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.

OP I understand your frustration but by now you must see that not all receptionists are the same. Also that comment you made about anyone just being able to get an appointment - well, isn't that the idea?
I'm feeling very cynical at the moment because I've just changed gp, after far too many bad experiences at my previous one. Lovely doctors, awful receptionists. Couldn't even get a same day appointment for a lump on my breast when I called at 8.20, because all the emergency slots had gone. That wasn't a great 24hrs. Yes it was cancer. Your triage might work for you, but it doesn't work for very many other people. So get a grip yourself.

That’s all fine and dandy unless you live in a small village where the GP’s receptionist was in your class at school, is regularly seen falling out of the local shit faced and is a huge gossip.
I go to the large practice in my nearby town where I’m more than happy to tell the receptionist anything she wants to know.

"It’s shocking and unprofessional that, by your own admission, you de prioritize patients who don’t want to discuss their private medical issues with a receptionist and those whose ailments don’t interest you! WTF! Are you for real? What about people with mental health issues, embarrassing conditions, sexually transmitted diseases, just to mention 3 off the top of my head? Or autistic people or people with social disorders who find it a challenge to communicate? Shame on you."

This.

Some people are very shy and some people have subjectively very embarrassing problems.

So if I had been engaging in some bizarre activity and had a lightbulb stuck up my arse, would I get dumped at the bottom of the queue while we all waited for it to implode?

Interesting.
I always assumed it was because some people are stupid enough to try and book appointments for things they can treat at home - contagious things at that. Or, they might try and book an appointment when a trip to the pharmacist would do - or the nurse.
Either way, I’ve always told the receptionist why I need to book the appointment and don’t get why you wouldn’t!

My GP's receptionists always explain why they are asking when they ask. They have such a way about them, it surely couldn't get anyone's back up by them asking.

I have never been refused to see a Dr when I needed to see a Dr. When I had a seriously low kidney function and rang to see my GP, I got to see the one I had seen all along less than three hours later. As it happened, I had sepsis, the stent I have between my one functioning kidney and my bladder had blocked and moved. I was told to go home and pack and wait for a call from the hospital. I got that quickly, was put on IV antibiotics almost as soon as I got there. I was operated on within 36 hours.

I can say I have nothing but praise for my surgery, and have had the appropriate treatment all along.

IMO it's the privacy aspect - having to say it in a waiting room probably full of other people - that is the problem with most patients. And not all receptionists are tactful or at all discreet.
I well remember my mother being so utterly mortified when a receptionist virtually shouted, 'Is it about your waterworks, dear?'

I do think GPs and receptionists ought to understand this. How about a system where the patient could instead write a few words?

What I am frustrated by is our inability to hold onto receptionists, because they can’t bear the abuse they get for asking what the problem is, as we direct them to do.

An online/email appointment request system would avoid this and allow you to retain staff.

We are in an area with next to no immigration, so have hardly any patients who don’t speak English

In general though, everyone gets a call the same day (or the next day if they ring up or walk in after 5pm), so they will still get time with a doctor. It may even be better for the doctor to call them towards the end of the surgery when the triage list is almost finished, as we can afford to spend a longer period of time talking to the patient

What am I reading? This sounds terrible. What use is a call at the end of the day? They don't want to speak to a doctor they want an appointment! I work in a neonatal unit, what if you called me back mid resus? I can't have my phone on me anyway. What a load of crap!

OP- can someone talk to the receptionist in private setting or is your waiting room/reception area designed in a way it's likely other people will hear the conversation?

Our reception is separate from the waiting areas, so no, people there cannot hear what is going on in reception. And our receptionists only call one person up to the desk at a time to maximise privacy.

You should use nurses, not low waged untrained receptionist to have these conversations. How do they know the questions to ask? This really relies on people saying the right things

A) We can’t afford to.

B) there’s no need. Our receptionists don’t ask questions. They simply ask for an outline of the concern and type down what the patient says.

C) Everyone gets a call from a doctor the same day. It just affects the order we call them in.

By using this system you are prioritising people with problems that are not embarrassing to discuss in public and who have time to be callef back. It is discriminatory.

I asked an American what things had surprised her about the UK (it's an interesting question to ask recent arrivals as it tells you things about your own culture). She promptly said: 'Tbey called my name out in the doctor's!' Apparently (for all its faults) even the American system protects patient privacy better than the British one.

