Diagnosed by a Receptionist?

[Hummingbird46]

I have read a few of the comments regarding this issue of having to speak to the Doctor's receptionists about my systems in order to have an appointment. I feel very offended about this action especially as I am not one for seeing a doctor at the worst of times. And my last experienced I told the receptionist that I'd come out in a load of what looks like boils over most parts of my body and that I thought I might have measles I was told it was probably a allergy to something I'd eaten and I could attend a walk in clinic about 3 miles away. Hence I covered myself in calamine lotion and vaseline and stayed in only to find out that i had passed on Chicken pox to my grandchild. And now I have a more serious problem that I've been plagued with for years that ceased a year ago. and as come back which I needed to get a referral to see the specialist again. But I do not want to make that phone call that will lead me to either get rude or offended.

The first available appointment after 5.30pm. It really isn't a hard phrase to understand and I probably did say it wasn't urgent as part of my little script as you call it. Did you mean to be so rude or is it because you are a Dr's receptionist?

The rudest people always accuse the receptionist of rudeness IME.

Knickers sounds seriously professional and polite.

Last time I booked I was asked why. Fucking annoyed me.

Sweetcorn thank you. From one to another.

You asked ontheroses! I wasn't trying to be rude! Clearly you are!

Thank you Lou

I have a chronic health condition which means frequent visits to doctors and hospitals. I am shocked at how rude people are to the receptionists, nurses and other health professionals who are doing their best to help.

The receptionists are just doing their job of making sure the most urgent patients are seen straight away.

I thought them asking questions was to try to determine if you need a same day appointment - not to actually diagnose and treat you . Mine have been fine up to now, I told them the symptoms, the last 2 were chest infection and kidney infection, I got an appointment that day with the doctor.
Rang for DH who wanted tests for suspected diabetes, that was not needing a same day appointment so he got an appointment the following week.

I am very fortunate that the receptionists in my (rather rural) medical practice are lovely. But yes with it being a small-ish low population areas, everyone knows everyone; so if I had a problem with my vaggyfanj, I would just say I have a rash under my armpits. I don't think they would say anything, but I wouldn't take the risk.

You could say something similar to what you have to avoid embarrassment ... Sometimes they ask (I think,) because often, the issue can be dealt with by a nurse.

I do understand some people may be embarrassed to say anything, but if you are that person, just make something up that's similar.

If it's embarrassing (like a man who has ED,) then just say you need to talk to the doc about a pain in your tummy - anything.

I agree with sparkly too, that some medical receptionists takes some shit, and people are quite abusive and nasty to them. Oddly, the ones I speak to say the most likely to be rude and nasty are the over 60's.

Maybe that's why some of them come across as a bit abrupt. It's probably a defence mechanism.

It does annoy me slightly when they ask however i understand why they do.

At my GPs some things a nurse can do, sometimes only certain nurses will deal with certain things, sometimes a GP isnt needed and a Nurse Practioner will do and you can get seen quicker, sometimes a double appointment is needed.

We have a list of things the nurse can see you for, receptionist just asks if it's anything on the list. They also have 'sit and wait' surgery (walk in gave people too high expectations...) for urgent appts every morning.

For NHS it's great.

I did this job, wouldn't do it again for a lottery win! Before I left we started the triage and got so many smarmy comments about pulling medical qualifications out of a cracker/my arse that we started telling people that we were required to ask by the practice management before we even asked the question. Made no difference, some people just think they're funny I suppose.
We had a checklist purely to put people in with the right hcp - that was it. We were bound by patient confidentiality and tried to remain as professional as possible - even when being called a bitch and being physically threatened (which I was).
Some receptionists are shit, I worked with one who was an absolute cow and we did our best to keep her off the phones but most are just doing their jobs as they're told to so they can get to the end of the shift and get paid.
It can be a good job, most days I felt like I'd helped people but some days I felt like just not going back.
If anyone has an issue with the triage system they need to speak to the practice manager, bitching about or to the receptionist isn't going to get you anything except maybe the satisfaction of making someone's day a little bit shit for just doing their job.

Do the receptionists ever feed back to the GPs.

Shall I conclude that GPs are sh1t in the context of customer service. They are of course self employed and perhaps the poor desk service is profit related.

No we don't feed back to the GPs, we don't send a constant stream of tasks and requests that need to be done that day and GPs hire us because they are self employed guns for hire who don't see up to 40 patients in one day, plus referrals, plus prescriptions, plus palliative care meetings, plus home visits plus phone calls because all they care about is profit and really don't give a shit who's on reception. That's why they choose us. Because GPs see you as customers not patients. Is that what you want think?

"See if you last a day without being rude to a patient" NEVER ANY EXCUSE for this if you can't manage it leave the job!

As a nurse I've been shouted at, sworn at, spat/vomited/peed/poohed on, pushed, grabbed, cornered, still wasn't rude to patient!

In terms of patients being frustrated at lack of appointments - that's part of your job to deal with that and feed back that frustration to the gps. ANYONE working in a customer facing roles has to deal with irate customers. You're representing the business (and GP surgeries ARE a business). Don't like it? Leave the job!

