Why are GP receptionists so rude?

[cosmikdebris]

Every single one I've experienced,especially now I'm a mum, seem to act like guardians of the nhs. I've been trying to sign up to my local GP since JUNE LAST YEAR! They've lost my sign up forms 3 times, told me my information is wrong twice and straight up told me to 'sign up else where if i don't like how they practice' and have also told me I'm an irresponsible parent for missing my daughters first jab date (I missed it because they lost mine and her sign up forms may I add).

I tried another go slightly further away yesterday, only to be treated with more attitude and rudeness. I'm so desperate for some help with my mental health, and I've got a backlog of different physical things I need checked, I don't understand why they're all so eager to work against you! Surely they should be required to be calm and compassionate towards people, considering doctor's surgeries are generally full of unwell people.

I just don't understand it. Maybe it's more stressful than I think it is? Maybe I'm just unlucky! Or maybe they're required to put up a front so people don't waste the time of doctors? It's not difficult to just be nice to people though...is it?

It varies wildly IMO. Mine are lovely, others I have dealt with in the past not so much.

Personally I really they don’t envy their job and so always try to be extra nice. Working with the public is no picnic at the best of times. Dealing with frightened, ill, frustrated and angry people every day must be even harder.

It definitely sounds like you should sign up elsewhere. A written complaint to the practice manager would help them identify and assess the relevant issues. They should be given the chance to put things right.

@RosesAndHellebores so the prescription had been done, sent to the pharmacy, and the pharmacy hadn't checked thoroughly before dispensing someone else's prescription. No surgery error there, that one is firmly in the pharmacy's court.
It's hilarious that you think a prescription should be hand delivered to your house

I'm with you OP. Some are fine but most are really rude. Ok it must be a difficult job at times but surely most people they see are not troublemakers so I don't see why they need to start conversations with such an antagonistic tone?

Lots of GP receptionists used to be rude. Possibly most. Partly as an unspoken gate keeping function. Partly stress.

These days we all have the power to leave reviews (on nhs.uk and the other review sites).

Big change now. More practice staff are friendlier these days!

Have too much power
I find it hilarious that some gp practices let receptionists triage patients....with all their zilch medical knowledge of course
Online booking was a good way to get past the gatekeeper but thats not allowed now. Because of covid

OP I agree. They think they're so bloody important. SIL is now a gp receptionist and suits her down to a t

I've moved a lot and experienced some really nasty GP receptionists, including one who refused to let me have a GP appointment for a chest infection because the "GP doesn't need to see you for a cold". I ended up hospitalised with pneumonia in a busy London hospital who I'm sure would rather I'd had timely antibiotics and hadn't taken a bed.

My current GP receptionists are so lovely I'm constantly surprised.

I wonder if it is in part a defence mechanism against unreasonable expectations/behaviour from patients/potential patients, or that reputation over the years has meant that people who would be pleasant and suited to the job take other jobs.

It's also now one of the few routine things where you have to speak to someone as opposed to doing everything online or via machine. So any rudeness is heightened and communication skills of many people just not there.

I've come across an awful one at my old, small GP but the ones at my new one are all incredibly helpful. It's a massive practice, lots of people on the phone and desk, all but one have been lovely.

It might just be terrible luck, are there any others you can try or get a recommendation from a friend? Definitely get the HV involved now though.

Most of ours are lovely but one is a complete cow.

