Receptionists at the Doctor's surgery

[CallingFromLondon]

AIBU to be fed up of all these jokes and complaints about them? "They don't have a medical degree, they just think they do". Or "Why do they ask all those questions?"

They ask so they can redirect you to the right place or person. If you ring up and want to see a GP about a rash, you're not going to want to see a GP specialising in mental health, are you?!

Sorry, rant over. I know I'm not being unreasonable.

The receptionist at our practice refused to book me in for a smear test because I hadn't received a letter even though I was two years overdue. I felt really humiliated because there was a big queue behind me. Next time I had an appointment, I mentioned it and she called the receptionist and told her to make one for me. I wish I'd made a fuss at the time but as it's so often mentioned that GP receptionists get lots of abuse, subconsciously I'm always extra polite.

My GP’s receptionists never ask why you need to book an appointment (however there are those standard posters that clarify why they have to ask, even though they never do). They also refer to same day appointments as ‘on the day’ vs ‘emergency’ so you don’t need a ‘valid’ reason to book one - it being your day off work is fine as they actually advise you to call on the day for an appointment if the 3 week’s time appointment is unsuitable.

However if there is a need for an emergency (eg if 111 says to see your doctor ASAP) then they’ll slot you in as they leave slots for these circumstances

I think there’s a big difference between asking what the appointment is for so that you can direct the patient to the right person and actually declaring that the patient doesn’t need an appointment.

In the case I mentioned earlier my mum had had something awful happen and needed to see a doctor urgently to check everything was ok (which it very much wasn’t) but the GP receptionist just kept saying that if she didn’t technically have some specific symptoms at that very moment then she didn’t need to see a doctor. Complete bullshit and incredibly dangerous advice.

I would love to be able to defend them, but sadly my own experience has been very negative - very curt and snippy.

The last time I called for an appointment I said as nicely as I could "My 16 yo son has asked to see a doctor please could he have an appointment with a male doctor because he'd feel more comfortable?" and she actually did a sarcastic laugh replying "ha ha ha you'll get nothing here for at least a month unless you call at 8:30am on a Friday when we have emergency slots only and then he'll have to take pot luck on who's on." I then called the private GP, (ok, it's £60) but it's "Certainly MrsJava, would he like to come in this evening?" I say that would be great and she says "Should I reserve a half hour slot or longer?" and I say half an hour is plenty thanks and she ends with "No problem, see you later". And they won't why they get a bad rap? I'd rather pay and have them be pleasant.

But GP's are general practitioners so by definition they don't specialise....

For what it's worth I hate the receptionists at my doctors surgery. They always tell me there are no appointments however I download the my gp app where you can book them yourself and lo and behold - lots of appointments

I don't want to dismiss anyone who's had a bad experience but the receptionist who works at my GP surgery is very sweet and helpful.

throwaway321

We are not allowed to book online appts in the surgery so there may well be none available for them to actually book for you

Then surely *Lurking, the receptionist's response should be "all the apooibtments available through telephone bookings are gone but there are some available via on-line booking, can we help you with that.

If there are 50 apts for example and 20 are in-line and 30 are telephone bookings and only 20% of the surgery is registered for on-line thdn potentially there is an equal opportunity issue and that needs to be addressed.

Surely it is an issue if a percentage of apts are not being used or does that suit the drs.

I have been told there are no apts the next day and have tried on-line and there have been apts even with the best drs the next day. Yet the receptionists have not signposted to the on line availability.

YABU.

I don’t mind being asked. I don’t mind saying if either I’m on my own or it’s not personal.

But if the reply I give is ‘I’m at work, I’m not able to discuss that right now’ then I mean I’m not able to discuss that right now. I don’t mean probe me then refuse to give me an appointment.

A previous place I worked there was nowhere to make a quiet phone call, the reception was closed at lunchtime when I could have nipped out to call and there was no way I was discussing personal details surrounded by other people! Oh and it took several tries and lots of waiting to ever get through so even if there was an opportunity to make a quick phone call you could never get through.

newmum So why not take 2 minutes out and take the phone call in private?

If questioned, just explain you need to speak to your GP but won't be a minute

newmum I see you said there's nowhere quiet but if that's literally the case, could you not have stepped outside?

callingfromLondon
No I really couldn’t just step outside. It was a work site with no mobile use on site.