"I couldn't care less about what your problem is" seriously leave. The. Job

"Sometimes I wonder why I still stay at this job" so don't.

"all things that would waste an appointment" in your NOT MEDICALLY TRAINED opinion

"It's also shocking how many patients come in 2-3-4 times a week to see their doctor, just to chat" and now you're looking down your nose at the lonely/mentally ill! Delightful! Btw the mentally ill (of which I am one ALSO DESERVE CARE)

PLEASE don't do this job any more you're clearly unsuited to it.

Here - massive problems with confidentiality (county wide, numerous reports, currently under investigation with lots of retraining taking place).

Only 1 'ailment' per appointment THAT ridiculous rule is why my dds disability went undiagnosed for years.

Not medically trained graphista but do you need to be medically trained to know running out of a script is not worthy of an emergency apt, the script desk will do that. If you think you've broken your foot do you need to be medically trained to know you need to go to a&e? Do you need to be medically trained to know you can not have an emergency apt because you haven't asked for your sick note in time? Or if you want your b12 injection you need to see the nurse not the gp, ditto your copd check up, diabetes check up, what if you want a coil fitted? How can a receptionist possibly put patients in the right apt if the patients don't tell them?

Receptionists do have training though. Not to diagnose but BASIC triage in who to refer/book the patient in with. Many of them are very experienced. They aren't just people off the street. They do need to know what your symptoms are so they can pass you on to the correct person. They will keep it confidential. They have a really difficult, often thankless job and will experience a lot of abuse from patients.

" running out of a script is not worthy of an emergency apt" yes actually. If you were medically trained you would know there are MANY medications (eg diabetic meds, heart meds, kidney disease meds) that if a patient doesn't have can lead to hospitalisation/serious illness/death.

Exactly campfire, lots of training and if they get it wrong they will get their arses handed to them by the partners. They literally can not do right for doing wrong.

They are doing their job, no need to be rude or tell lies. If you don't want to say why then you can just say ' personal' although in my experience this means you will wait till last because if the gp sees ' cough for 3 weeks' or ' personal' they are going to leave personal till the end.

Graphista - are you deliberately misunderstanding? I clearly said the script desk will sort it for you, so no you don't need to take up an emergency apt for that.

I'm in NI and my GP has a phone triage system that works 90% of the time. I'm lucky enough that they know me from my work placement there and I generally ring for the same problem so it's a 30 second call where I tell the Dr which antibiotics I need prescribed. I swiched from my previous surgery because the receptionist was so rude (and I put in a complaint about her when the practice manager rang to ask why I was switching)

Well you said a prescription issue doesn't need an emergency appt sometimes it does and I wouldn't expect a receptionist to know this. But I also would expect them to accept that the dr/patient does.

How do patients get through to script desk? Who works on the script desk?

Because I'm guessing receptionist decides if they're put through and how urgently which I'm not entirely comfortable with.

I'm also guessing script desk not staffed by Drs.

Graphista -

The 'see if you last a day in my job without being rude to patients'
You've misunderstood me.. what I meant is..
When I come home upset because a patient has personally insulted me or threatened me and I speak to my family about it (obviously not including any patient identifiable information since that's confidential!) their response is generally.. well why didn't you answer back to the patient, why didn't you tell them to sod off. They can't understand why I wouldn't stick up for myself.
Sadly it's a multiple times a day, tens of patients that are rude when they don't get what they want and take it out on us.
Yet I still understand that they come to the surgery because they are poorly/ feel they need to be seen and try to sympathise. I have to be polite. I just dont think half these people on this thread spitting comments about awful doctors receptionists would honestly last a day without answering back to rude patients. THATS what my original comment meant.

Your 'deal with the lack of appts and feedback to the GPs that's your job'
What do you want me to say to them? Oh yes.. I've had 30 patients angry with me today for the lack of appointments, can you please Magic up another doctor or just work 24/7 to free up some more appointments to make sure Graphista can have an appointment when she needs one?

The 'I couldn't care less what your problem is' again your misunderstanding - it doesn't mean I don't actually care, trust me I go to bed sometimes thinking about some of our poor patients - what was meant was I'm not asking what you need to be seen for to be nosey, we're told we have to ask.

The comment about NOT in my medically trained opinion... who do you think give us the guidelines to signpost the appointments? Medically trained doctors.. we don't just make the rules up as we go along!
We also undergo lots of training courses that help with signposting appointments.

Someone that has run out of a repeat prescription is NOT a medical emergency appointment... the doctors at our practice have given us a list of 'urgent on the day scripts' that if patients have run out of then the script desk (where I sit actually) has to get it done on the day for them. Anything else is the routine 3 working days for a prescription. Certainly not an appointment.

I'm sorry to hear about your DDs disability, it sounds like an issue with your GP though rather than the reception team.

On a whole I love my job, I love the team I work with, it's just frustrating hearing so many moans about doctors receptionists over what we're actually told to do by the doctors on top of the stream of angry patients we have to deal with on a day to day basis.