I’m a GP receptionist and prepared to be honest about my job.

[TwistedSisterUK]

Hi all, as title says, I’m a Gp receptionist. After reading all the irate, insulting, rude and misinformed threads on here I have made this account!

Please feel free to ask me anything and I promise to answer honestly, even though my opinions and thoughts are likely to make me very unpopular here. I’m prepared for it , having read dozens of previous threads where we are called lazy, rude, power mad, bitches and more…..

I have done this job for 12 years, it’s hard work but can be at times extremely rewarding . I work with a great team. My opinions are only about my job, my day to day dealing at the surgery I work in.

First of all, to the ppl who think we just answer phones and ask patients to please take a seat - I wish!! Lol.

I deal with chemists, pharmacists,hospital secretaries, emails, post, 100s of clinical letters and test reports, arrange all referrals, do all test requests, type all clinicians letters, new patient files are refilled, files from patients leaving must be found and returned, clinical letters received are scanned , coded and actioned, translators requests, letters to be typed up and patients to be called to arrange reviews, Imms,smears etc, the loaning out of medical equipment - there’s lots more but hopefully you are getting the idea that my job involves far more than answering the odd call.

So, the bits you, the patients see and hear are a small bit of my job.

I have to go out today but will be happy to answer any questions any of you may have but I’ll start the ball rolling here about the “ magically appearing appointments “.

I read a lot of complaints here that you call and there are no appointments….then….lo and behold,….after more conversation an appointment is found! This is because I can put it down as an urgent call. If it is NOT an urgent call I will be reprimanded by my manager and if this continues I would possibly lose my job.

I am simply not allowed to continually add more and more patients to be added as “ extras” They are called extras as there genuinely are no appointments left.

When I return I’ll move on to the why we ask the reason for your call! Please be assured I do not think myself in anyway medically trained nor do I even like asking - I have to ask - it’s my job.

I promise any questions or comments will be answered in all honesty! I’m wearing my hard hat…..lol

My only complaint about one of the receptionists at our doctor’s office is that she acts as if she owns the doctor, or he’s her boyfriend (maybe he is?). If you call and say “I’d like to make an appointment to see Dr Farr, please” you immediately get “why do you want to see him?” in a very desperate, almost aggressive, tone. She’s very young and it just sounds like you’ve called to say you want to speak to her boyfriend and she’s getting jealous. I know she’s asking the reason because she’s probably been told to find out the reason for the visit but there’s a more professional way to ask.

There’s another one there that I don’t particularly like but it’s mostly because she obviously does not follow any of the “advice” she feels she should be giving to people. She’s massively overweight but will “lecture” patients on their lifestyle choices if they smoke, are overweight, etc. Not only is not her place to discuss these things with patients, she’s not the best advert for her advice either.

Well said OP.

Most of my Gp receptionist are nice (apart from one). I know how much they do and deal with.

Some receptionists are awful op - I know as I was one and some of my colleagues were horrors!

And I never had anyone shout at me - that's because I always tried to solve the problem, rather than doing 'computer says no'.

Your op does read as though all the threads here about issues are somehow wrong. Hopefully you didn't mean it like that but the public are entitled to complain about rubbish service - just because it's the NHS doesn't mean they have to put up with it!

I don't think OP's coming back

@BiBabbles I've trained new Receptionists on the system and procedures and set up a manual to that effect but when you find the training has gone in one ear and out of the other you find it demoralising. I've told the Practice Manager I'm not training anyone again as it makes me look incompetent, which I'm not.

I'm just a part time Receptionist who is thorough at training because the Head Receptionist doesn't want to and can't do it and she gets paid more than me.

I’d like to know if you can quickly and easily tell when I last visited the doctor?
I’d like to think that if I haven’t seen the doctor since 2017 and I’m saying “I really need to see the doctor” that you would understand that I generally take responsibility for my health/minor ailments and I probably can’t deal with this with a couple of paracetamol!

Oh, and if I haven’t seen the doctor since 2017, I won’t know that I now have to press the buzzer three times and say the magic word or use the side entrance or queue the other way at the desk or whatever – so please tell me or have a notice up or be kind to me when I’m looking slightly lost!

UmbilicusProfundus Sun 20-Mar-22 10:56:05
Your GPs should be using autotranscription software. Waste of time to be typing letters surely

Sorry for the delay in replying but been very busy today! I fully intend to reply to any questions but I certainly did not expect so many responses.

