To really despise Drs receptionists asking why I want an appointment?

[ShapelyBingoWing]

I've been trying to get an appointment at my surgery all week. If I'd booked in on Monday, I'd have been waiting until a week on Friday to be seen, so the receptionist that day said to call at 8 in the morning for an appointment that gets released on the day.

By the time I've gotten through every single day, all the appointments have been gone. But after telling me that, I've been asked each day what I need the appointment for as though an appointment can be found if they deem my issue serious enough. And every day they've tutted at me down the phone when I've explained I'd rather not say.

I've finally got an appointment with my practice nurse today after she triaged me and agreed I needed seeing.

I get that receptionists need to prioritise, I really do, but I feel very strongly that they're not trained to prioritise based on very little medical information. And tutting down the phone is a fairly reasonable marker that they're not particularly good at the job they are trained to do. AIBU? Or just a grumpy sod?

I think I just wanted a moan.

[Lucysky2017]

I have only need the GP once in 15 years (do I get a refund on all the tax I pay)..... but I recently booked an appointment for my teenager who was too embarrassed - sore bottom and he wanted a male doctor. Receptionist was lovely, didn't even ask me why although I've no problem talking about bottoms and she found an appointment the same day. It was amazing service for something not very urgent. We are very lucky indeed. My son made an appoint there recently for something else and he finds going down to ask for an appointment tends to be easier than calling as it's near our local shops anyway so he's often in the area.

There are a load of NHS time wasters around. I was telling my son about a GPs which has hired a talker lady who old people can book with just to talk as so many of them come down once a week with nothing much wrong but just want a natter. It's working well. It was on that medical programme on R4.

[ethelfleda]

Sorry if this has been said (haven't RTFT) but I would imagine it is to stop time wasters! There are morons out there who will go to a doctor for a stomach bug or flu when they clearly shouldn't. People who think they need to see doctor when pregnant to confirm... only to be told they can self refer to MW... and probably plenty of patients who could speak to a pharmacist or ring 111! And it is those people who are probably taking all of the appointments which is why you can't get in...
My first port of call for a lot of things is to call 111. I find them to be very helpful and if they think you need to visit your GP then they will suggest it. They never have and I've always managed whatever problem I've had just by following their advice.
I wouldn't blame the receptionists - blame people who waste NHS resources without a second thought!!

[Fozzleyplum]

As pps have said, receptionists ask so that they can prioritise genuine emergencies. I am asthmatic and occasionally deteriorate very quickly, so that I need a swift dose of steroids to keep me out of hospital. I never have to wait until the next day for an appointment when that is the problem.

I don't think the solution is to ask the patient if it's an urgent matter, as that is open to abuse. Bearing in mind the number of threads I see on here where posters complain about nosey receptionists, I think surgeries should publicise on their websites and at their receptions, why they ask about the nature of the problem. And OP, I agree that tutting is out of order. The receptionists should be trained to be upfront about why they ask.

[Jedimum1]

I get what you mean!
Have you got the option to book telephone appointments? I've done that when it was not really necessary to seeme (like a chronic issue, or flu, or queries about kids' medication, etc). They keep some very short same-day telephone appointments for after 1:30pm, at least around where I live. Sometimes it's easier if it's a known issue

[ShapelyBingoWing]

I book phone appointments where I can Jed...I find I'm done in a matter of 2 minutes when I do!

[grandmainmypocket]

They shouldn't be tutting at you but they get many like you who make their job harder.
I appreciate that may not have been your intention. They are given guidelines as to which types of situations a patient might need to be seen.

I really do feel for receptionists and the job they do.

[PacificDogwod]

Please bear in mind that reception staff will say what they have been told to say by the GP partners.

Please bear in mind that they may be answering lots and lots of calls (we do about 150 in the first hour).

Please bear in mind that they are trying to allocate you to the most appropriate person - it is not diagnosing you.

It is entirely fine to answer 'it's something personal', 'it's relating to my complicated past history', 'it needs to be dealt with today and by somebody who knows my complicated history' or anything like that.
They are not trying to take a history. 'Sore throat' or 'back pain' is obviously easy to say and easy to understand, and 'genital warts' not so much, or 'I think my MS is flaring' etc etc.
The question is just a Starter for 10.

And "despise"?? Really?

In our health board area 40% of GP posts are not filled. The service has no choice but to triage, signpost, reduce what it is safely able to do. Nobody working like this likes it either.
And receptionists and nurses and doctors are also patients somewhere...

[sumsumsum]

"I always feel like a criminal for asking to see a Dr"

That's exactly it. MNers go on about how lucky we are to have this marvellous free service, but actually we have paid for it, in our NI contributions. It's not charity, in actual fact. Seeing a doctor isn't a favour we should be made to beg and crawl for.

[Tiredtomybones]

Our receptionists are lovely and are always helpful. They don't ask what appointments are for, but on the couple of occasions there has been nothing available for DS, when I've volunteered it's because of his asthma, they've always found us a slot, even if it means waiting at the end of the day for whichever GP can squeeze us in. I'm always grateful for their help. My parents have an altogether different experience at their GP so I understand the frustration people feel.

[IncyWincyGrownUp]

I really like our triage system. You call and ask for a callback, there's no interrogation at all, you're added to the list and the duty GP calls you back within 2 hours to triage and will book appointments as needed, issue a prescription if warranted, or signpost you to where you need to be.

Appointments for ongoing treatment can be made as you leave the surgery, as long as it's within the time frame allowed by the software. If it isn't the GP will make notes in their own diaries, and will activate the appointment making process as send a letter/text to notify you.

