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.

My vet is fantastic toom I'm convinced it's because money changes hands and the concept of service is intact.

What the hell does a vet's receptionists have to do with anything? Are you suggesting we should all just go to the vet instead?

I wish we could go to vets then we could get a same day appointment not one in a months time. And the vet doesn't lose half the cat's records.

Your triage system is flawed.

The GP de-prioritising people unwilling to share sensitive information with the call handler is unfair to those people, especially when that policy is not transparent.

The triage system, if it is in place at our surgery, obviously doesn't work. I recently rang on a Monday morning to say I was very concerned about my husband who has prostate cancer. I explained his symptoms and was told he couldn't see his doctor for two weeks. The receptionist finally relented and arranged for the gp to ring. He said he would see him in one week. The following day I was so concerned I rang the oncology nurse at the hospital. She said I should ring the surgery and tell them he needed some tests done urgently. By evening he was in hospital. He was seriously ill and if I hadn't intervened he could have died. We have received no apology. What concerns me is that some people don't have anyone to intervene for them and others wouldn't stand up to receptionists who are sometimes quite authoritarian.

gwenhyfar now that would be progress . Perhaps my vet practice could provide customer service training to my gp practice. They are quite close. Also I get three month scripts for the cat's arthritis. £56 a bottle and Petplan reimburse 80%. Cat's annual insurance is £720, £200 excess because he's old. Two check ups and two lots of bloods so we just about break even. The staff are always pleased to see us. Even better than our local private hospital tbh.

I believe vets can treat humans but GPs can't treat animals.

No IME a decent vet can not give you a same day appointment unless it is an emergency. Our vets triage.

@Gwenhwyfar

In Germany, they do health checks from the age of 35. I don't think that early is strictly necessary, but that system (which is also free at the point of use, by the way!) strives to catch age-related) problems like type 2 diabetes, blood pressure issues etc. early rather than mopping up the damage and patching people up, which is what the NHS seems to prefer doing.

Last month I requested a blood test for calcium, because last pregnancy I had an issue that could be caused by lack of this, though might not be. ENT specialist said I could get it tested. It came to nothing as calcium levels are fine, but at least we've ruled that out, so for now I won't end up with bad bones.

Vague symptoms like feeling tired can have a lot of causes and only the patient knows what's normal for them. So dismissing this with, 'well, you're only a little bit tired. So it'll probably help to just have an extra nap or an hour's more sleep. Not a blood test. ' is hardly helpful.

"I believe vets can treat humans but GPs can't treat animals."

Well, I think they COULD in an emergency, but they're probably not really allowed to, are they? This whole vets discussion is completely irrelevant.

"Vague symptoms like feeling tired can have a lot of causes and only the patient knows what's normal for them. So dismissing this with, 'well, you're only a little bit tired. So it'll probably help to just have an extra nap or an hour's more sleep. Not a blood test. ' is hardly helpful."

Nope, but this is what happens if you have a gatekeeper system were doctors are actively trying to block patients from getting the tests or referrals they need because resources are so scarce. We need more doctors and more money for the NHS.

Under the NHS you are entitled to a free annual health check from I think 40. A friend has them every year. They just arent advertised as the evidence base is they are not particularly helpful.

And feeling tired a lot as your only symptom is likely to be something lifestyle related.

I kind of agree and disagree with this. I understand that some surgeries are so busy and so understaffed that a system like this has to be put into place but I HATE it that i have to call up at 8am in order to get an appointment. This is just as I'm getting my DS ready for the school run. I inevitably have to wait for at least 20 mins until the phone is answered and then I have to explain my issues to someone who gets to decide whether or not my its urgent. It puts me off calling for appointments! I've had an issue with my nasal passages since February that I'm just living with because of this system. I walked into the surgery to ask for an appointment but was told I couldn't and i had to call at 8am.

"Under the NHS you are entitled to a free annual health check from I think 40. "

Not in Wales, as far as I know.

Under the NHS you are entitled to a free annual health check from I think 40. A friend has them every year. They just arent advertised as the evidence base is they are not particularly helpful

It’s every 5 years. Definitely not annual.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/nhs-health-check/

I couldnt agree less OP.
I don't know whether this has ocurred to you but ill people often feel vulnerable. Threatening them with not being seen because they don't want to discuss their piles or menopause symptons or voices in their head with a receptionist is callous and patronising.
You sound very young, as if you have not had enough life experience yet to realise that people can be fragile. But I haven't rtft so maybe I'm wrong.

