I know it has been done before in various veins but, IABU to think doctors receptionist....

[Dunkling]

… that are not medically trained, are not in a position to triage you and decide yay or nay, are not the gatekeepers of all appointments placed there to keep the appointments empty (see my experience about this later), and at the very, very least, should be trained to understand the reason for appointment rules re; routine, same day urgent and the reason for this. And also, know what a receptionist is? The frontline font of knowledge to pass between the two parties?

This morning feeling increasingly ill after a procedure, and all advice, including from the doctors mouth, being to get checked out asap if any sign of infection shows (I had increased pain, the runs, nausea and terrible fatigue), so I phoned.

I was told I couldn't have a same day appointment only routine, currently 3 weeks away. Same day are for urgent, so heart attacks and strokes, that kind of thing. I repeated routine didn't help me and I needed same day, even with a nurse was ok. Nope...… same day are urgent, and for heart attacks and strokes. I asked her really? Are you really telling me that when people have a heart attack, they ring them for an appointment. Yes, they do. I asked, so you have appointments open today, the same day urgent ones, and you keep them because when someone has a heart attack, you book them in. With an appointment. The ire was lost. And the sense.

Previously, after numerous (ongoing problem) appointments and being told to book in for a blood test at each, even these appointments were like rocking horse poo. 2 and 3 week waits. What happened to a GP asking you to roll your sleeve up for a 60 second procedure? Each time I was told to avoid waiting, to go to a walk in, the doctor would print a sheet to take with me to marry up my test with me. I decided to wait for all but the last time, and so asked the receptionist for the sheet I had been told of, to get from her, 30 seconds earlier. What sheet? And where is this other NHS clinic please? What clinic?... no idea! Good job I'm internet savvy, and can drive. What if I was 70, and confused?

You can tell me IABU. But god that rant felt better! The evil very upset part of me wants to post them a link to this!

@dunkling - I feel your pain. I realise they have a job to do and practise rules to follow (which they probably have very little say in) but the absolute lack of common sense is what does it for me. People having a heart attack or even suspected heart attack should go immediately to A&E. It is one of the few things that falls under the Accident and Emergency category in view. I'd be astounded if I called my GP surgery having chest pain to be told to come in! Urgent appointments in my view are for non emergencies i.e. not life and death, that still require same day attention, such as an infection. The receptionist doesn't know your medical history, or that waiting 2-3 weeks to be seen may cause it turn into an actual life of death situation. Let the professionals do their work. A nurse, at the very least, should triage patients.

I was about to say that you shouldn't assume they are untrained but.... "Hello I'm having a heart attack".... "ok please come see the Dr at 11". Have you tried asking for a manager to check this advice. I would raise this this

CrabbyPatty, 1st time I've laughed today. It bloody hurt but thank you!!

It's what counts as an emergency wrt a GP appointment that astounds me. As you say heart attacks, strokes, suspected AAA should go straight to A and E. The majority of GP "emergency appointments" no doubt go to people with sore throats, ear ache, back pain, d and v - basically viral diseases that can be treated with self care. It amazes me that the NHS uses a 2 week fast track for suspected cancer and yet my GP currently has a 6 week waiting time!! So if you suspected cancer you would wait 6 weeks to see a GP to be fast tracked for a 2 week appointment.

Things are bad right now. Interestingly a nurse told me last week that if a surgery has 8 or more GPs they aren't allowed to cap the number of registered patients yet smaller surgeries are limited to around 2000 patients per dr. Can this be true?

