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?

No a and e would complain about seeing a 3 year old who was having trouble with a wheeze.

Infact I was told not to bother with the GP and at the first sign of a problem take DS to a and e!

My dd is asthmatic. Gp was always the first port of call unless they were closed. Usually it was ABs or steroids and inhaler which is very often manageable at home within the need for hospitalisation.

But then luckily dd only required hospitalisation once or twice for it.probably due to incompetence of the Ooh staff who kept pretending they hadn't said they'd see us

You should have been in a+e not the drs surgery if it was such a panic to get him seen there and then.

Gp is first port of call in UK when you are ill. Don't understand people jumping on op for it. Her child was ill she contacted doctor. Nothing wrong with that.

I was in a similar situation with my then 2 year old a few years ago, except I managed to make a same day appointment but my daughter's symptoms got worse very quickly while we were waiting for it, and when we went to the appointment the GP checked her O2 saturation and then phoned an ambulance. We only spent a night in hospital but she needed steroids and inhalers to get on top of it.

I was telling my doctor friend about this afterwards and she said the same as people on this thread - I should have just phoned an ambulance in the first place. I still don't know why I didn't. I just didn't realise how poorly she was, I suppose, and I'd seen an out of hours doctor a week before with her, with what seemed like similar symptoms (she'd had a cold for a while), and he'd dismissed my fears and sent us home with amoxicillin.

Anyway she's fine now, but I still feel bad about it and I wouldn't hesitate to call an ambulance now if in any doubt.

Of course there was nothing wrong with that Nice, but not being able to see a GP with the symptoms the OP described would have also been perfectly justified going to A and E or at least a walk in centre.

Personally - and perhaps its just due to too much experience - I wouldn't be happy hanging around all day waiting for a phonecall with a child struggling to breath I would rather get them checked straight away

FFS, the child was ill enough to need to see a doctor - is is really so unreasonable to want him to do so?

ikea, it wasn't a panic to see him there and then. It was a panic to see him that day - the op went to the surgery first thing in the morning, and had not heard back at 5 pm. That's hardly demanding an appointment there and then.

I do wish people would actually read threads.

I don't understand the new phoning in system. We have it too, and if you get seen, there is only ever ONE doctor actually seeing people. The rest of the place (two stories, lots of rooms) is like a ghost town. I guess there is one doctor who's phoning people, one who's signing prescriptions, one seeing people, and one doing admin or something? There used to be six doctors there, now there are four. At least they're nicer now if you do get to see one!

But the go was the correct port of call for op. Her child was wheezy but active. When she saw gp he gave antibiotics and steroids and sent child home. Go was correct place to go, not a&e or ambulance.

Problem was communication and so on, gp surgery having obstructive rules and possibly a receptionist who was making things up.

It thought that gp surgeries always prioritised young children with breathing problems, op that is something else you might want to raise if you complain.

Go is gp damn autocorrect!

I thought A&E were getting fed up with having cases that should be dealt with by a GP.

Op I would complain in writing and I'd also complain re the threat to call police pointing out stress is the last thing a child struggling to breath needs(it can make it worse). As others have pointed out police are for crimes not scared, upset parents speaking loudly.

If you don't complain they won't improve.Their booking system clearly needs to.

They can only prioritise if they have appointments though. Again a child with breathing problems is always a and e worthy if unable to wait for an appointment.

Being active isn't always a good indicator anyway. DS has been active but had dangerously low SATs.

Yes communication went wrong, yes the systems need changing but that doesn't change the fact that the OP could have used other sources to get help as an appointment wasn't immediatly avaliable.

NiceTabard, I can quite believe that some people do just make things up.

My DD's school did this once - claimed they had tried to phone me when they quite demonstrably hadn't.

Quite why, in this day and age of mobile phones, caller display, call logging and answer phones, they think they'll get away with it I really do not know.

Do yo have a walk in centre near you? Ours is very good and they prioritise children, so the wait is not that bad.

Regarding confidentiality, I work in a mental health team and if we don't know the client and who may be listening we say; hi this is first name and this is a message for client name, can you please return my call on 3456788? We don't say where we are from. You can get around data protection and leave a message.

Sirzy lack of appointments wasn't the problem it was communication.

In any case you would imagine that a young child with breathing difficulties would be prioritised as they are at my gp. And it would go child with breathing difficulties needs to be seen within reasonable timescale if that's really not possible then signpost elsewhere eg a&e or walk in.

In a serious situation (more serious than op) I would always hope and imagine that gp survey would offer assistance or send on as appropriate.

