Fucking GP receptionists

[Eliza9917]

Aibu to think they must train them to be as rude, unhelpful and patronising as possible???

Just left the GP's and I feel like caving the fucking receptionists smug cunting face in.

Yes that's probably an overreaction but they fucking wind me up on a par with dealing with the fucking council.

Neat I agree. I understand they have to ask what the appointment is for so they can direct you to the right service but in my two examples they heard it and decided 'nope'. Both times resulted in me being in and staying in hospital. I think if they don't know they should say they need to pass you to someone who does.

Without any detail it is impossible to know if you are BU. What was it the receptionist did that was rude?

Ours are lovely. Helpful and polite. Always smiling and can't do enough for patients.

I'm a GP receptionist. I try to be as helpful as I can. I'm not rude to anyone, no matter how rude people are to me.

I can’t imagine why they would treat you with contempt, you seem really polite 😎

I'm put off every going to see my GP because of the receptionists.

Some of the ones at my surgery are awful.. I actually get anxiety at the thought of having to call in, and often don’t when I really should. That being said I would never threaten physical violence. Although I get that the op is just venting and probably wouldn’t say those things irl.

Just to say sainsburys don't have own branded pharmacies they're all owned by Lloyd's pharmacy.

I've had awful ones but current one is bloody brilliant. She knows our names even though they have loads of patients and I don't go loads, knows teen is at school further away so can only do late, sorts prescriptions straight away if needed urgently and has sorted loads out for me to save an appointment if its not been needed but I've needed something. She's great!

I hate the way all GP receptionists are tarred with the same brush. Some are absolutely lovely. And they all have to deal with rude, aggressive idiots day in and day out.

Mine are lovely ...seriously tough job, not paid masses, and looking after people like us!

Do you know who makes the rules about appointments at GP surgeries? The GP's. So if you are having issues try speaking to one of them or the Practice Manager. Receptionists do not get paid anywhere near enough to be spoken to in the way we are.

If there were enough GP appointments to go round then we would gladly give you appointments, that there are is not our fault, we are just the unfortunate person you have to speak to on the other end of the phone/at the desk.

I find a lot of people come in almost prepared to go into battle with us, and are rude from the off, which really doesn't help anyone. We /are/ human as well, despite you assuming we are all witches without giving us a fair chance.

There is one at my surgery who is dreadful, the way she speaks to people I find appalling, if I phone for an appointment and she asks what it is about I refuse to tell her because I have been sat in the surgery before & heard her answering the phones, she repeats the name of the person then repeats what is wrong with them so everyone can hear!!

On the other hand the others are all bloody lovely!

Just left the GP's and I feel like caving the fucking receptionists smug cunting face in

Did you mean to be so rude, OP?

If that's your attitude I wouldn't be going out of my way to help you.

Ours are really nice - friendly and always try their best to get you an appointment if you need it.

I wouldn't mind mine so much if they had a consistent idea of what the rules are.

It seems like whatever I do is wrong - even when I'm doing as instructed by another receptionist....

We have a couple of extremely rude receptionists who often get complaints on facebook.

I've never known them to be anything but pleasant and very patient. Makes me wonder if it actually is their behaviour or just that they can't live up to some peoples expectations?

Wonderful, helpful and friendly receptionists at my son's GPs.

Sorry you have had such terrible luck with yours.

Oh op, what a shame to have had such a bad experience when you sound so polite and understanding.

We have one who is amazing at ours. A genuinely nice helpful person. Always sympathetic, just brilliant.

The other one, frankly I wouldn't piss on if she was on fire. She told me I just had asthma and some people she speaks to have real illnesses (it was actually a very serious chest infection which was making me have an almost constant asthma attack, the several points weeks on antibiotics and further months on steroids were huge fun). I did put in a big complaint about that one. And then made an appointment with the senior doctor at the practice to have a chat when the response was 'oh, that's just Deborah*'. She was absolutely horrified and furious.

• Not sataninhumanforms real name.

Disclaimer - I'm sure most Deborah's are very lovely people I just picked a name at random!

Mine are monsters. I would rather google my symptoms and convince myself im dying than have to try and get an appointment!

God this has cracked me up, my mum and I ALWAYS talk about this after a GP visit!! Have been to numerous surgeries over the years, and the receptionists have been invariably deeply unpleasant. What irks me is they are working in an environment where they have to deal with potentially vulnerable people.

Most of ours are very long lads (well, they look very young to me...) and they're all lovely.

On the whole, though, booking everything online is so much simpler.

YOUNG, not long!

Ours are a bit of a mixed bag. Some good, some OK, some ...not so much. I am a polite person and am so regardless of the receptionist I speak to. They do not all treat me the same way, however.
I'm on the surgery's patient participation group, meeting about twice a year. At the last one we were told we would be moving to a telephone triage system, with all appointment requests passed to a junior doctor rostered on for that specific purpose (according to the practice manager).
It hasn't happened yet. And I'm not holding my breath.