GP's receptionist

[LemonMeringueThreePointOneFour]

I got some blood tests back today which slowed slightly raised MCV and MCH. I know from past experience that sometimes if a test result is only just outside the normal range the GP isn't concerned and doesn't require a consultation or need to prescribe treatment.

So I spoke to the receptionist and said that I had slightly abnormal tests results and wanted to find out whether the GP thought they needed to discuss it with me (I was very careful with my wording and to speak clearly). She said, "We don't have any appointments today."

I tried again and said I wasn't sure that I needed one, but wanted to establish whether the GP thought it was necessary to see me. She said, "So you would like me to book an appointment?"

I tried for a third time and said that no, I didn't want to take up an appointment if it wasn't necessary, but would like to know whether anything should be done about my marginally abnormal test results.

Finally she got the message and went to check, then came back to say the GP didn't need to discuss (as I'd suspected).

WIBU? Was I unclear? I really felt like I was speaking a different language. They may have been busy at the surgery as I was on hold for about ten minutes - although when I've been in there I've noticed they don't really seem to react to the phone ringing.

They are generally a bit shit at that surgery (their rating is poor), but I was trying to save NHS resources and don't understand why my question was so hard to convey! Not a big deal, but I just found it a very enervating experience.

Oh, and if anyone could tell me what raised MCV/MCH means I'd be grateful.

@TheUndoingProject

It sounds like you were trying to be helpful, but underestimated the administrative burden your request actually put on practice staff.

I don’t think it would hurt for you to be a little be more respectful about the receptionist though.

Exactly this!

GPs receptionists cannot win. If they use initiative they are overstepping the mark and if they don't they are being unhelpful. The ones in our surgery are great and I honestly don't know how they manage to do the job considering the rudeness and lack of respect shown to them by the public

@welliesarefuntowear the lab usually rings through abnormal bloods taken that day around 5pm. Once a GP couldn't get hold of a patient but we Receptionists knew which pub he would be in for his dinner and a pint and she walked down into town to find him and get him back to the surgery. She let him finish his food and pint first.

@TroysMammy What a legend 😂

It's a job I did for 7 years.The drs told us to ask things over the phone which I hated as the patients found it intrusive.

I think that YABU and quite unkind. You got your answer, didn’t you? This seems like an utter non-event and your comments about how “I didn’t think I’d need to say it as if I was talking to a five year old” make you sound pretty nasty.

You don't have to get chapter and verse. Sometimes if patients are finding it difficult I just ask them if they've spoken about this issue before to another GP. Ask if it's urgent for today. If it's relating to mental health I assure them that's enough. But if someone has got a uti. Which is so straightforward for us to get sorted. And they won't disclose.

If MCV and MCH are marginally elevated I'd want to test your B12 and folate levels as it can be a sign of macrocytic anaemia

I'm assuming you were symptomatic of something (probably anaemia) if you had the test done in the first place

@iolaus

If MCV and MCH are marginally elevated I'd want to test your B12 and folate levels as it can be a sign of macrocytic anaemia

I'm assuming you were symptomatic of something (probably anaemia) if you had the test done in the first place

Yes, I had anaemia and was prescribed iron tablets.

@welliesarefuntowear my GP receptionists are absolutely lovely and put up with me explaining my weird symptoms because they know who the best GP to speak to is! My ailments do tend to be non-urgent but weird though; ‘I’m not in any pain but I’ve started leaking a viscous neon liquid from both eyes’ does get you seen quickly!

I don’t get what the AIBU is. You asked a question and they answered it for you. Are you really complaining because they didn’t immediately understand what you wanted them to do and had to clarify it?

If MCV and MCH are marginally elevated I'd want to test your B12 and folate levels as it can be a sign of macrocytic anaemia
This definitely, that is b12 if the results were a bit high.

Ask for an active B12 tests as the standard one is not always accurate in showing deficiency. Don't take multi vitamins or anything with b12 as it will mess up the results.

Sadly GPs know very little about b12 deficiencies.

My GPs surgery at least has the courtesy to warn you when you call that the receptionist will ask some questions.

Unfortunately I think that the reputation of GP receptionists has got to the point where people expect them to be awkward (as they see it), then you add in those who try various ways of getting to speak to the doctor immediately (the same goes for people complaining to a manager), then you add in people who cannot communicate because most of their life they text or email instead of speaking to anyone, then you add in people who are just nasty, that most people are never going to be happy with GP receptionists. Probably also many of the good ones leave as the abuse they get means they look for other jobs.

@Slothkin

When patients with weird symptoms phone up and they go "hello. I don't want to be any bother but it appears my leg is hanging off (for the sake of argument). It's been hanging off for a while and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. I've tried over the counter cream but the pharmacist thinks I should see a doctor. I know you're busy and I don't mind waiting "

Yes! You should see a doctor!

There are a lot of people who struggle with symptoms who think they're wasting the GP s time.

@Slothkin - pre-covid you would only have to say problem with my eye(s) and I'll be booking you in no questions asked and without waiting for any explanation. I have an eye phobia, I can't look at a photo of a Scotch egg cut in half as it looks too much eyeball like for me . If a patient now has to send email photographs of eyes to the GP, I give them someone else's email address so I don't see it in my inbox.

@TroysMammy the photos have been a game changer on reception I think. We have a text service so usually they go straight into the record but sometimes they come in email. It's the complexity of getting info to GP for them to do a reasonable assessment over the phone.

Scotch eggs and eyeballs . I love a scotch egg.

@TroysMammy if it helps it turned out there was nothing wrong with my eyes, I just have a hereditary think with blocked sinuses so it went up rather than down.

Possibly not as simple as you think. She was on the phone to you and wanted her to check with a GP at that very moment (not specified but the implication) if it needed further discussion. She would need to find a GP that was free (not easy) contact them, get them to look in your record, make a decision and relay it back to her who then told you. Imagine If they did this for everybody who just had ‘a quick question for the GP’ ? You should have booked a telephone appointment it would have taken the GP exactly the same length of time as today but freed the receptionist to do their job. The fact you could see your results and had not been contacted is a good sign nothing was to worry about.

@LemonMeringueThreePointOneFour if you have iron deficient anaemia it will lower your MCH and MCV so it probably is actually not borderline high but actually high

@welliesarefuntowear the thing is I nag my Mum about this sort of thing all the time and then breezily explain to my husband ‘I just get this sometimes’ as my hands and face inflate (have never narrowed it down beyond something in industrial cleaning products).

@Slothkin I think most people don't want to think something could be wrong so put it off. If it's someone you love then you will do anything to get them sorted out when that person is going stop fussing, I'm fine.