You have my sympathy, mine is the same.
My idea of "urgent" is something pretty serious but not life threatening. If I thought I was having a heart attack or a stroke I'd be off to A&E, not my GP. Off the top of my head I can't actually think of anything requiring an "urgent" appointment, though a high temp/nausea after a procedure sounds like a contender to me. (I think most conditions you'd want to see a GP for can wait a day or two)
My GP wanted me to have a blood test 2 weeks after changing my prescription, yet I couldn't even get an appointment for that inside 3 weeks.
Have posted about this before. Was recently discharged from hospital after an emergency admission, and told to see my GP in a week for follow-up. When I rang, the earliest appointment was in 3 weeks. I explained my position and was told to ring up on the morning I needed to see the GP and ask for an urgent appointment. And this with absolutely no guarantee I would even be successful due to the number of appointments available (and a half hour wait on the phone isn't unusual). I pointed out that an appointment is hardly "urgent" if I have 5 or 6 days notice of needing it. Yet when I saw the nurse recently for a blood test and mentioned something I had been self medicating, she managed to get me booked in later that day.

Perhaps the answer is to bypass the receptionist sometimes and ask if you can have a phone consultation with a doctor to ask if you really do need to be seen.

I wonder how many 'emergency appointments' go unused because they are waiting for Mr so and so who may or may not be having a heart attack? How many people waiting weeks and weeks could realistically be seen much sooner if these appointments were utilised? They are quick enough at my surgery to stick up a sign saying how many appointments were missed that month - presumably because the person has recovered from their alignment after 5 weeks of waiting or because they carked it when no one suggest A&E when they were having a stoke

My surgery the reception staff are trained and the surgery closes early one day a week to accommodate training sessions.

They are very good and will get you in when then can. Obviously they are not medically trained but the information they give out is consistent. Another point is that living in a small town you get remembered.

If you've just had surgery then an infection will be around the site- hot, red, swelling with a bad smell.

I'm sorry but I don't know what sheet you are talking about.

If I phone and there are no appointments I ask for a dr to phone me back. Without fail they've always said I need seeing that day and booked me in.

I was also told that all surgeries keep some appointments back for 111. If they've not been used they then get opened up. Might be worth asking 111 to get you one of these?

I've found' with various surgeries and hospital clinics, that if you are over polite, suck up and treat the receptionists as if they really are the font of all knowledge, then you'll get the appointment you want.

It shouldn't be that way onside ring that they deal with people who are sick or in pain or are mentally unwell, but it makes the difference every time.

At the surgery where I work if you rang with chest pains or symptoms of a stroke we aren’t allowed to book you in, you have to go to A&E.

Weetabixandshreddies not sure where you heard that re 111 but that’s incorrect, 111 usually tell you to ring your GP practice (and for some unknown reason usually say to be seen within an hour for any little thing which is the bane of our lives)

Sorry, meant to say as well that we don’t hold appointments back for 111!

And can I ask everyone to just remember that GP receptionists are actual human beings, following the rules laid down by the GP’s, on a low wage and often working all the hours God sends (we are chronically short staffed at my surgery and all working huge amounts of overtime - for some reason we can’t recruit receptionists, hard to imagine when we are treated so well by the public 🙄)

MadisonMontgomery

Well that's odd. It was the practice nurse at my GP surgery who told me. Likewise that a surgery with 8 or more drs can't cap their patient numbers either.

I've recently tried to book an appointment but none available. Receptionist insisted on knowing exactly what I wanted to see the dr for, then started advising me on OTC treatments (we are way past that point tbh) eventually after much complaining on my part (I take methotrexate and am immunosuppressed and have been told by haematologist that at the first sign of illness I need to see GP) she booked me in with their prescribing pharmacist, who was excellent. Think I'll just ask to see her in future. Not happy that the receptionist wanted medical details or felt qualified to give advice tbh.

Completely agree, I was told my 3 year old couldn’t have an urgent same day appt as they ‘didn’t have anything left’ despite the fact he was booked for planned surgery and needed antibiotics otherwise the op would be cancelled! I phoned back and spoke to a different receptionist and an appointment was magically available ten minutes later. My MIL is a Gp receptionist and the stereotype isn’t lost on her. She knows everything about every medical condition going so despite the fact I’m a nurse myself she always knows more than me! The advice they give out is downright dangerous sometimes but they aren’t registered with a professional body so not sure where they stand on that!

