to complain about GP receptionists? So upset.

[Alpacacino]

So, 3 year old DS has had a bad cough for a while, and along with choking on his cough, started wheezing quite badly yesterday.

So this morning, after unsuccessfully ringing the surgery to get an appointment on the day, I went there to ask if there was any chance DS could be seen. The receptionist told me the doctor would phone me to discuss the matter, took my landline number and checked the mobile number.

I did not stay home all day personally, but obviously had my mobile with me. No call, no missed call. At 5, I rang the practice again to ask if the doctor was going to call (just to make sure it was not accidentally forgotten), only to be told that they had in fact called, my mobile had not worked, and no-one had answered the house phone. There was no evidence of this in my mobile call log, and no message on the house phone. DS was going to be "put on the list again".

I panicked.

I went back to the surgery, with DS, to look into the matter - did they have the wrong number after all? The number was correct, the receptionist insisted the mobile was not working. I asked her to please ring it - she did, and the call appeared in the log. I was then told to return home to await the call by the doctor on the landline.

However, by this time I was very concerned that DS would not be seen, as it was less than an hour to closing time, and worried about not receiving or missing a call. I was then told that the doctor will not see me unless he has spoken to me on the phone first, and I should better head home quick in order not to miss the call. Luckily, DH was home and thus able to take this call. I stayed in the practice (which all the while was empty apart from DS and me), then did receive a call from the doctor on the mobile phone, and then was seen by him, and told that DS had been on a list all the while of people who need to be seen in person.

The receptionist claims she did ring my mobile, and claims she did not leave a message on the house phone since there was no answer machine (it kicks in after 6 rings). I was very upset about this, and then told to "get a grip on yourself" - they even threatened to call the police! If I had not chased the matter up, trusting that the busy GP will only have time for this at the end of the day, DS would not have been seen. Luckily he was seen, as he needed antibiotics, an inhaler and steroids.

Was I unreasonable to be upset?

There was an absolutely awful story a few months ago about a child who died in her parents arms in the GP's surgery, they approached the receptionists desk several times but were told they had to sit down and not be 'abusive', the child died.

I'm sorry, but anxious mothers with children with breathing difficulties should be given help immediately and lots of reassurance, even if they are getting agitated. The receptionist should have focused on saying 'now you are here, we will get her treated' not arguing about a mobile number.

The wisdom of sending the mother and sick child home to receive the call just so they could then be seen in person is dubious in the extreme. Just as well the husband was home to field the screen and them to stay and be seen, if the mother was on her own, would she really have been expected to go back again and then return (when children with wheezing/breathing issues are always seen anyway?)

This is ridiculous, I agree it sounds like she threatened police to cover her own back.

YANBU

I'm shocked this can happen.

Thetallesttower that is heartbreaking. That poor mother well never forgive herself, but most people would probably feel they had to just sit and wait. How awful.

I'm not going to post a link to the story as it's too heartbreaking and probably not appropriate on this thread.

I just wanted to point out that if you know your child is sick, you do become persistent and upset and that is normal, and staff should be able to deal with this. If the OP had not persisted and gone in and sorted this out in person (and thus risked being perceived as pushy and aggressive)- her child would have not had the three sets of medicine he actually needed tonight.

The threat of police was to shut you up because she was in the wrong. I would contact PALS and get them to help you clear your name with the practice. Personally I wouldn't bother with the practice manager, who will probably be as defensive and dishonest as the receptionist. Get some muscle behind you to clear your name. You can see from this thread what conclusions medics are drawing - you don't want that kind of stuff on your records.

Actually, is PALS still operational?

If it's been abolished, is there another body which looks after patients' interests?

www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/1082.aspx?CategoryID=68

Pals doesn't cover gp practices anymore...

We got removed from a surgery list many years ago because we complained. DS2 was 12 months old and very, very unwell. He had seen a doctor that afternoon when he had a temp of over 40 degrees, freezing hands and feet, vomiting, and wheezing. They told me he had a virus and to put him in a cold bath!

