To tell doctors receptionist I was correct in what I said.

[ponyexpress22]

A while ago we had a letter through the post informing us that our GP was resigning. We were given a list of 3 gps who we could apply to. However none of them were taking on new patients so we got assigned one.

When I phoned up to make contact with new one I mentioned that our old doctor had resigned. She answered me very harshly and said "he's retired not resigned." It was like she thought I was implying something distasteful? I apologized and said "sorry I meant retired". So when I got home I reread the letter and I was right. It did say "resigned". Why was she insistent that he'd retired, and should I just forget it? Sorry if it seems trivial. Aibu?

@KisstheTeapot14

OP I feel for you, this is exactly the sort of thing I get stupidly het up about. In fact, something quite similar happened just this afto. Anyway,I digress;

Bright pink highlighter.

Highlight the word.

Sneak out at dead of night in balaklava, false beard etc and post anonymously through door in envelope marked 'Reception'

Slink off back into the darkness from whence you came.

Job done, and doubtful she will know its you.

Unless letter has your name/address on it, if so, scrap the above plan.

So funny. It's the kind of thing I dream about. Sort of thing Dawn French would do in the Vicar of Dibley.

@LexieB

I’m a doctors receptionist!!! 🤣 I’m lovely and genuinely enjoy helping patients! I’ve now got a place on a paramedic science degree course but always loved my receptionist role. I think patients perceive us to be unhelpful but it is a very stressful, fast paced job with so many extra things we have to do in a shift that i don’t think people realise. But I always endeavour to be polite and helpful as that’s what we are there for!

*@lexieb*

I’m a doctors receptionist!!! 🤣 I’m lovely and genuinely enjoy helping patients! I’ve now got a place on a paramedic science degree course but always loved my receptionist role. I think patients perceive us to be unhelpful but it is a very stressful, fast paced job with so many extra things we have to do in a shift that i don’t think people realise. But I always endeavour to be polite and helpful as that’s what we are there for!

@1Logan1

I have 2 lovely thoughtful daughters , DD1 is a practice manager in a large surgery , DD2 is a receptionist in a different practice. The point I am making here is that the way some of the general public speak to my DDs' is downright disgusting , I would go as far as to say that some people are telephone bullies. It is little wonder that at times that the receptionists are less than pleasant when people are so demanding when in fact they are only carrying out their duties in accordance with their employers guidelines . It's not the first time tears have been shed when someone has been particularly nasty with their swearing and threatening behaviour . Thankfully most people are pleasant.

As I said, some of them ARE lovely. like @lexieb and your daughters.. And I'm so sorry that your daughters are spoken to like crap!

It's hardly surprising that some of them are a bit prickly though, as they get SO many rude and nasty people during the course of the week.

Not sure what a paramedic science degree course is, lexieb but it sounds fab, and I hope you enjoy it, and that you do well.

YANBU, I took my elderly, shielding mother to a GP appt which takes a lot of planning, with my booking time off work, mum wearing accessible clothing, surgical gloves etc, only to be told by the receptionist that we didn’t have an appt and that we must be wrong. I had double check the appt twice with the GP so I was insistent that mum be seen that day. The GP did finally acknowledge he has made an appt but not informed the receptionist, but instead of an apology I was told by the receptionist it was my fault for turning up at the 17.00 appt 10 minutes early!
They know she is disabled and and shouldn’t be standing the cold for half an hour but just did not care.

ahhh thank you! it’s a degree to become a Paramedic. I know my fellow receptionists work flat at every shift for pretty much minimum wage. I know it’s our choice. the majority of patients are great. But some are very rude! But I just let it wash over me and assume people aren’t acting at their best when unwell. In an ideal world we would have appointments to offer everyone! But they run out! We aren’t medically trained but over the 7 years I’ve been there we do have a lot of experience and any major decisions about who needs an appointment are not made by the receptionists when they run out. It’s always sent to the duty doctor to decide! I think patients think we purposely hide appointments or deny them and that’s definitely not the case! Also we often have to follow protocol that the GPs have asked us to adhere to. Quite frankly it’s a very full on job! My sons 17 year old son earns more in M and S at his Saturday job! I do think the pay could be better!

It does not matter.

It means the GP has "resigned his contract with the health authority" it's what comes out on our letters when we retire.

@LexieB I've been watching that programme about paramedics on TV, the one with cameras following them round through their shift. I think they're absolutely awesome. They go above and beyond with their patients.You must get tremendous job satisfaction at the end of your shift knowing you've helped so many people.

