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.

Ive had to call the police on patients more than once. We have big DO NOT ABUSE NHS STAFF posters everywhere now but that doesn’t stop people

Today I gave someone some standard information - yes we can see you for X but we do not offer Y service here - and then briefly explained why this was (legit reason). The patient became instantly defensive, rude, abrasive, difficult, accusatory - it is all so unnecessary. It isn’t my fault we don’t offer Y service so it made me feel like shit. I’m apologising to someone who is being very rude to me for something that isn’t my fault!

No GP’s tell the receptionists what they have to ask

I have an actual list for our service what we can and cannot do/treat. Most places do. Or the correct person for the job. If Nurse Bloggs has no training in asthma would you want an asthma check up? If you need a 10 min appt and get a 5 min one would you be happy about that?

Lady, I didn’t say they were an order. My issue was phoning and spending time to explain what had been requested and be told by the receptionist what was needed this was then booked. When I went along I was subsequently told I had booked the wrong thing! Er no, they did and we’re too rude to apologise.

If they don’t know go away and find out, even if it means a follow up call. I would much rather that than taking a day off and then have a wasted trip to then have to take another day off.

I think because of the perception of GP receptionists many people phone up when they are ill, having phoned 78 times in a row and are already in a bad mood. So when receptionist answers the phone, you are already grumpy and impatient and frustrated. The receptionist has spoken to 50 grumpy ill impatient people so far and is rushed off their feet with calls/desk/queries

I think some surgeries are not well run or well managed and this is down to the GP partners and the practice manager

I dread calling mine. I end up feeling apologetic for having the sheer audacity to ask for an appointment. I know they have a hard job but a bit of politeness wouldn't go amiss.

Utterly Confused111 well I'm glad I don't know you in rl. Making nasty assumptions about all Receptionists is downright disgusting and your superior attitude stinks.

I'm very well educated, not a school drop out and worked in a High Street bank for 20+ years thank you very much.

Our GPs receptionists are absolutely amazing and work miracles for getting you seen when you need it. I have no idea how they run the surgery but it needs to be rolled out nationwide because it works! DS is nearly 2 now but if I phoned for an appointment for him they’d still somehow manage to get him in within a few hours as he’s so young. I’ve got the wrong time for vaccinations and been squeezed in at the end of the clinic so I didn’t have to wait weeks for the next available slot. On one occasion I called in on the way home from work to make an appointment for the next available time, the receptionist took one look at me, asked who my GP was and disappeared for a minute, when she came back she said if I could wait half an hour my GP would see me before she went home for the day as I really didn’t look well. I wasn’t well, the GP prescribed me some antibiotics and I was better by the time I would have got an appointment in most surgeries.
I really must remember to take in a random thank you tin of biscuits or something.

Receptionist in my GP's is a nasty piece of work. Can't complain about her either as she's related to one of the GP's!

Ditto. I speak three languages fluently (ability to translate very useful in a GP surgery) and have 20 years experience in marketing and finance roles. I work in a GP practice because the hours fit around my young family, there is actually some sort of career progression and, believe it or not, I actually enjoy helping people --plus two of my GP friends thought I'd be good at it. Thankfully the vast majority of patients are pleasant, polite and understanding of the pressures we're under and we'll do the very best we can for them. For utter cockwombles like the OP, well...just bring it on.

UtterlyConfused.... as I said in my previous post, I'm a skilled, qualified, medical professional. I just decided to take a break from it and do reception work instead (I want to be around people, not on my own!).

So I've got a fair few more qualifications than 2 GCSES!

Reading through these are horrifying. What I don't understand, is how are these receptionists still in a job? 2 of the examples; a patient having her dosage lowered by the receptionist, and the one where the receptionist kept the phone off the hook - would see the receptionists dismissed IMMEDIATELY where I live. The first was would be medical malpractice if it was a doctor. A receptionist doing that should surely be illegal and grounds for instant dismissal. Likewise having the phone off the hook - surely that would be classed as dangerous, illegal and unprofessional? @Thesearepearls Did you show the GP the photo? Because the GP really needs to know that his frontline service - and that is what they are - frontline emergency in a way, are not doing the job they are paid to do and putting people's lives at risk?

What drives me nuts is when people try to make a comparison between the patients and the receptionists' behaviour, like if there are patients who're verbally abusive and don't listen to reason this is somehow equivalent to a reception (for example) refusing to do your repeat prescription and not letting you see a GP. Sure, both behaviours may be equally unreasonable, but in one case you're talking about the general public who include people with mental health problems, people who are completely ignorant of anything medical, and, you know, people who are living with unpleasant illnesses and might not be all that patient or reasonable at times - with someone who is entrusted with a responsible job and gets paid to be there. There's nothing wrong with holding receptionists to a higher standard of behaviour than the least reasonable person using the GP's that day.

When DS was 2.5 and I had a brand new, 6 week old DD, DS became very unwell. It turned out he had pneumonia. He’d seen the OOO doctors 2 or 3 times but suddenly went blue and started shaking like a leaf.

I called my surgery and explained to the receptionist what was going on, she very calmly asked me how far away we were, and I said about 2 mins, she asked me to bring him in immediately, where a GP was ready to take him straight into a room and get him on a nebuliser whilst they called an ambulance. The ambulance crew gave me a friendly bollocking for not calling them myself. Had she not have recognised a medical emergency when she heard one we could have been in a lot of trouble. I wrote to the surgery afterwards thanking her for doing such a great job.