I must say though that when I didn't want to discuss my fertility treatment in the open plan GP reception the lovely receptionist came round and took me into an empty waiting room. I even got a good luck note from the Dr with the medication. I love our GP! (although I researched it and chose one that had a good reputation.

People on this thread: I know it's not always easy but you do have a right to change practice. They vary a great deal in how organised and helpful they are. There are reviews on the CQC website.

My GP surgery uses this system and for most people it's great.
But, there are some people for whom it really doesn't work.
I am usually at work when the surgery opens. If I can't ring in first thing, I don't stand a chance of getting a call back.
If I can, working in a public facing role means I only have particular times when I'm permitted to take personal phone calls - and these vary from day to day. There is no guarantee that the GP will be able to call me in those times, which I fully understand.
The triage system doesn't work for me, although it may for many, and yes, I do give the receptionist my symptoms. (FWIW, I've never phoned in without needing an appointment, and being given one).
I could try and book an appointment at the late night or early morning surgeries, but of course I don't know in advance that I'm going to be ill - and these appointments are booked up weeks ahead, so they are no use to me anyway.
My surgery actively discourage walk-ins, because many people who are able to go and wait for hours do so. This disadvantages people like me, who don't have the option of going to work on the off-chance that they may be seen quickly.

OP, you don’t seem to be taking people’s legitimate points on board here, I have to say.

I'm quite happy to tell the receptionist why I'm there, especially when my diabetic nurse has requested that I have 3-monthly blood tests while we adjust my insulin dosage. I wish the receptionist was equally happy to give me the appointments my doctor and specialist nurse have asked me to attend instead of telling me haughtily that 'you had one 3 months ago so you'll have to wait another 9 months I'm afraid'.

What am I reading? This sounds terrible. What use is a call at the end of the day? They don't want to speak to a doctor they want an appointment! I work in a neonatal unit, what if you called me back mid resus? I can't have my phone on me anyway. What a load of crap!

And they will get an appointment the next day if they need one.

For people whose job means they cannot answer the phone at certain times, our receptionists type e.g. ‘after 4pm’ next to the patient’s name.

C) Everyone gets a call from a doctor the same day. It just affects the order we call them in.

So they don't get an appointment?

Since most practices are run as businesses, maybe you could take a pay cut out of your six figure earnings to pay for a nurse?

Earlier in the thread, someone posted that their surgery phone system begins with a message from one of the doctors, explaining that the caller will need to give a brief description to the receptionist. That would seem like a good idea for your receptionists, OP. people are less likely to be unpleasant to them if they've heard the doctor's voice telling them to do so (choose the most popular doctor in your practice to do that).

Als, I'm sure the call back system sounds a good idea from your perspective, but I was one of those workers not allowed to have my mobile phone with me during working hours (under ANY circumstances). My daughter is also in that position AND her work starts before the surgery phone line opens, so she can't even call to make an appointment in that five minute period where you might have half a chance of getting one. Ironically, she's a nurse.

OP, you don’t seem to be taking people’s legitimate points on board here, I have to say

I’m afraid I disagree. Most people seem to be quite clear that they do not want receptionists triaging patients, yet all their ‘solutions’ entail receptionists triaging patients...

I always wandered why they asked. Maybe they should say on their recorded message

The solution is for the practice to employ a trained healthcare professional.

The problem is @privateeyefan is as you can read from this thread. The receptionists are making the decisions - not you as GP's

"I’m just saying that behind the refusal are people who may have very legitimate reasons for not wanting to say. I know the receptionist couldn’t care less but it’s not always that straightforward for the patient."

When I finally plucked up the courage to phone and make an appointment regarding my deep and clinical depression I happened to get a really, really lovely receptionist who I was able to speak to and got me a same day appointment.

However , the other receptionist is a dragon and I'd genuinely have hung up if I'd had to say it out loud to her.

It's a lottery for us, OP, it realyl is.

If my father had done what the doctor’s receptionist said he should have done, he would have died! He told her exactly how he was feeling,; chest pain, and arm pain. She basically told him to go away and come back the next day, luckily he stayed where he was in the reception until one of the doctors came out to see him, he was having a heart attack, so I have a rather sceptical view of doctors receptionists and their powers of diagnosis !

The OP did not say you would not be seen but that you would be seen last. The plus is that as you say if you specialise in an area then it would be a bonus to see that GP. Our family have seen the nurse at times, which worries me not at all I have confidence I would be handed on to the GP if they felt it warranted a GP appointment.