What I would do now my DC are 19 and 16 is very different from what I would have done when they were under 5's. Because now I'm an experienced parent and I've been to gps and a&e regularly for the things that affect young children.

And a parent can't always tell what a child needs. If they could they woudn't need the GP and they could just go to the pharmacy to get steroids and inhalers. They can't do that because neither parent nor pharmacist is qualified to make that judgement.

When ds was 4 months he had severe bronchiolitis and I was worried about troubling the doctor for a cold. We went the doctor pointed out he was sucking in his ribs and really struggling and I couldn't see that until it was pointed out. His colour was OK and he was feeding albeit not as much as ususal but I thought that was because he was bunged up. We spent a week in hospital. He wheezed for about the next year and was constantly under a consultant - when I thought he was well: active, eating, happy they said he was wheezing and it was a problem.

Of course I could always tell when he was acute and always he got the right treatment but the NHS even then was a nightmare and I didn't get the right advice vis a vis inhalers (there was a small spacer not available then on the NHS and much easier to use) until we had a private consultation and I had 20 minutes with paediatric asthma nurse who explained that counting to 10 (as I had been told several times previously) was not the same as 10 breaths and she showed me how to watch for the breath and make sure it was taken and all much easier with the little spacer because you could handle both baby and spacer at the same time but they cost £25 then.

We must have had half a dozen consultant hospital appointments up until then (and the nurse who used to weigh and measure the children/babies used to shout at them and be thoroughly bad tempered). Just think how much time and money could have been saved had I got that advice at the beginning.

I didn't mean that to be such an essay, what I meant to say was to broken Hearted's post upthread. *As a solicitor, I get it all the time from clients. Leave me a message and either dont answer the phone when I call back, or they are not in, or their phone has no.signal and wont divert to voice mail. How long do you think I will try to get hold of them? Once or twice, beyond that they will have to call me again, I have other work to do.

I call a lot of people from work and usually the people I call do have answering machines and I simply leave a message and they call me back when they can. I don't expect the fit and well to sit in their houses waiting for me to phone them back and would be horrified if they did. What an awful attitude.

Definitely complain.

don't forget that you have out of hours doctors too and these are very useful as you get an appointment rather than waiting in a&e for hours with a child - hours is based next to a&e so if it turned out urgent we would be at the right place.

I work I various GP practices (not as a receptionist) and I'm shocked at the attitude of some of the reception staff. Not all by any means, there are good ones but many are rude, aggressive and aggravate situations unnecessarily.

If you work in healthcare you rarely see people at their best. Many receptionists aren't able to deal with anxious, stressed out patients, mothers in particular seem to bear the brunt.

Complain Op. Lots of practice managers are aware but need multiple complaints to take action.

I hope you DS is feeling better.

When I changed practices this week and was googling a couple of local ones I noticed that all practices have an NHS website link where they can be reviewed. Interestingly the practice I have just left had a 1 rating; the practice I have just joined had 4.5. If everyone left a review good and bad that would be a fantastic way of providing feedback and it's all on the web. Google your practice OP and see what others have said about it.

If I thought my child needed to be seen that day because of breathing difficulties I would take them to a+e.

My ds has viral induced wheeze, we went to ooh and a+e to deal with his wheezing when it happened and then booked a time with tge Dr so we could discuss him having an inhaler for future occasions. I don't expect to be able to always have a short notice appointment, great if available but not worth the hassle. In the time you spent trying to sort out the Dr's appointment you could well have been seen at a+e our local a+e see children with breathing issues as a priority.

Of course YWNBU (as long as you truly didn't shout or get aggressive).

You won't get much sympathy on mn though; GPs receptionists are saints

From what you say it's pretty clear that she forgot to call you and lied about it. Of course you didn't miss the calls. She knows she fucked up and the threats of the police were to get rid of you.

I heard a similar thing in Tesco the other week - a lady complaining to customer service. They were clearly in the wrong, she was asking to see the manager, the assistant obvs didn't want that so she threatened to call security because the woman was shouting. She hadn't raised her voice at all!

Yes you should complain. The receptionist did not do her job properly and she needs some kind of training so she can.

I was worried about DH this week, I phoned the surgery and the receptionist was very reassuring, told me she would get a Gp to ring me ASAP. Within 5 mins a dr was on the phone giving me advice and reassurance. That's what I call good service and there's no reason why every surgery can't be the same.

"many are rude, aggressive and aggravate situations unnecessarily... mothers in particular seem to bear the brunt" - that is so shocking, but so evidently true. Presumably because kids are such demanding consumers.

I have certainly seen the unnecessary aggravation of situations - receptionists must be treated very badly by their own employers to need so desperately to cover their backs and do the poor me routines.