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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Tell me about your doctor's receptionists good or bad?

55 replies

mummyrabbitpeppapig · 25/08/2017 10:47

This happened to me this morning:
( speaking to Dr reception) hello I missed the callback from the doctor can you ask them to ring me back again please? ( Reply) which Dr rang you?. ( me ) I don't know - I missed the call - (receptionist )- well do you know if it was a man or a lady?

OP posts:
OohLookASquirrel · 25/08/2017 12:34

Cauliflower that was complexity lost on me at 8am this morning!!

Next time:
Me: Good Morning twatty pants receptionist. MAY I make an appointment to see the doctor please?!

Knob!

OohLookASquirrel · 25/08/2017 12:34

Completely

CauliflowerSqueeze · 25/08/2017 12:38

ooh look - yes that's the one!!

Avonandice · 25/08/2017 12:46

My mums are amazing, If I could be with her practise I would. Ours on the other hand is run by the acid dragon. She is in charge of appointments and you virtually need to die in front of her to see the doctor. Last time I was trying to make an appointment to see the doc with a chest infection she couldn't possibly fit me in for three weeks even though we are supposed to ring on the day to make the appointment. I ended up at the OOH curled up in a heap at the desk with coughing fits and followed up with gasping like a fish out of water.
I ended up as an emergency hospital admittance with pneumonia and pleurisy.

Daffodils07 · 25/08/2017 13:03

My asd son a few years ago had a really bad asthma attack.
The gp receptionist got him him asap, the doctor had to call an ambulance for him and I had my two year old dd with me who was getting a bit of a handful.
The receptionist took my dd and gave her biscuits and even looked after her until my husband could get her.
Amazing woman, and this isnt a one off she goes above and beyond .

BayLeaves · 25/08/2017 13:04

I do think it's dangerous when receptionists are allowed to triage patients. My grandmother is in her 70s but quite frail and in fairly poor health, recently one of her front teeth randomly fell out and she was told by a receptionist that she couldn't have an out-of-hours appointment. This receptionist claimed that unless she was awake all night in pain, it wasn't a dental emergency. This is despite her informing the receptionist that she had been hospitalised with pneumonia fairly recently and it would be risky for her to get any more infections. It made me so angry, if a vulnerable person's front tooth falling out isn't a dental emergency then what the hell is?! Sad

SelfObsessionHoney · 25/08/2017 13:09

One of our receptionists held me together on the phone when I rang when Id started bleeding during pregnancy, another receptionist spoke to a GP who arranged the referral to the EPU. She was just brilliant. Brilliant.

Anon8604 · 25/08/2017 13:10

I don't really care about rudeness etc, but I was appalled once when the doctors had messed up my repeat prescription and the receptionist suggested I either "go to out of hours, or just skip the next couple of doses." She had no idea what the medication was for, evidently, as skipping a couple of doses might have landed me in hospital. Looking back I wish I'd made a proper complaint and asked that she was given training to ensure she didn't give dangerous advice like that again.

sorerandsorer · 25/08/2017 13:18

All absolutely wonderful, very friendly and professional. I'm changing surgery soon (moving house) and have filled a big bag of sweets and chocolates for them to share.

tobee · 25/08/2017 13:43

Mine are good! Seems to be easy to make an appointment. Once I forgot to fill in a vital bit of a form at the reception desk, I walked out and the receptionist came running up the street to ask me. Another time I got rung up by receptionist who said they'd been notified of a faulty test I'd had a couple of days before and spoke in a cheery tone and double checked that I was happy it was a faulty test and not a bad result. (I've had health anxiety in the past).

Original poster
mummyrabbitpeppapig · 25/08/2017 23:25

Mine closes every day for two hours for lunch and also closed Wednesday afternoons

OP posts:
BringMeTea · 25/08/2017 23:28

Mine are lovely. No slatted 'keep the plebs away' glass either. It's a relaxed vibe.

BackforGood · 25/08/2017 23:32

Ours are wonderful too. Incredibly patient with some rude folk, some impatient folk, and many confused folk.

Sayyouwill · 25/08/2017 23:32

Hate the bitch.

Rang up in tears when I was cramping at 8 weeks pregnant and she didn't believe I was pregnant! Said it sounded like indigestion. I had to point out that the Drs at that surgery were the ones who confirmed it and I had scans to back me up

Wolfiefan · 25/08/2017 23:40

My idiot DH packed his pills in hold luggage. You guessed it. That case was lost. Thankfully on the way home. He called the surgery from the airport just before they shut. The receptionist spoke to a GP and arranged a repeat to be waiting for us as the surgery at 8am the next day (we couldn't collect sooner as we had to drive from the airport!)
They were courteous and kind and really helped us out. Today I went in and thanked them. Made a stressful situation much better. And they didn't even tell him he had been a twat either. I did though! Grin

BabsGanoush · 26/08/2017 00:52

On the whole I do think most reception staff are ok. Ours seem well trained, and it's part of their job to assess who the most appropriate person is to see you.

