To let you know that you're not doing yourself any favours by refusing to tell the GP receptionist your symptoms?

[privateeyefan]

I'm a GP. My surgery operate a triage system - if you ring up or walk in asking for an appointment, then you get put on the triage list, and get a phone call from the doctor that same day, who can then make an appointment for you if you need one.

When patients ring up or walk in, the receptionists who speak to them will ask for a brief outline of the problem. This means that, as we usually have at least 3 doctors doing triage at any one time, we can prioritise the calls - if if see things that I know will need an appointment, then I will call those patients first so that I can get them into the surgery on the same day, often within the hour.

If you refuse to tell the receptionist what the problem is, and there is therefore nothing next to your name on the triage list, then I leave you until last. I'm not going to prioritise you over people I know will have to be seen, when I have no idea whether or not you will need an appointment. Therefore, if you don't tell the receptionist, your chances of a same-day appointment decrease substantially, and you will also have last choice of appointments over the next few days - the most convenient times after working hours will be long gone.

In addition, I, like most of my colleagues, have a special interest in a certain field. As I glance through the triage list, I generally pick out patients whose problem relates to my particular field of expertise, as do my colleagues. By refusing to give even the briefest of outlines, you rule out the chance that the GP with the most relevant experience will contact you directly.

Receptionists don't have medical training. Of course not. But that doesn't make them incapable of typing a one line summary of your problem dictated by you, in order to help the doctors do their job.

And please also remember - they speak to hundreds of patients daily. Your problem will occupy their mind for a few seconds, and then they will move on to the next patient and you will be swiftly forgotten.

Too right @privateeyefan !!

I had a lovely Dr prescribe me some buccal over the phone the other day ( i had missed all the phone appts for that day )... all because my DH rang & spoke to the receptionist and told her i had a hormonal migraine and was likely to spend the night vomiting.

Had picked up & taken the medicine within the hour and was on the rd to recovery 😊

I have never had a problem with this.

However, my Dad recently wasn't given an on that day appointment, despite explaining he had pneumonia and thought he needed more antibiotics. He later died. I am convinced he, not wishing to cause a bother, didn’t make it sound ‘urgent’ enough. So, giving factual information doesn’t always make a difference.

But your system of calling patients at any time during the day when they work in an open plan office and their colleagues can hear the conversation in full doesn’t really work for a lot of people,

For everyone annoyed that OP does the callbacks in order of urgent sounding stuff, then her area of interest, then routine med reviews/can wait stuff, then "wouldn't say", and thinks the wouldn't-says should get bumped to to just after the urgents...
...how long would it be before more patients copped on to this and started refusing to say, in the hopes of getting a faster callback?

OP .

You really need to think about addressing this in your practice rather than generalising your practice processes and creating a discussion on mumsnet .

I would also suggest you have a peer to peer discussion with your colleagues about this thread , and discuss whether , in your capacity as a GP , there is a more appropriate , effective and tangible way of raising this issue in your practice .

Thats quite (a lot ) irresponsible @Dobbytastic ... im a senior HCP and have never come across that before.

You might recognise terminology but risk factors for patients are not static & some patients have co morbid illnesses.

Sorry but i would not want to be under your Cons.

For everyone annoyed that OP does the callbacks in order of urgent sounding stuff, then her area of interest, then routine med reviews/can wait stuff, then "wouldn't say", and thinks the wouldn't-says should get bumped to to just after the urgents...
...how long would it be before more patients copped on to this and started refusing to say, in the hopes of getting a faster callback?

If a patient is the type to do that then they’ll already be the type who’ll mention “tight chest” etc to get onto the urgent sounding part of the list

Thanks @privateeyefan I get you now.

That sounds so stressful for all concerned, doctors, receptionists and patients.

I'd really really hate not to be able to make my appointment, with notice, as I choose.

Then again, I have gone through very tough times with very little money & really struggled to afford the GP. I remember an awful time when my 3 kids kept getting sick, one after another & it was €55 (about £48) each time for each child 😨 I still didn't qualify for a medical card. So I appreciate the value of the NHS and it being free at point of use.

It sounds really really tough.

@Catsandchardonnay patients do also have a responsibility for their own health too !!!

Do you actually fully understand the dire circumstances our NHS is in - I mean its beyond broken- and youre complaining about Drs doing callbacks when people are at work 😂

I don’t get all the snidey comments people make about GP receptionists. Ours have always been great and I’ve never had any concerns.

After I had my second baby I had awful anxiety and I called the GP, the receptionist told me there were no appointments for a week or so and I started to cry, she then told me she could get someone to see me next day, as she could tell I was really upset.

Another time I called and again no appts for a while, I told her the reason I was calling was chest pains (it genuinely was!) and I was seen in 10 mins. It wasn’t cardiac/serious, but it could have been and if I hadn’t told her she wouldn’t have been able to prioritise me.

@EarringsandLipstick its good to know some appreciates it !

I was speaking with my colleagues the other day , and we were talking about how much of our own money we have spent on patients ( and will continue to do ).

When i read posts with wildly unrealistic & unfair expectations of staff it does make me wonder what planet people live on.

Our GP does not do call backs, the receptionist triages. I was refused an emergency appointment. It was only when I said I would then have to go to A and E that she squeezed me in. I have a serious condition that if certain symptoms appear, I have to go to the GP to get medicine that day. Even waiting a couple of days can land me in hospital. In spite of me telling the receptionist I don't think she understood what I had.

