"Can I ask what it's for?"

[Syrinx89]

Is it normal for the receptionist to ask this question when booking a GP appointment over the phone? This happened to me for the first time on Monday when calling my local surgery for an appointment and I wondered what I would have said if it was something I wanted to keep confidential (thankfully, it wasn't!). Has anyone else had any experience with this? Is it allowed/the norm?

YABU - YES it is common practice
YANBU - No, this doesn't sit well

Rest assured, the receptionist at my gp is a bitch, and does indeed bring out the twat in me.

Rest assured, the receptionist at my gp is a bitch
Even if she is she is still doing her job.
🤷‍♀️

I think it's very bad to ask but they all seem to, so I just reply.... I want to talk to the doctor, and I repeat if the question is repeated and that's the end of it.

It’s normal at my surgery but it has meant I’ve been able to see the prescribing nurse instead before, which has meant a quicker appointment for me and frees up the GP. It’s also meant because the receptionist realised what I thought was something quite minor about my child was important enough for us to come in after the GP had finished their morning surgery and be seen then (as no appointments were available).

Yes it's called care navigation. I work for a gp.

It is so you can be given an appointment with the best person to deal with your problems and very often saves you having to come back for another appointment.

With the current situation, I would be worried
If they didn’t ask !!!!

I think , Ruth, that it's also to protect doctors from seeing patients they don't need to see. I think that's a good thing, actually, but it ought to be stated openly and honestly.

It's common. If you don't want to say, just tell them you'd rather not say.

Totally normal to ask this. They’ve started asking at my surgery.

I work in a GP practice. We have to ask, as instructed by the GP’s who run the practice and pay our wages. When we book the appointment we have to fill out a template, and if we don’t state the reason or put ‘personal’ etc they listen to the call and haul us in to be told off if we haven’t tried hard enough to get the reason from you. So if people don’t like it then complain to the GP.

Rest assured, the receptionist doesn’t care about the reason and we have literally heard it all before.

My surgery always asks but followed by you dont have to say it just helps the doctor to prioritize (my surgery you have call with a dr first then the dr books you in as they see fit )

I used to be a gp receptionist and as others have said we were instructed to ask. And for good reason too- mainly to avoid appts that could be delt with over the counter or pharmacist advice (e.g. morning after pill) to free up appointments for ones thst did need a gp, but also as I had people phone with severe chest pain, broken limbs etc all not realising they should be going straight to a&e or phoning an ambulance.
A lot of the elderly were very resistant to being a bother and only just felt comfortable going to their doctor and would never phone 999 unless instructed to. Also things like suspected chicken pox need to be known in advance so the patient can be isolated straight away rather than sat in the waiting room where it could potentially pass on and kill an immunocompromised patient. Yes its a pain and it's intrusive, but it's for good reason. You don't have to answer.

I would not mind giving a slight description of what was wrong with me to a receptionist at my surgery - if it many any difference as to who, or when I was assigned an appointment.
I have been assigned to dr’s / practitioners without the skill required to carry out the task the appointment was made for on a number of occasions - ie recently waited 4 weeks for a smear appointment, to be confronted with a male doctor who was not currently qualified to perform the task.
I’d have preferred a woman - but had he been able to would do it, I wild have been ok with it.. as he couldn’t do it at all, it was a waste of an appointment (is it £160 they quote?) a waste of half a day out of work that then had to be repeated for me, and me sharing my very personal needs with a receptionist that was apparently ignored!

We’ve always had basic phone triage like this, and the head of practice recently recorded a message for the phone line explaining that it’s for a reason, at the request of the GPS, and not just nosiness on the part of the reception team. Apparently there had been rather a lot of low-level bitching from patients.

It's common practice

'you can ask, however I'll discuss it with the GP thanks. It's not something for a nurse or health practitioner [that's why they ask] which is why I'm asking for a GP appt.'

Got asked this 3 days ago when I'd just spent 5 minutes explaining, face to face, why I needed an emergency appt as the doc had said to come straight in if certain things happened. Certain things did. And she still asked. Really pissed me off. And she set the appt with the wrong GP. They do a great job most of the time but sometimes, they're the most fury inducing individuals.

Rant came from nowhere - apologies!

Usually our surgery is about 2 weeks booking time for appointments in advance, but the other Monday I had to ring up for an emergency appt for my DS - due to a whole body rash , looking a bit like chicken pox, but not, I was told to come in for a morning appt, saw the triage nurse , and then she called in a GP as she wasn’t sure - the GP is an expert dermatologist and identified it pretty instantly. Not chicken pox. Worked really well. Frees up the GPs if the nurse can do a first look.

They do it to prioritise patients but it's not acceptable because the receptionist is not a nurse and therefore not qualified to triage anyone! You can use it to your advantage though. Tell them you have a uti and they will see you straight away as there is a risk of it becoming a more serious kidney infection.

I live in a small town in Ireland so pay €50 for a GP appointment. However, I get to see my preferred doctor same day and no intrusive questions from the receptionist. I rang at 3pm on a Friday once as I had a sinus infection that wasn’t getting better and I saw my GP around 5pm that day.
There is a public health scheme for patients on low incomes or retired etc. who aren’t charged a fee. They still get same day appts.

A receptionist at a general practice is bound to the same rules of confidentiality as any other member of the team. They ate a central part of the practice team and I have no problem at all sharing with them why I need an appointment. They're not dying it because they are being nosy, they're doing it because it's their job.

They do it to prioritise patients but it's not acceptable because the receptionist is not a nurse and therefore not qualified to triage anyone!

If they didn't ask that would mean EVERYONE who wanted an appointment would have to been shown into the GP - unless they specifically asked for a different service. The frontline NHS would collapse within days if you tried to do that. Half the GP's time would be spent sending people back out to the receptionist to get an appointment with the appropriate person.

Common practice. I just tell them what it’s for even if it’s a bit embarrassing because really; they don’t give a fuck and it’s not that interesting to them as they’ve got lots of work going on

I don’t like it but realise it’s for a reason. However, if it’s personal then just say so, that’s what I do. But if not then just tell them so they can direct you to the best person to help you

Yes you get asked for a brief description of you illness, it's so they know if to give you a doctors or nurse appointment. You can say it's to do with your privates etc. I does depend where you are when you phone I would imagine.

They asked me when I phoned for an appointment, and when I told them what the problem was, I got the first appointment of the day.

My GP never asks thankfully