I've been a GP receptionist for 12 years. I think it's like any job OP, you get the good and the bad. I genuinely enjoy my job although it is extremely stressful and draining. I've been reduced to tears a few times by rude patients as obviously we are the sounding board for people's frustrations. I do not deliberately stop you seeing a GP face to face. Our policy now is, in the first instance, a phone call from the clinician. Then if they want to see you, they will give you a time to come in. I am not allowed to book face to face appointments but patients get annoyed with me and think it's my decision - I can assure you, it's not.
I'm sorry to hear you've experienced problems with your new surgery. Its very frustrating when paperwork goes missing but pleased to hear that side is sorted now.
I try to understand that, for some people, ringing their GP is a big thing especially if the staff are rude and unhelpful. You wait for ages on the phone (and no, we're not sitting round drinking tea ignoring the phones!) only to be told 'sorry, computer says no' but our hands are tied when all the telephone appointments are gone. If we just fit you in cos 'it'll only take 5 minutes ' we are told off by the clinicians. When that happens I offer alternatives, could you see a pharmacist?, can I book you in at a minor injuries unit?, can I book you in the next day?, i really try to help but a lot of the time it just isn't good enough. It can be a soul destroying job but also very rewarding, a real rollercoaster. However, it's a job i get paid for (albeit minimum wage), it's interesting, satisfying (when I can help) and some of the patients are so lovely and grateful

Every single one I have encountered has been helpful and polite.

I mean this really nicely.
Go and find another GP practice.
We moved a few years ago so signed up with a different one. It's like night and day.
My friend did similar and in one appt the GP suggested that she may have one illness rather than what she had been treated for for years and was given a different drug. Changed her life.

The ones at our GP are lovely! So much so we dropped them off some sweets at Christmas, however the doctors I used to go to were awful- i remember making an appointment for contraception at 16, and she said very loudly "contraception, are you sure".. it was a village GP and I'm certain people in there new my parents and grandparents!

@spurs4ever you have misunderstood. The prescription was never sent to the pharmacy, it was given to another patient who realised a fortnight later and brought it to my house. A severe breach of personal data notwithstanding the fact that a prescription for a class B drug should be signed for.

And actually when a service provider totally screws up and causes me significant inconvenience and loss of time, yes I do expect the service provider to sort out their error and take the hit on their time. If that happened GP surgeries might be a little better organised administratively.

*knew

Agree OP. I have often found them to be unnecessarily abrupt.

Those saying it’s because it’s a stressful job and some people are rude, does that make it OK to be rude to people who are asking politely for an appointment for an entirely reasonable cause?

ours are awful, they go out of their way to be horrid, from body language, lack of eye contact, not looking up for ages while you are waiting, quite apart from the bile and inefficiency that comes out of their moths

BUT

last time I was there she suddenly was quite nice to an elderly lady. I was gobsmacked. I'm thinking it must be because they are taught that 95% of patients shouldn't be bothering the NHS and think of patients as "scroungers"

Mine used to be awful.

Like a moody gatekeeper. Seemed to have some weird self importance like she was the actual medical expert.

Thankfully she's long gone and the current staff are all friendly and helpful.

It must be a hell of a job.

The ones at our surgery are absolutely amazing, kind, go the extra mile, genuinely can't do enough. However during lockdown we had to deal a couple of times with the main branch and it was a completely different experience. Rude, obstructive and dismissive. So even within the same surgery group you can have a completely different culture or attitude to the job they do.

I think the receptionists at my doctors need a lesson in treating people as you would wish to be treated yourself. Namely that if you’re rude, dismissive and downright nasty to patients, the chances are you probably aren’t going to be treated to their most polite side either.

i say mine is lovely, fingers crossed they continue to be and that i havent jinxed it.

They may well be under pressure from an equally insensitive practice manager. I had occasion to request my notes, and had to look at them in an office in the practice. The practice manager asked an inocuous question, then looked over my shoulder at the incredibly sensitive page I was reading, and made the kind of comment that left me too stunned to say anything. If he was similarly unfeeling to his staff and to other patients in general, I would not be surprised if they adopted his attitude.

And yes to the hopeless phone system that no longer has ringback, the endless automatic messages when you do eventually get through to the queue, and having to time your illness to the vagaries of the new appointments system. Not to mention the online booking and Ask my GP, which many people can't access easily.

So by the time I'm face to face with a receptionist, I'm exhausted and fearful.