I could leave the site but that was just under a 10 minute walk, plus sign in /out procedures so 25 mins to get out and back, plus the time to get through. Not realistic at all.

@newmumwithquestions
I agree - I've worked places like this. It is not really practical to just 'step outside'. Getting in contact with anyone by phone was a nightmare if they asked personal questions. I just had to say that I was not in a private space and couldn't answer their questions.

At our surgery when you ring you get a recorded message from one of the GPs saying things like press 1 for repeat prescriptions, press 2 for test results, press 3 to speak to reception.

The GP then goes on to warn you that the receptionists will ask for a brief explanation of what the issue is as that helps them to help you.

It's a good way of doing things. People have already been told by the doctor what to expect, and the reason why.

When you call my Dr, the message before you get through literally says "you may be asked questions to get you seen by the right person". How anyone could then get annoyed by this is beyond me.

I love my Dr's though, they are very good, never have issues getting seen and all the receptionists I have met so far are really friendly and helpful.

Lol, MacarenaFerreiro cross post!

Must be a system adopted by a lot of practices!!

Also you don't need to go into lengthy explanations with the receptionist. I needed an emergency appointment before Christmas and a two word "mental health" explanation was plenty.

Some of you have never worked in a huge open plan office with all your co-workers ears on every phone call. Yes, with no private place within walking distance except the toilet in which case your conversation would be shared with other toilet users and flushes.

I can't imagine anyone would want to talk about their medical problems in this situation. In fact, I never heard anyone discuss medical problems or anything embarrassing- someone else would have to phone up for them or they would put up with not making appointments for anything.

newmum I see you said there's nowhere quiet but if that's literally the case, could you not have stepped outside?

Do you see what you just did there OP? You made assumptions that YOU know what the caller's workplace is like, because at YOUR workplace you could do this. And that is a fundamental problem with doctor's receptionists - they assume that they can ask all kinds of personal questions and that the caller will be somewhere that they can answer, when with the opening hours of doctor's surgeries and the difficulty of even getting through to many surgeries, many patients are forced to call from work. Many people work in open plan offices, many people have shit bosses, many people don't get proper breaks and if they do they can't leave the site. Stop making assumptions!

Op. its the nasty horrible comments they make rather than asking whats wrong. I havent yet found a nice gp receptionist. Hospital reception totally different. My local surgery the receptionists (three of them) gossip about the patients. My dd became vvv ill due to the fact that the receptionist refused access to gp. Luckily mil gave up on getting an appt and turned up, caused abit of a scene by sounds of it but nice gp saw dd (then aged 1) and was shocked we been refused appts. Anyway she was better in a week after having the medicine. If i could change surgeries i would but they all the same sadly. I work in nhs but different area and our receptionists would never treat patients like gp ones do.

Mine has a long ass recorded message when you ring explaining how to get repeat prescriptions, what number to call, what they are, the website, and repeats again how you get them. Honestly it lasts for 3 minutes! Then you finally get in the call queue and wait for a receptionist who will usually try to fob you off. It's great!

If you want to imagine what it is like, imagine you were a teacher. All day in lessons with only short breaks. Even in the break, staff room is full of other teachers, and there is nowhere private on site readily available where you won't be overheard or interrupted.
Now try to imagine making an appointment where they tell you to ring back later or want to discuss personal details that you definitely don't want pupils or other teachers to overhear.

@AnotherOriginalUsername that story has made me feel oddly emotional, how lovely the receptionist was to take such good care of you.

Receptionists in general are people doing their job, at my GPS they are lovely, respectful and calm. They ask, but that's their job. I expect that some receptionists are rude, that's life, you get rude people in all walks. I expect some patients are rude.

A close friend is a GP and he says some patients are unbelievable with their attitude and act like it is their given right to abuse the receptionists if they cannot produce an appointment within 10 minutes. If they didn't redirect appointments as necessary then everyone would be waiting a lot longer for appointments.

My friend has no issue with sending a warning letter to anyone who abuse his receptionists, he won't tolerate aggression. He had a classic conversation with one patient who had such a letter, she stated I know I come across as aggressive, but I'm not.......he responded if you come across as aggressive, you are aggressive and my receptionists don't have to tolerate it.,

My GP practice has also implemented a policy of only allowing appointments to be booked between 9am and 10am and 2pm and 3pm - really helpful if you are at work and not able to use the phone at that time.

Their answer is that they have online booking - except there are never appointments available.