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.

YABVU because you have addressed this to everyone on mumsnet, when this is how your particular surgery works.

As with many, many other posters, my GP surgery does not use this system.

The last contact I had with the GP I needed a phone appt, you cannot book these online, the receptionist refused to book the appt until I asked to speak to the practice manager, then insisted on going into great detail on history/symptoms/what I wanted from the appt.

When the Dr called me back, she had no information other than that I had insisted on a phone appt.

Why should I waste my time satisfying this receptionist's curiosity/ego when it clearly had no relevance to my medical care?

FYI the call with the receptionist took over half an hour, the call with the Dr just over 10 mins - including reviewing notes from my recent release from hospital, arranging for a prescription & SOFFW (and delivery), and arranging a follow up phone appt the following week.

As an aside, I have two ongoing conditions that require repeat prescriptions, I manage both by paying privately to use an online doctor, mostly because of the convenience, but I recently worked out that it annually it was costing me more to go to the GP before I switched.

I don't understand why these medications are still prescription only instead of OTC, as all this involves is filling out an online form and having the medication delivered a couple of days later. The forms themselves indicate if you've given an 'undesirable' answer, they don't notify your GP, and there's no restriction (other than financial) on requesting the same medication through multiple online sources (the medications available include antibiotics and codeine).

Haven't read the full thread, but I have no intentions of giving a gossipy receptionist the ins and outs of my issues.

With a GP or nurse, they are bound to strict confidentiality. Not so little miss nosey nose on reception who thinks she's a doctor.

Our cat receives prompt and appropriate medical attention. The humans in the house do not.

Our NHS GP system is failing us due to too few GPs. No wonder inappropriate A&E visits are so common. When you can't get a GP appointment what else is there to be done?

We have the ludicrous ring between 8am and 8.01am then hold for up to 30 mins for an appointment (if you are lucky) set up. Non urgent appointments are often not bookable at all, even 3 weeks in advance. It's highly dysfunctional and many vulnerable people slip through the net. It is unreasonable to assume that everyone can manage the ring at 8am requirement.

We have exactly the same set-up. I was so unwell for a couple of months that I was referred to the 'high intensity A&E usage team' lol.

If I could get a fucking GP appointment I wouldn't need A&E every few weeks.

Im really surprised that thought that was a clear GDPR breach, especially as medical records fall under the sensitive data provisions. Do they sign NDAs?

I think it very much depends on what the issue is.
My mum was sexually assaulted and after being seen at the speciality centre for this she was advised by them to contact to GP for an appointment for various different things. She went to school with the receptionist at her drs surgery and really did not want to tell her she had been raped.
Actually she didn’t want to tell anyone in that moment but when she did ring the drs she chose to tell the receptionist it was anxiety related and she was outrightly
Told she wouldn’t be given an appointment as it could wait. Given the circumstances it really couldn’t wait but she was traumatised and not at all able to explain that

I don't have a problem telling the receptionist my symptoms i do when its in front of a full waiting room and someone is standing waiting behind me

Decomposing, I can appreciate the bit about not wanting other patients to hear, but being embarrassed about giving a brief reason over the phone while being fine with the prospect of a receptionist reading your detailed record is a bit... daft.*

It’s not daft to want some privacy. Whilst the receptionist might go into my record to scan a letter or deal with a repeat prescription in the general course of her duties that’s not the same as her loudly confirming my name and address (so I know anyone I know in the waiting room will know who she is talking too) then, loudly, repeating my reason or asking further detail - in my case, loudly, stating that for discussing that I’d be best seeing Dr X as Dr Y doesn’t do termination referrals (as opposed to just saying Dr X would be best) giving my neighbour and a relative lots of information I don’t want them to have.

That’s the issue most people have with receptionists. Confidentiality doesn’t seem to apply to them.

That’s before the gatekeeper style ones. Like the one I encountered when I was mugged and trying to work out how to replace my DD’s epipen and my inhaler who just kept repeating that my repeat wasn’t due for three weeks.

Our surgery doesn’t do any advanced appointments. It means they can put a lovely sign up with their high % of patients who get seen on the day, but it’s an absolute pain in the arse.

They also give no leeway except time to get there in the slot you get. So you basically have to take the whole day off in the hope you win the 8am race to get in the queue in time to get an appointment for a regular issue. Even if the Dr tells you to come back in a week or ten days you have to go through the saga

If it's daft to want privacy and we just get over it, then why is the NHS following their Information Governance Guidelines and the Caldicot Principles?

Decomposing, I can appreciate the bit about not wanting other patients to hear, but being embarrassed about giving a brief reason over the phone while being fine with the prospect of a receptionist reading your detailed record is a bit... daft.