I also hate the lack of privacy when being asked why I want an appointment.

*I won't tell mine.

She's the bloody village gossip and WILL tell people who's been in lately and why*

Then please report her to the practice manager. That is utterly unacceptable”

OP that’s so naive. I can’t go in to the surgery and report that someone is a gossip!

I have been unable to get an appointment with my surgery for the last four years or so, so don’t give me the line about being responsible for my own health it fire circumstances.

I’ve been turned away for an emergency appointment when I needed it badly.

It’s not my fault the system is in dire need, I hardly get to fucking use it.

Besides I work and I have the honour of financing something I cannot even use.

Fuck that.

My solution: any sums (including all those sources of income) that a partner receives over £80k could be spent on training or an extra receptionist.
Why work for £120k and be stressed when a three partner practice could spend £120000 making themselves less stressed?

My GP surgery is generally great. But I do object to receptionists triaging. I am sure most of the time it is fine, but they don't really have the training to triage more unusual things.

I agree tobeforgotten!

If a practice is badly run enough to have a massive gossip as a receptionist then, in my experience, they're badly run enough to do absolutely nothing other than "remind all the staff about their confidentiality obligations". Ensuring only that the complainant will be bitched about for weeks to come and will never get an appointment again.

I just re-read original post. She/he did say that if a patient has a condition that is within their area of expertise they are more likely to phone them sooner/first.
Fine to have an area of expertise. I don't agree with using this in a triage system. It should be based on clinical need only. If a gp is available with a specialist interest in that area great.....but if not then u shouldn't be moved down the queue for having the "wrong condition"....which is what happens when she/he phones the patient within their area of expertise first. Everyone else has to wait. Having said that it's hard to triage if u only have a name to go on. But still dont agree you have to tell the receptionist to get an appointment. Some towns are small and some people private. And sadly some stigma still associated with some conditions and gp receptions have no regulatory body to ensure confidentiality.

I don’t get all the snidey comments people make about GP receptionists. Ours have always been great and I’ve never had any concerns.

You’re lucky. There’s one lovely receptionist at ours, but the other two are dire.

One refused to offer any help or advice other than “your repeat is due in three weeks” when I rang to find out how I could replace my DD’s epipen and my inhaler when I was mugged.

Also instead of saying “you’d be best to see Dr X about that” she said, loud enough for my friend in the waiting room to hear, “if you went to discuss that you’ll have to see Dr X as Dr Y doesn’t do termination referrals”. After she’d loudly confirmed my name and address. So anyone in the waiting room knew who and what was being discussed

Progged22

There are similar problems up and down the country as demand for GP appointments is simply not being met. Read any newspaper and it is the same story everywhere.

Mumsnet is a good place to allow people to air their views. It does seem that the OP is reading responses and I think she has been brave to post on this contentious issue.

FFS MNetters would not put up with this from anyone else but because its a GP I think posters are truly hoping to get some understanding - they think its worth banging on to try to enlighten the OP, who is still so spectacularly uninterested in anyone else's POV.

Well I think if you're feeling bad, you'll do what's necessary to get yourself sorted out. My own experience was asking if there were any same day appointments left and when there weren't, the receptionist asked what the problem was, so I told her chest pains and breathless. Miraculously an appointment materialised in 40 minutes time. I went for a quick shower as I thought I might end up being admitted to hospital and I got a call back from my GP less than 10 minutes after my call to the surgery to triage me. I was very impressed and then was seen almost immediately after arrival. It was a collapsed lung as I had thought it was rather than anything more sinister like a clot which is what they were worried about.

Obviously some things are easier to talk about than others, but I think you have to be up front when it's bad and you need the help.

I am a Gp receptionist and we only ask for the issue if your asking for an urgent appt or telephone call. The reason for this is because we send a message through to the GP detailing your req and symptoms and the GP replies to me if they are going to allow an urgent appt or will telephone patient.

On most occasions you don't need to go into specific details for example you could say gynaecology issues or mental health and I won't ask specifics because it's none of my business and it speaks for itself. However if you call regarding a cough I may ask your specific symptoms so that the dr has a heads up. We have a system if someone rings about a child under the age of 6 then they are always given an urgent appt for that day. If you are having chest pain or anything that could be serious then you are given an urgent appt. same if you find a suspicious lump it worried about cancer etc.

We have on occasion had the GP tell us off for giving someone an urgent when they maybe didn't need it. But we always say to them 'we aren't medically trained and so if in doubt it's getting passed to you' we do not want to have someone's life in our hands.

A lot of patients don't realised that we can message the Gp for a prescription and get that authorised without them needing to speak to the GP or visit. Which is very valuable especially for uti, thrush, ear infections and if antibiotics are needed for various ailments.

Although my Gp surgery is great on that you normally can get an appointment with a day or two.

That does sound crap, @lyralalala - as you say we’ve been lucky

If you want people to discuss their private medical conditions answer the phone in an office not at the reception desk and have a private place to book appointments. It’s not fucking rocket science. If you call back then ask if they can talk don’t expect them to be somewhere private and expect to wait while they find somewhere to take a call.
Providing a second class service for patients that need privacy is outrageous.