who come up with these bonkers protocols but you are the face of the organisation and reinforce it.

FWIW our GP receptionists are fine. They are no better or worse than anywhere else, but the policies of the practice are just bonkers.

It's a skilled job that should have a code of conduct and professional body. instead, they seem to think that the people who have the most access to the patient and ALL of their personal information should be entrusted to any old person who they can get. Most are perfectly trustworthy but I know I wouldn't want to be the one who is abused/gossiped about or triaged. There should be a professional qualification at the very least. It should also stop being viewed as a nice little part time job for a middle aged lady who would be able to fit it in between church flowers and coffee mornings. No wonder nobody respects them, the stereotype is a horrid creature.

I don't feel either way about mine. I do however wish Mrs Tembe worked at mine to guarantee a home visit whenever I need one.

I think the doctors receptionists around where i live must attend the same training days as the majority of bus drivers.

What annoys me about mine (and this actually may not be their fault) is the way they ask for your symptoms, to describe your illness so they can judge whether you need an urgent appointmment. Excuse me but they are not qualified medical professionals and should not be asked by the doctors to do this.

You need three weeks notice for non emergency appointment at our surgery,

They are lovely at our practice and deserve a

As I medical receptionist I fully accept that I have made a choice to be "front line" and I do understand that I am in the firing line when the service you receive is not satisfactory, especially when you are feeling ill ,are worried about loved ones and probably feeling particularly vulnerable.

But please remember I do not make the rules,I do not decide how the appointments system is run and I can assure you when I am asking for more information about your condition,its not because I'm nosey or even because I want to have a good old gossip,believe it or not its actually so I can Try and justify fitting you in to an already over booked clinic,you know the one,the one where you're kept waiting for 50mins over your appointment time and you need to pick the kids up from school..............

I apologise for the fact that appointments are running late,but swearing at me and blaming me although justified,really isn't going to get you anywhere - the only thing that its going to achieve is that my time is taken up dealing with your complaint, instead of getting on the the 1001 other things NHS bureaucracy demands I deal with................

I'm really sorry that you didn't receive your long awaited letter,but unfortunately I cannot be responsible for you not informing us that you moved house 3 months ago and although I can sympathise,the fact that Royal mail manage to loose letters really is beyond my control.

I apologise that the NHS sometimes gets it wrong and lets you down,but please remember there are some things that are even beyond the control of "a control freak".

Ours are usually nice, but I did have one who told me to 'pull yourself together' when I was having a miscarriage.

ours dont seem to have any realisation that when you call (or go in to make an appt after getting the engaged signal fo 90 mins) that usually you or a memer of your family is unwell

If you want an appt in the next 48 hours you have to get through at exactly at 8am cos by 8.20 those appts will be gone..and if you miss them then its a 2-3 week wait !!

If you say well look I have tried to get through on the phone for the last 2 days and its constantly engaged and i need to see a doctor they just say well try tommorrow ... its like a lottery and they just dont seem to care

Our GP is ALWAYS at least 50 minutes late. You are already disgruntled by having to wait three weeks for an appointment OR having to go in as an emergency when you not an emergency but it's the only way you can get to see the GP and then you get to sit in the waiting room watching the clock go round for so long.

I quite understand why people get cross. I don't however understand why they shout at the receptionists. That's what the practice manager is for

But the receptionists are only working with the appointment system implemented by the doctors and practice manager. If they start booking patients in where there's no space or booking patients in ahead when they're not supposed to they will get it in the neck.

And if anyone knows of a system where everyone can have an appointment whenever they want without ever having a long wait I'm sure their practice manager would love to hear about it, because frankly it's impossible. What do you do when you have a finite number of appointments to give and so many who want them?

And to those who moan at the receptionist when their appointment is running late, seriously, what do you expect them to do? They don't have a handle under the desk that they can wind to make the doctor work faster. Should they storm in and kick out each patient once their 10 minutes is up to keep things on track? And no, they can't tell you precisely how much longer it will be because they're not mind readers, but they would love for it to be your turn so that you stop glaring at them and tutting.

Wow, that felt good, even though I left that job years ago.