@LexieB

I’m a doctors receptionist!!! 🤣 I’m lovely and genuinely enjoy helping patients! I’ve now got a place on a paramedic science degree course but always loved my receptionist role. I think patients perceive us to be unhelpful but it is a very stressful, fast paced job with so many extra things we have to do in a shift that i don’t think people realise. But I always endeavour to be polite and helpful as that’s what we are there for!

I love my doctor's receptionists because they do their best in a demanding job.

@notanothertakeaway

Our GP receptionists are wonderful

She thought she was right. You know you were right. What would be gained by pointing out out to her? The only reason to point out her error would yo to out her down. Why bother? Better to rise above it and move on

What would be gained is that she might not be so horrible in future.

The Receptionist was super weird to contradict what was in a letter... are they always this confrontational 🤣

@BrozTito

Probably riding him

Take the Letter in next time.. casually hold it up on the clear screen whilst you register your arrival for your appointment ...

🤣😂🤣😂🤣

@Formaldeheidi

I mean, if I knew that the person holding up the call queue when I finally got to number 2 from 37, was phoning to complain about wording on a letter about a GP that doesn’t work there anymore, I’d be pretty irate. Infact, I think my head would explode. Don’t waste people’s time with this.

Yes. Same to the receptionist pedantically ‘correcting’ her though?

@BrozTito

that was sooo Derry Girls 😂🤣

@Formaldeheidi

I mean, if I knew that the person holding up the call queue when I finally got to number 2 from 37, was phoning to complain about wording on a letter about a GP that doesn’t work there anymore, I’d be pretty irate. Infact, I think my head would explode. Don’t waste people’s time with this.

This

Yes. Same to the receptionist pedantically ‘correcting’ her though?

Yip 🤣 the Receptionist sounds like a right knob 😂

Perhaps whoever wrote the letter typed resigning instead of retiring?
Maybe you were the hundredth new patient that Receptionist had had to explain that to. It's not right to be so rude, and they could have explained the error in the letter to you politely.
Or Perhaps there is some back story being covered up.....

It’s 2021, we should be able to book a doctors appointment on an app, and the surgery should be more like a health spa. I can’t wait for GP services to be fully privatised, so these types of robotic receptionists can be cast aside for the future, a properly serviced doctor service.

@KisstheTeapot14

OP I feel for you, this is exactly the sort of thing I get stupidly het up about. In fact, something quite similar happened just this afto. Anyway,I digress;

Bright pink highlighter.

Highlight the word.

Sneak out at dead of night in balaklava, false beard etc and post anonymously through door in envelope marked 'Reception'

Slink off back into the darkness from whence you came.

Job done, and doubtful she will know its you.

Unless letter has your name/address on it, if so, scrap the above plan.

Love this! I would also be really really annoyed by this OP but you know you were right and that’s the main thing.

Yea the letter has caused a ruckus at the time with the typo.
Either the doctor was annoyed that it it implied he was walking away rather than nicely retiring, or they’ve had so many nosy patients asking why he resigned.

To clarify - I’m a doctor in my 50s. Doctors my age are able to take part of their pension at age 55. Obviously it means that their total pension fund is massively reduced, and the payments are way smaller than if they wait till proper pension age.
What a lot of doctors do is take their pension at 55, retire from the partnership, and work as a locum.
Locums get to just do the surgeries and not have any of the bureaucratic crap that is killing GPs. Of course there is no sick pay or holiday pay as a locum, but having a pension as well eases any financial anxiety.
So chances are your GP as sort of retired and resigned .

Say you did tell her you were correct. What then? What do you stand to gain? I can only imagine it would be some sort of gloaty smug self satisfaction. Are you really that sort of person?

Definitely correct her as we all love a ‘ I told you so ‘ chide to put us in our place.

Weird that she found it necessary to correct you albeit it incorrectly but I’m baffled why anyone would give this a second thought.

This is an odd thread, does it really matter? Are you really sitting planning how to tell her you were right?

@ViciousJackdaw

Say you did tell her you were correct. What then? What do you stand to gain? I can only imagine it would be some sort of gloaty smug self satisfaction. Are you really that sort of person?

Definitely ... why accept being incorrectly corrected ... especially when you have an actual Letter proving the Receptionist was incorrect .. its simply curtesy to acknowledge you were wrong 🌸