At midnight he was worse so we asked for a home visit (they did them then) and was refused because the GP said he had nothing wring with him. I took him to A&E, he had severe pneumonia and was in hospital for a week.

We complained about how we were treated and were struck off! I was quite glad actually in the end.

I am going to complain about the dispenser at my present GP surgery. She promised to phone me on Monday after she had spoken to the GP to find an alternative medicine for me because the one I need was out of stock. They had had a week to try to find it, but had not tried for 6 days, they had tried one supplier, once! When I phoned on Tuesday to find out what was going on she called me a liar. Unfortunately for her my friend was stood behind me in the queue and heard everything she said!

YANBU to be upset, they should have phoned you. If you do complain be prepared for them to remove you from the list, though.

The 3yo was with the OP's DH, his other parent!

If PALS doesn't cover GPs, who does?

Am awake with DS. Brokenhearted, why would the degree of illness matter? When I went to the surgery, I was not given an appointment, or promised an appointment. I was promised a phone call by the gp to further assess the matter. The gp then decided to see DS. The problem was the lack of communication between us and the surgery, the causes thereof and the consequence of nearly not having been seen at all.

DS was walking, talking, playing, eating - and coughing very badly, and wheezing. A & E?

Definitely complain. I agree she was covering her tracks with the police threat. It sounds like she was incompetent, unsympathetic, and dishonest.

OP YADNBU, and I am quite surprised by some of the responses on here. You did absolutely nothing wrong, and she was not doing her job competently. Personally, I probably wouldn't complain, but consider changing practices if you have that option.

Hope your DS's health improves rapidly. Don't let any of the responses here get to you - AIBU was perhaps not the best place to post this.

YADNBU - Gps surgeries nowadays are awful.
Getting an appointment no matter what for is like playing the national lottery.

I changed surgeries due to not being able to get appointments when needed for me & my dc, but my new surgery is even worse than the last

Imho some receptionists can be like a roadblock, & the particular one you saw sounds like one of those types. Sounds like she got shirty, realised she made a boo boo and thought she would try to get you arrested to get you out of the building.

It seems gps happily take the money, but are quick to misdiagnosis or not even bother with most of their patients! Receptionists, you either get ones that go out of their way to help or ones that simply cba to do their job properly.

My phone tells me when someone tries to call even if switched off or out of signal by sending me a text which I get when it's next in range. I still get people trying to insist they tried to ring and there was no answer, phone must be off etc.

it absolutely disgusts me that there are at least several comments on this thread along the lines of 'no-one calls the police about a raised voice, you must have been worse than that' (when OP has explained clearly what happened and how she reacted) and 'he can't have been that ill then'. What on earth is wrong with some people? thankfully, not the majority.

Can I just say that of your child is so ill and struggling to breathe and there are no gp appointments then that would be a perfectly legitimate use of a&e. accident and EMERGENCY. Child so ill tha MUST be seen by dr today = an emergency.

also, she sounds as though she could do with some serious training in how to deal with people. what sort of arsehole threatens a worried parent with the police when they could be helping? OP, you would have been wrong not to argue, any decent parent would have in that situation.

Brokenhearted, if you regularly took children with bad coughs and wheezes to A&E you'd be deeply unpopular. There's a reason why it's called "Accident and Emergency", you know. GP Surgeries are there precisely for that sort of problem.

Indith, that ain't my idea of an emergency. An emergency isn't 'my kids might need antibiotics' an emergency is bigger than that. I feel perfectly justified in pushing the docs as far as able in order to be seen by a GP.

I will not clog up a&e for fecking antibiotics. (Inhalers steroids etc possibly)

last time I took one of mine to out of hours over the weekend with wheezing we were admitted to the paediatric ward. If a child is poorly enough to need an inhaler and steroids then they after poorly enough to go downhill very quickly. breathing is kind of important for life.