To the above poster….I’ve not heard of this software! Sounds amazing but in all honesty, our equipment is certainly not modern! I can spend ten minutes at the start of a shift just to get my second monitor to work lol.

To the many deeply harrowing stories I’ve read so far - I am truly sorry you had such terrible experiences. Absolutely disgusting and uncalled for. I promised to be honest but I can only explain how MY surgery works….I cannot understand why some receptionists would be so awful.

Perhaps I am just lucky that the reception staff and clinicians I work with are all on the same page and that is to give the best care we can.

All I can say is I’m so sorry you were let down when you were at your most vulnerable. I urge anybody who has experiences they are unhappy with to complain. Without complaints these things are far more likely to continue. Just ask to speak with the practice manager or check online how to make a formal complaint.

Thank you to everyone who has explained how their surgeries work and shared their tales of working in a surgery also! Thank you to the clinicians on here also who understand how hard we all work - it’s teamwork ! Lol

I’ve not had a chance yet to read though all comments but I recall someone asking how many staff I work with. I work in a small surgery - usually 4 reception staff plus manager. Clinician wise, usually two doctors, one advanced nurse practitioner, one nurse and an HCP.

I think somebody else answered the question “ What are doctors doing now they aren’t seeing patients?” I’ll try and explain some of their many tasks they do at my surgery :

Phone calls to patients. If they want to examine patient they will make a face to face appointment for that day ( or another day if not convenient for patient.

Taking lots of calls from other medical ppl regarding patients. Ambulance crew often ring. Social workers, probation services, addiction services , MacMillan nurses etc.

Loads and loads of paperwork!

Sicknotes.

E- consultations.

Doing the prescriptions.

Home visits.

Reading and actioning every letter received, either by postman, internal mail or electronically.

Checking all blood tests and other results and lots more!

Trust me on this, I wouldn’t want to be a doctor and I understand why so many are leaving. Our doctors do hours and hours of work at home in the evenings and weekends - solely to play catch up.

When I lock up to go home - doctors are still there!

During covid it was business as usual at my surgery except far more work as we were booking vaccinations appointments and dealing 100s of extra phone calls per day. Our doors were never locked which I’m thankful for.

Well, thank you for reading this essay - I’ll get round to answering more questions when I’m able!

LucyFox Sun 20-Mar-22 19:19:14
Oh, and if I haven’t seen the doctor since 2017, I won’t know that I now have to press the buzzer three times and say the magic word or use the side entrance or queue the other way at the desk or whatever – so please tell me or have a notice up or be kind to me when I’m looking slightly lost!

Lol!! Hopefully your surgery will have open doors that you don’t need to humiliate yourself….,

LucyFox Sun 20-Mar-22 19:04:44
I’d like to know if you can quickly and easily tell when I last visited the doctor?
I’d like to think that if I haven’t seen the doctor since 2017 and I’m saying “I really need to see the doctor” that you would understand that I generally take responsibility for my health/minor ailments and I probably can’t deal with this with a couple of paracetamol!

Hi again! Yes…we can see how many times you have visited the surgery but we don’t judge! Honestly! I would treat you exactly the same if you called weekly or once a decade - it’s not my place to judge anybody!

Somebody asked earlier if certain callers make me inwardly groan - I have to be honest and say YES but that’s only when I’m up to my ears with work and desperate to get something sorted. For example, chemists often don’t have ppls medication in stock due to manufacturing issues. I then have to call round dozens of local chemists and ask them if they have any left on their shelves. If not, I call our on call pharmacist and ask them to suggest an alternative.

All the while I’m watching the clock , aware that the chemist is closing shortly and I have to manage to run into doctors room between patients to ask him to electronically sign new prescription, then call patient and tell them to get there asap! Lol If patient usually gets their meds delivered by pharmacy I need to call them and beg them to deliver, after they close! It’s a good job I’m friendly with lots of the chemists…lol

So, during this, if I get a caller who I know just wants a chat ( we have many ppl who are lonely ) my heart drops as I truly hate having to hurry them along so I can finish what I’m doing!

I always chat to patients as sometimes they mention things that they are unaware we can help them with, such as social prescribing - this is where they get a phone call weekly to see how they are doing and are given help with forms, adult social services, occupational therapy and lots of other things. Social prescribers aren’t based at my surgery but I pass details on. - with patients permission of course.

iloveeverykindofcat Sun 20-Mar-22 18:18:35
I don't think OP's coming back

You were wrong! Lol

Still lots of questions to answer and I’ll keep replying but could take days!