[ShapelyBingoWing]

Yes pacific, despise. Because honestly, regardless of whether they've been asked to do this by the GPs, unless your complaint is fairly straightforward they simply do not have the training to prioritise based on your medical needs.

I'm not coming at this annoyance from a place of zero knowledge. I've seen first hand many of the difficulties faced by our health service. But I've also seen places where people are expected to do tasks beyond their level of competency. It happens and it happens frequently.

So I very much am bearing these things in mind. And if I hadn't been tutted at 4 days in a row, I wouldn't have thought the situation was a reflection on the receptionist in question. But frankly, in a customer facing role consistent rudeness is piss poor.

[nocoolnamesleft]

I've been in the position of ringing at 8 and no appointments left. But when the receptionist asked why I needed seeing, I told her. It was, very obviously, something that would be sortable by the GP that day, but which if delayed more than a day or two would more than likely land me in A&E. They passed the message on to the duty doctor, and added me to the emergency appointment list as an extra.

If I'd just refused to tell them what it was about, I wouldn't have been sorted.

[Cinderllaspinkdresswasthebest]

I'm a Consultant's secretary. Whilst not quite the same as a GP receptionist it is absolutely part of my job role to triage patients. No, I'm not a qualified doctor but I patam trained in the protocol of non-urgent/urgent in our speciality and which patients need a one-stop clinic appointment. My consultant has more important things to do and relies on me to manage his time and workload.

Most of my patients are dealing with cancer - I've not once (14 years as an NHS consultant secretary) had a patient question my advice - the opposite is the reality as in I have to tell the patient's I'm not medically qualified so can't advise.

[Cinderllaspinkdresswasthebest]

Oh, and absolutely complain if you feel the receptionist was unprofessional and tutted - bang out of order.

[ChristmasFluff]

Tell them. I am a physio, but I never tell NHS staff that. I phoned my GP describing (genuine) symptoms of a stroke. They got me there within and hour and after examining me, offered to call an ambulance. I took a taxi, and it was a functional illness - but that doesn't decry from the efficiency of their triage.

[PacificDogwod]

Yes, tutting is never likely to diffuse any situation - v unprofessional.

Please pass your frustration and your concern on the practice manager - there may be training needs, there may be a need to look at how they organise appointments.
There are ways to engage with a GP practice to help affect change that are not necessarily a formal complaint, although by all means go down the formal route if you want.

Of course reception staff are not competent to make clinical decisions, that is not what I was implying. They are absolutely required to ask what the nature of the complaint is - we will simply have to agree to disagree on that one.

[ElizabethShaw]

So wait, you've called 4 days in a row now but are still refusing to give any details so can't get an appointment? What a waste of everyone's time

Why don't you explain why you need the appointment urgently, say you have a complex medical history and ask for a doctor or nurse to call you back? Then the receptionist can pass your request to the gp who understands your complex history.

[TeamCersei]

So saying out loud what the problem is causes concern?!? Do none of you realize they have full and unrestricted access to your medical records?

It's the fact that other people in the queue, or in the waiting room might hear is the problem.
Surely that's obvious?
I (and I presume most other posters) don't give a toss about the receptionist knowing.
We don't want other people (people we might know) knowing our (in some cases intimate) medical details.

[grannytomine]

It is great that it works for some but you can't say the system is working when a receptionist tells someone who wants an appointment to review their diabetes med that they don't need an appointment for 12 months. When my husband saw the GP he agreed it wasn't right, my husband rarely sees a doctor but he knew there was a problem, mainly due to his test results but also because of how he was feeling. Who knows what would have happened it he had left it 12 months, he would almost certainly have been an emergency admission to hospital in a matter of days.

Triage should be done be suitably qualified people and if it is done by secretaries and receptionists they need to understand their own limitations.

[grannytomine]

When my DD was a baby she developed a bad chest infection. I had been at work all day and when I picked her up I was concerned and phoned GP and receptionist said I couldn't have an appointment. I said I was OK to come down at end of surgery and wait and she said no that wasn't possible. I said that it was fine but could she just warn the on call doctor that I would probably have to call him by 10 pm or 11 pm so probably not worth him having an early night. She put me on hold and obviously spoke to doctor and then told me to come down at the end of surgery and I would be seen when doctor could fit me in.

I went in to a stony faced, very unfriendly doctor who listened to my daughter's chest and then turned to me and apologised and said I had done exactly the right thing.

Sometimes the patient, or their mother, really does know best.

[Ratonastick]

I'm afraid I've told this one before, but it bears retelling as it goes right to the heart of why people are nervous when speaking to receptionists.

I was once in the waiting room an overheard 2 receptionists discussing another patient at length. That patient was someone I worked with. He had suffered an horrific and very sudden health issue that he was keeping confidential in the workplace but I knew about it legitimately because of my role. The receptionists were discussing the issue in detail and using his name in front of a room full of people in a very small town. I mentioned it to my doctor during my own appointment who said he would deal with it.

Anyway, the next time I called for an appointment, I gave my name on the phone and overheard someone in the background say something about me being the one who grassed on them. And guess what, I couldn't get an appointment for 6 weeks. Same thing happened the next time, and then my consultant referral got lost. I've changed practice now.

I don't think that GPs or Practice Managers have any idea if the power that their receptionists wield over patients or how easy it is for them to use it. That is why I am very circumspect in my dealings with them.

[AnneElliott]

YANBU op. This is a bug bear of mine. And I used to be a GPs receptionist! Funny that I never had difficult patients - mainly as I did my job properly and left the diagnosing to the Dr.

[grannytomine]

Ratonastick that is terrible and illustrates the problem really well.