Maybe it is every 5 years you get a letter, but my friend has it annually from her GP. She just asks for it and gets it. I would not know about it if she did not have it. I also had the heart health check when I turned 50.

Our GP receptionist gets bonuses for all the patients she manages to turn away/refer elsewhere, I'm sure she does.

If I phone for a GP appointment for my daughter's mental health issues then it is because I need to see a GP for my daughter's mental health issues. I don't want a referral to CAHMS because we've been. It didn't work. She was too anxious to talk to them. I don't want to be referred to the school counsellors because we've done that already. She was too anxious to talk to them. I don't want to be put on a six month waiting list for group therapy because she is scared of large groups people. I don't want a 'nice chat with a prescribing nurse' and I don't care if the prescribing nurse is 'young and trendy and relatable.' That will make things worse. It's her peers who cause her anxiety and the prescribing nurse won't prescribe anti-anxiety medication to a minor without her seeing a GP first. I want to see a GP and I don't want to have to fight to get access to one.

I do tell them my symptoms. I don't like that they question my need for a Dr when they are not medically trained and have no idea of my medical history.

Yep vets not completely relevant but there are some similarities especially with regard to the difficulties involved with training non-vet receptionists where to put appointments. eg pushing owners to come in ASAP if their pet has signs that the owner should be more worried about than they actually are (it's surprising how close to death some pets can get-particularly cats with cardiac or respiratory problems- whilst looking not too bad) and conversely, tactfully but firmly telling owners that they can't have an 3 "emergency" kennel cough vaccinations that evening when they ring at 7.55pm or a script written on the spot within 2 minutes when they have just turned up without ringing to order it first.

Some things we can learn from the GPs (I would love it if we had a receptionists' office dedicated to the phones with no phones on the front desk at all- trying to answer phones and deal with customers face to face is almost impossible to do without appearing rude at times).

Some things the GPs could perhaps learn from us eg the flashup memos that you can attach to client records.

I'd like to know how GP receptionist training compares to ours- is it all inhouse or are there online training courses from medical receptionist associations?

Then it's a shit system. Not all receptionists are nice.

I used to get barked at by a previous receptionist when I called who was also renowned for gossiping. She's actually in prison now, unrelated but she withdrew large amounts of cash from a dead man's bank account 2 hours after he died. The current receptionist is a close mate. I don't want to tell her about mine or DC's intimate medical details. Also, they're not trained to know how serious a medical problem is. One tried to tell my brother he just had the flu, when in fact he had a life threatening condition.

Look OP, I get it. My GP Surgery been doing this system since I joined at 18. I don’t mind. What I DO mind is the bloody receptionist speaking to you like shit and thinking she’s the Dr.

We need more doctors and more money for the NHS.
Well that's it in a nutshell. As a PP said, there will never be enough product to meet demand. Kind of like NICE having to decide what's cost effective and who can and can't have certain drugs...it has to be done from a more or less utilitarian viewpoint.

@powershowerforanhour

Finally someone with rational thinking.

Only prepared to give it more money if it manages its resources better.

barked at
screamed at
ego trip
jumped up
bitches
dragon
rude
bitch
gossipy
bitches

Wow.
Do GP receptionist jobs attract a disproportionate number of awful people?
Or turn a chunk of a normal cross section of people (well, women, largely) into awful people?
Is the messenger getting shot when they can't make two little fishes and five loaves of bread feed the 5000?
Is the perception of receptionists skewed by the level of stress (health fear, embarrassment, time pressure) experienced by the patients (one person's brisk could be another's brusque; one person's sympathetic could be another's nosy).
Mixture of all of the above?

Is this "jumped up bitches" thing prevalent amongst other receptionists- dentists, podiatrists, benefits office, secondary school office, car garage?

I'm trying to think of horrible receptionists I have encountered in any walk of life but can't think of any. The 2 receptionists on A+E the one time I attended were distinctly, um, joyless but they weren't actively horrible and I suspect they'd had a tough shift.

"Is this "jumped up bitches" thing prevalent amongst other receptionists- dentists, podiatrists, benefits office, secondary school office, car garage? "

I've never seen a benefits office with a receptionist other than security guards who do crowd control, but obviously it's a place where staff have complete power over 'clients' so if someone wants to be horrible, it's pretty easy to get away with it.

The receptionists at my surgery are quite nice, but I'm very unhappy about having to shout at them through the thick glass.