Is it? Many people will see my medical records over the course of their job, or type up letters about me or see my test results or analyse my stool samples... I don't give them a second thought because I am having no interaction with them.

I think your lack of empathy towards patients is actually one of the big reasons why patients feel uncomfortable discussing personal problems with receptionists.

Is the whole system just better in Scotland, or is it just where I live?

I wouldn't dream of telling the GP receptionist my symptoms. I phone and book an appointment, if I feel it necessary I will ask for a female GP. We agree a date/time and I say thank you and attend on that date/time to see the GP.

Fixing appointments is what receptionist do - it is their job. Listening to patients symptoms and offering a diagnosis is what GPs do. It is their job. I am actually really shocked by the posts from the OP on this thread who says they are a GP. They appear to be a combination of lazy, unprofessional and unempathic - not what anyone wants in their GP.

Would anyone, ever, think it appropriate for a GP to conduct consultations in the waiting room?

Why do they not do that if it is perfectly acceptable for patients to have to discuss their symptoms with a receptionist in the waiting room?

As for being too embarrassed to speak with a receptionist, this is ridiculous. Medical issues are just that to clinicians as much as receptionists, they have long stopped caring that someone wa ta to dicuss piles, erectile dysfunctioning or vuvlva soreness. These are just words to them, nothing to be embarrassed about.

I think that’s part of the problem - they’re just words, and therefore some receptionists don’t think to be discreet. I don’t know what’s included in training for medical receptionists, but methods of maintaining privacy while speaking to patients should be an important part of it.

My mum is a gp receptionist and takes it very seriously. She tells me, very crossly, about the (now ex)colleague who couldn't stop facebooking to the point she'd be doing it secretly in numerous "toilet" breaks and similar while mum and others picked up the slack.

And the new lady who just can't transcribe while taking patient calls, so the gp ends up trying to decipher only half the information, and what there is is fairly illiterate.

We all know there are problems with the nhs, but saying they are ONLY with patients is not true in the slightest.

They might just be words but some people are acutely embarrassed. My DH had trouble with the skin on his scrotum. The receptionist asked what the problem was and he answered “it’s my balls”. She replied that she also had problems with her boils. Poor DH was already embarrassed, that he just nodded and took a seat to wait.

I am curious OP - what do you think about the multiple reasons people have given about why it makes them uncomfortable?

Do you think they are all just wrong? And that it is a system that works fine and we need to all change our attitudes?

Or do you feel that due to the massive underfunding and understaffing of the NHS this is a situation that is an unpleasant side effect?

I think everyone knows how busy GPS are but should we have to sacrifice privacy and dignity because of this? Is that just what we have to expect now?

People’s medical needs is data that they own, they have a right to share it with who they wish to. If this is an inconvenience to your surgery, who is wrong in this situation? The surgery’s system or the person?

And for what it is worth- I work within the public sector, also massively straining at the seams (but never getting the publicity that NHS gets) and I would never expect my service users to share their extremely private and sensitive information with our admin.

@privateeyefan, you seem to spend an awful lot of time double handling (triple if you count the call taken by your receptionist) your patients.

To be honest, I would hate having to tell a receptionist my medical issue, then a dr when they call me, and then a dr again when he/she deemed my issue was important enough to require an appointment either immediately or the next day.

Perhaps if you, as a GP weren't triaging all your patients, you'd have time to see more of them.

Some people are so awkward! I agree with you. Just give the receptionist a brief reason! Our doctors have started doing this recently and i think it works loads better. Once got a prescrption over the phone so didn't have to even go see a doctor for my daughter when she had conjunctivitis. They always ring back pretty quickly and get booked in if needed. I has always been for the kids so far but is good to speak to the doctor as I am not always 100% sure if I need to see a doctor.

What I am frustrated by is our inability to hold onto receptionists

We’re currently 2 full time receptionists down and struggling to recruit more

Don't blame your patients for your inability to retain staff. I know that it seems that no one likes receptionists much, but I doubt they leave because of abusive patients, who are often sick and frustrated that they can't see a GP because you all spend an inordinate amount of time triaging people.

@kikibo
Nurses routinely triage in A&E it’s where it was first utilised in the NHS,
Most of them are more experienced in triage than a junior Dr and consultants rarely ever triage.

What an arrogant op. Adamant that patients must bend to this system. Sneering at those who don't like it. Despite the many reasons not to. Massive empathy bypass. Can't keep hold of staff, allegedly because of the system. But still sticking to it after 10 years.

Thank God my GP isn't like this.

Decomposing - disagreeing with you isn't "a lack of empathy". Even public sector workers are allowed a difference of opinion.

@Homeallday
The Op has an axe to grind I’m sure she’s a GP and not a receptionist though because everyone always tells the truth online...