@MadisonMontgomery I don't think anyone doubts the hard work of receptionists. It's the rules that they MUST follow that are infuriating. I accept that they are just doing their job, but as the face of an organisation you bear the brunt of the public I'm afraid. Just as if someone has a complaint with Virgin for example, it the front line staff you speak to, not Richard Branson himself. I think what get's people's goats is just the sheer lack of common sense and rigidity within the rules laid out by the GPs.

Drives me nuts, I changed my surgery due to similar. Been with my new surgery for 5 years and now they've got a new set up. Ring ring bloody ring until you have been placed in a queue and that's if you get in it and then you are greeted by a know it all receptionist that asks what's wrong and decides whether you are granted an appointment. Ridiculous and 9 times out of 10 they say no even when you need treatment.

Just to offer a differing opinion the receptionists at my gp surgery have refused me an appt yet when I’ve asked to speak to a gp I know very well he’s wholeheartedly agreed that I needed an appt. I don’t think receptionists are trained to make that kind of call, I’m a nurse myself and wouldn’t feel comfortable making that call even with years of experience. I know time wasters are a thing but who actually wants to go to the drs unless they’re sick?

I needed an urgent appointment a couple of weeks. Was asked if it was an emergency. Was it a heart attack? No. Was it a stroke? No. Yet the earliest appointment they could offer me was a month away.

I kept phoning every morning. On the day I managed to get an appointment, I had redialled 178 on an engaged tone.

Not related really to making the repeated dial backs, but I was hitting a heart rate of 140 bpm due to workplace stress.

What is an 'emergency'? If it was that much of an emergency, surely I'd be at A&E?

Yes, I fully understand the amount of patients our GP surgery has. I was told a while ago that they were no longer allowed to refuse any new patients if they fell within the catchment area, regardless on the amount of doctors.

I remember the days when GP surgeries started bumping people off their books because they hadn't made an appointment in 'X' amount of time.

I called mine for an appointment for my daughter.

Me - can I have an appointment for my daughter please

Receptionist - they have all gone for today

Me - ok can I have one for tomorrow please

Receptionist- no they have all gone too

Me - ok can I book one for the day after that then?

Receptionist - you have to call up on that day as soon as we open to book an appointment. We open at 8:30

Me - yep I did that today I got through to you at 8:32. So all of the appointments went in two minutes?

Receptionist- yes

🤦🏽‍♀️

We can't pre book for two days time and you can't get one when you call on the day.

Condoms.... if you were referencing me re medical advice...

"Another point is that living in a small town you get remembered." Sorry I don't get this point, or the relevance?

"If you've just had surgery then an infection will be around the site- hot, red, swelling with a bad smell."

I never said surgery. I said procedure... where a complication would be hidden, and the follow up advice is therefore as I stated.

"I'm sorry but I don't know what sheet you are talking about."
Why would you? Different surgery!

I have heard that Drs receptionists have a huge amount of training.
I think I must be very lucky as mine are great.

@itsbritneybiatches we had the same system at our surgery. Patients were circumventing the phones and queuing outside the surgery at 8am for appointments. They've changed it so that everyone who wants a urgent appointment gets triaged over the phone by a GP or nurse practitioner. Much better!

@itsbritney
Your post reminded me of my previous surgery. Followed a bending the books and skewing CQC ratings and statistics and complying with NHS guidelines "practice"

At the time (is it still? I gave up caring) all NHS surgeries had to be able to offer an appointment within 48 hours of request, regardless of routine or urgent need. SO, you would ring up, they would have no appointment within 48 hours, or maybe the next day, day 3, and so would refuse to book you in for day 4, you had to ring up on that actual day instead and hope he appointment was still open. Bloody appalling practice.

Many moons ago I rang for a drs appointment because I had been coughing for nearly a week and cough mixture was doing nothing. When I told the receptionist this she told me I hadn't been coughing long enough. Rang again the next day, after yet another shit nights sleep, got an appointment and discovered I had a chest infection. That particular lady is now a nurse in the same surgery.

Oh and she was well known for doing this.