To complain to doctors about chugger

[Doodlekitty]

Hi all.
Took my lb to docs thus morning. Waiting room was rammed and people were queuing for flu jabs. There was a woman there from Marie Curie going round people in waiting room to tell them about all of the good Marie Curie does in our area. She was then explaining this could not happen without support and trying to get them to sign up for a direct debit.

To be fair she was not giving it the hard sell but it felt very much like emotional blackmail in a place where people are very likely to be vulnerable. If I didn't love my doctor this would make me consider changing. Aibu to write an email of complaint about this being permitted?

Over tried..chugger is the correct term.

I'm a GP. We'd never allow this. Please do complain - I think it's likely they didn't know what she would be doing and it was sold to the surgery as an awareness raising stand. I would be amazed if she was given permission to solicit donations.

Complain. Big time.

She's targeting ill people because she thinks they'll be more of a pushover. Disgusting.

I can only imagine how this would have made me feel, waiting to talk to my doctor about my depression and anxiety following the death of my mum to cancer.

YANBU. At all. And I hugely support MC and have raised thousands for them in Mum's memory.

Charity Mugger is the occupation, it's not offensive.

You say 'chugger' the same way you'd say 'sales assistant' or 'nurse'. It's not offensive.

How else can you describe a job where you badger/guilt trip people for their bank details?

Maybe it overtired thought it was offensive to muggers?

Did this happen in a GP surgery in the UK??

Would never be allowed in our surgery, ever.

We have various collection boxes for the staff in the staff kitchen. That's it. Bloody hell

Complain. Absolutely complain. Marie Curie does sterling work, but chugging in packed waiting rooms is outrageously inappropriate IMO.

Bloody hell, that's a bit close to home for anybody in the waiting room who's having to deal with cancer

I support the work Marie Curie do as my first dh was in one of their hospices, but I'd have been pretty upset if I'd visited the doctors and been faced with a chugger whilst he was ill.

It's like a bad joke from some dreadful sitcom

plenty of people are terrified when visiting gp. Not appropriate for direct debit signups at all.

As well as complaining to the GP surgery, I would complain to Marie Curie

Whilst I would agree that Marie Curie is an extremely worthy cause, and I have given money to them in the past, having a chugger resident in a doctors waiting room is breathtakingly badly thought out. I would complain to your doctors and to Marie Curie (because god knows how many other surgeries they're doing this in!).

It's bad enough when they stick chuggers at the exit doors of shops, but at least if they're there then they're not targeting the vulnerable.

Uuuf, there was a radio programme last week about vulnerable people who had fallen into the clutches of these charities. Some were seeing over half their income go out in direct debits.

Exactly the same thing was haappening in my local hospital outpatients two weeks ago.

When I left I mentioned it to staff and they were shocked and the person told to leave. Staff were told it was an information stand with someone giving out information/answering questions just forgot to mention the direct debit forms

No one else had mentioned it!! Please phone the gp surgery first thing and tell them. I'm sure it will be same sort of 'misunderstanding' [anger] and contact Marie Curie as well.

A donation box or book sale that people can choose to contribute to if they wish is appropriate for a waiting room, someone directly approaching patients who may be vulnerable and can't leave and asking them to set up a direct debit definitely isn't. A lot of people have anxiety about visiting the doctors and being confronted with this could make it worse. The waiting room should be a safe, relaxing space.

Complain, this seems very wrong.

I think this is absolutely disgusting and totally inappropriate. I would complain if this were to happen at my gp practice.

Bad enough avoiding them in the bloody high Street! Last one that approached me got a serious frown followed by a clear 'don't even think about it!' I hate them!

Totally agree it's inappropriate, and I would definitely complain.

I do wonder, as others have, whether the surgery actually knew about the chugging, or whether they'd just given permission for an information stand, which wouldn't be too bad.

At best, you're trapped in a waiting room and have to deal with the awkwardness of saying no without being able to walk away and do something else.

At worst, it's exploiting people with emotional blackmail in a place where they aren't in an easy position to say no.

Also, if people are sick, her going person to person is only aiding the process of hitchhiking germs.

So, I complained and the response is basically "Marie Curie do good work, people can say no". Not happy but not much more I can do

Yanbu, it's really not the place to be targeting people. Does that lady have no shame, it may be her job but how awful to be approaching people who are not feeling well trying to guilt them into this.

I'd kick off.

People can say no is a cop out. Financial abuse of the vulnerable. Complain to CQC? Would some be put off accessing services?

Disgraceful, definitely complain. I've had cancer and for many months my visits to the GP were because I was struggling to cope with it all. This would have tipped me over the edge and I'd have broken down in front of everyone. GP waiting rooms are full of vulnerable people.

So I'm there right now for baby vacs and woman does not seem to be here but this is...

Image fail...

Well it should have been a board offering lottery tickets for £1 to win 2000. Apparently it helps fund a nurse every week