Bayleaves were you making a dental appt or a GP appt for your grandmother? Our GP practice won't deal with anything dental.

GetOutOfMYGarden · 26/08/2017 00:55

Mine is great. She's probably in her late 70s by now, but by god she'll get me in quickly if I need to go in. Pretty sure she used to be a nurse.

Ankleswingers · 26/08/2017 01:00

Ours are ok, except for one, who is an absolute nasty bitch. Unhelpful, rude, obnoxious and a fucking arse.

I have had cross words with the bitch a few times and a full blown argument once. Even when I ring to get emergency appointments for my DC, she just says no there aren't any every.fucking.time. Without even trying to help at all.

Last time I spoke to her and she told me I couldn't see a dr, DS ended up in hospital with breathing problems. He is Asthmatic.

She is a total and utter fucking jobsworth.

IvorHughJarrs · 26/08/2017 01:03

Ours are great, friendly helpful and efficient

StupidSlimyGit · 26/08/2017 01:03

I've had loads of poor experiences but two good ones really stand out in my mind.
A few weeks after DD1s funeral I went in to ask if they had the number for SANDS (been waiting almost two months for mh team support and wasn't coping) it was close to closing time and she didn't know what SANDS stood for. I broke down halfway through explaining at which point she dat me down somewhere quiet with a glass of water and found a doctor who would see me that evening. I honestly think she may have saved my life.
More recently since moving cities and while pregnant with DD2 I had a bleed at work. I was only 8 weeks so midwives wouldn't see me and I hadn't had my booking appointment yet so couldn't go to hospital and I didn't know what to do. Phoned the doctors and explained to the receptionist who emailed through to a doctor to call me as soon as she finished with her patient. I phoned back half hour later because I hadn't heard anything (you can imagine the state I was in) and she went and stood outside my GPs door till her appointment was finished, talking to me the whole time, then handed her the phone as the patient left. She even sat me somewhere quiet when I arrived and rushed me into the GP quick when I was told to go in and be checked so I didn't have to sit in a waiting room full of kids. Thankfully everything turned out to be fine and it was caused by something else but her caring and support made so much of a difference to me right then.

BlessYourCottonSocks · 26/08/2017 01:07

Ours are fab. But I live in a pretty rural area and everyone knows each other! I went to school with one of them - so she's known me for the last 40 odd years at least. It's a small and friendly area and I like that. Have no issues with saying, 'I've got thrush, who do I need to see?' or whatever it is.

LittleGreyCatwithapinkcollar · 26/08/2017 01:08

Wonderful. Know me and my children by name. Ask after me when DH pops in (we're both 'frequent flyers' at the gp of late unfortunately). No over the phone triage and almost always able to get same day appts. Do things like print test results and leave them behind reception in case I need a copy to take to hospital appts. Need to move house for many reasons - this is the one factor making me waver!

BlessYourCottonSocks · 26/08/2017 01:09

Stupid I cross posted that with you - so sorry about your DD. Flowers

timeistight · 26/08/2017 01:13

I'm six weeks into trying to get online access. No problems getting appointments, but their admin is terrible. They are supposed to give this online access by law since 2015, but only one person on the team is trained in it. Four phone calls ad three visits to the surgery so far.

BoggleHole · 26/08/2017 02:50

About 6 or 7 years ago I had to make an emergency appointment to see my doctor. When I got there the receptionist said she couldn't find me on the system and proceeded to ask me if I had come to the right doctors surgery? (As if I wouldn't know where my own GP was located, having registered there & visited quite a few times before.)

She then asked me who I saw last. There was a doctor stood by the desk and I thought it might have been him that I saw, but obviously I couldn't just point and say "him" - apart from that being extremely rude, I wasn't 100% sure it was the same person, having only seen him once before almost a year previously. But the horror, I couldn't remember what his name was either, so I had a guess and almost got it right. The Receptionist replied snottily "That's doctor (correct pronunciation) right there!" He smiled sympathetically.

Eventually she asked me the spelling of my surname and found me on the computer immediately - but the fact she couldn't spell my common surname and failed to ask that question before was entirely my fault. I'm still not sure what her end game was. I think she did it to humiliate me because my doctor was present. I didn't react to her I just remained polite the entire time.

That wasn't the only time she was rude to me, but that's the one that sticks in my mind. I saw her treat other patients just as badly while I was waiting for appointments. Not long after that exchange the surgery sent out one of those NHS questionnaires. I noticed the next time I went after the questionnaire that she had been moved to the back desk and no longer dealt directly with patients. Another few months go by and she had gone completely - lets just say she wasn't old enough to retire.