My GP and surgery have been amazing. I’m having chemo atm and they couldn’t be more helpful. They arrange all my bloods for the start of the day to reduce the infection risk, they take my prescription requests over the phone, if I need to speak to my (lovely) GP they pass on a message and I invariably get a call back within the hour. They reshuffle my GPs day when I need a home visit. They organise my sick notes without any hassle at all. They’re just wonderful. I’m very grateful for their help.

I moved house, half a mile from my old house. I told the receptionist that I needed to change the address on my records and she looked at me in disbelief and said rudely and loudly in front of the waiting room 'Oh we can't have you here then, you will have to change practice'. It upset me as if been with the practice 25 years and knew all the doctors and they knew me and my children. I mentioned it to the doctor and she told me not to be daft, no way was I changing doctors for half a mile! So I went and told the receptionist that I wasn't changing and she wasn't happy! She still glares at me.

Nancy Receptionists are given rules to adhere to by the GP's and Practice Manager. Unfortunately they bend the rules when it suits and makes the Receptionist appear awful.
What the Receptionist should have done was take your change of address form without saying anything and given it it the Practice Manager who would have made the deci whether you stayed or had to leave.

Decision

Our surgery has four.
Two are lovely two are not.
The younger of the not so lovely two refused to get the GP to sign my repeat script while I was stood at the reception desk having an asthma attack.
It was the start of the attack so not serious as such and I had run out if my blue inhaler. All i needed was a repeat script and the chemist is next door to the surgery.
I knew if I didnt get it i would have a full blown attack.
It was 2 mins after opening and there was only 1 other person in the waiting room.
I was wheezing struggling to talk and becoming very panicked but she just kept telling me to wait as GPs (4 of them) were busy!
The lady waiting in reception went and fetched one of the Drs in the end who came out sat me down then went to the chemist got the inhaler and gave it to me. It took less than 5 minutes. The GP apologised to me and said the receptionist would have some more training (she had been there about 4 years).
I received a letter from the surgery a few days later again apologising.

Three years on whenever I go to see the Dr that receptionist looks at me like crap and walks away from the desk and asks someone else to deal with me.

Not an overreaction OP - mine are the same. Shockingly rude and unhelpful, shout your business around and seem to hate what they’re doing and dealing with people. If any of them ask what my appt is for, I just tell them it’s personal - so they can’t ask again after that. They’re a nightmare.

Ours generally used to be really nice - then they employed another one on the phones and she's frigging terrible - rude beyond belief. So the ones you see at the desk are fantastic, but you've got to get past Battleaxe Bertha on the phone snarling at you to get an appointment in the first place.

I used to really defend our GP - until last year when DD2 had breathing problems and I rang the surgery to ask if someone could take a quick look at her to see if she needed to go to A+E or not, got a gobful of snarling Bertha insisting I'd have to wait 2 hours for someone to phone me and why was I daring to ask them... so I took her to A+E, she got admitted for a week... and then the fucking surgery had the cheek to tell me off for using A+E services and not going to the surgery! They can feck off since then to be honest.

my aunt was a nurse, then decided she wanted an easier job closer to home and became a doctors receptionist. She lasted about 2 months - went back to nursing. I think she found it a job where your employers have one set of expectations and the public have another and you get it from both sides with little autonomy over what you can do.

Working in a coal face customer facing role is shit. People are shit and grumpy and aggressive and unreasonable and dismissive and patronising. Even when they are not ill. And it is exhausting to deal with. So, I feel for GP receptionists because it must be awful at times and very difficult to maintain helpful and friendly. I make a point of being as lovely as possible when speaking to them. While still being firm and clear about what I need.

I have to say that I am uncomfortable with a person who is not medically trained deciding people should not be seen. Especially when you look at some examples on this thread!

And although it must be very difficult to keep calm and professional the ones who have given up on all that and just gone for angry and rude as a default are very unpleasant to deal with and I can apsolutely understand where the OP is coming from! But without details of the incident I cannot say whether they ABU or not.

I’ve only read your original post, but if they have to deal with your agressive and abusive language I can understand them being tough.

They have a tough job and have to identify who really needs the doctor. Let them do their job.

There is nothing worse than a Doctor's Receptionist who insists you tell her what is wrong with you in a room full of other patients.

I know most of us have experienced this, and I love the way this guy handled it.

A 65-year-old man walked into a crowded waiting room and approached the desk.

The Receptionist said, 'Yes sir, what are you seeing the Doctor for today?'

'There's something wrong with my dick', he replied.

The receptionist became irritated and said, 'You shouldn't come into a crowded waiting room and say things like that. '

'Why not, you asked me what was wrong and I told you,' he said.

The Receptionist replied; 'Now you've caused some embarrassment in this room full of people. You should have said there is something wrong with your ear or something and discussed the problem further with the Doctor in private.'

The man replied, 'You shouldn't ask people questions in a roomful of strangers, if the answer could embarrass anyone. The man walked out, waited several minutes, and then re-entered.

The Receptionist smiled smugly and asked, 'Yes??'

'There's something wrong with my ear,' he stated.

The Receptionist nodded approvingly and smiled, knowing he had taken her advice.. 'And what is wrong with your ear, Sir?'

'I can't piss out of it,' he replied.

The waiting room erupted in laughter...

Mess with seniors, and you're going to lose....(yep, sure are) 😉

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@UtterlyConfused111 a lot of customer service staff in my area whether they are GPs receptionists or sales assistants are graduates doing temporary jobs. So from June to about October the standard of customer service goes up. In the case of my last practice the GP's receptionist was suddenly efficient in answering the phone, doing paperwork and not interested in your medical problem.