Why if the surgery calls to cancel an appointment do they insist on you ringing them back to find out what they rang for? I had my the nurse coming out to do my third covid jab as I'm housebound, got an answerphone message asking me to ring the surgery to have to spend nearly an hour in the queue waiting for them to answer for them to just tell me my appointment was cancelled, why couldn't they just tell me in the message? They know that the phone is mine only or why couldn't they email me instead? It is really taking confidentiality too far.

Why aren't receptionists trained in autism? The number of times I have rung to speak to someone at the drudgery I'm a patient at & the receptionist hasn't taken any notice of the fact I apologise for being autistic & talks to me in a manner that presses every one of my autism buttons & leaves me with smoke coming out my ears. Things like I need a telephone appointment, I'm available between 3.00pm - 4.00pm, but the appointment can only be any time from 1.30pm - 6.30pm with no idea when they will ring which means I can't nip to the toilet, concentrate on anything else & by the time they do actually ring I'm ready to explode.

AnneElliott Sun 20-Mar-22 18:12:04
Some receptionists are awful op - I know as I was one and some of my colleagues were horrors!

And I never had anyone shout at me - that's because I always tried to solve the problem, rather than doing 'computer says no'.

Your op does read as though all the threads here about issues are somehow wrong. Hopefully you didn't mean it like that but the public are entitled to complain about rubbish service - just because it's the NHS doesn't mean they have to put up with it!

Hi AnneElliott,
I’m so sorry you think my post read like that! It honestly wasn’t supposed to!

I started it as an ask me anything because I think some people have no idea what we actually do. ( thank you to be posters who acknowledged this! ) Perhaps I’m being sensitive when I get offended when people are tarring all of us with the same brush. I wanted to set the record straight that I have no powers at all over the way the surgery is ran nor do I see myself as the dragon gate keeper - I am just the messenger who passes on ANY messages and leaves the actual clinicians to use their judgement on how to deal with it. I’m paid to listen and act upon any concerns that a patient raises.

I am also saddened to read in the papers that GPs are doing nothing and being paid a fortune for it. ( our clinicians all worked their usual hours then worked at covid clinics every weekend ) I wanted ppl to ask me what MY own thoughts were of MY surgery.

Please read some of my later posts, I am disgusted at some of the stories that have been shared on here! I encourage anybody to complain about bad service. Get rid of the bad apples….all I can say is that my surgery has zero tolerance for any staff that behaved like that!

They went through 5-7 years training to earn the right to be called doctor. It's not the same as calling someone "miss" or "mrs"

So do GP surgery staff and hospital staff routinely call patients who have the title 'Dr' by their title? Curious.

So do GP surgery staff and hospital staff routinely call patients who have the title 'Dr' by their title? Curious.

I knew an academic who had a bit of a run in with a surgeon:
“Call me Mr Jones”
“And you call me Dr Smith”

So probably not.

all SpinningTheSeedsOfLove Sun 20-Mar-22 21:16:12
They went through 5-7 years training to earn the right to be called doctor. It's not the same as calling someone "miss" or "mrs"

So do GP surgery staff and hospital staff routinely call patients who have the title 'Dr' by their title? Curious.

I really must leave so but this a quick one! I use the title they have put on their form when they joined the practice. I suppose if they then got a different title and wanted us to use it, they would tell us and we would alter it…never happened…yet! Lol

Honestly, I've been a receptionist in a surgery and the job can be really tough. I would never dream of being rude to anyone however, I've met some darned rude receptionists. In my current surgery, I have to deal with a receptionist who is so rude she reduces people to tears. I'm unfailingly polite and respectful but she makes it hard to be that way

The receptionists at my GPs are excellent. Always professional and helpful.

I recently walked into my GP practice in the midst of a mental health crisis. The receptionist listened to me, arranged for me to see a GP (no appointment) and made me s cup of tea. I will never forget her kindness.

My GP receptionists are amazing. They have sorted out emergency prescriptions, scheduled months worth of nurse appointments for wound packing following major surgery, go out of their way to get me seen when their spider senses tell them I need to be (and they're always right) and do all of this whilst being friendly and personable and asking after my children. I value them. Thanks for doing a thankless job, OP.

Why the appointment systems though. why can't they have 2 lines? one for urgent same-day appts for stuff that needs seeing in a timely manner like acute infections etc and another line for routine appts that can be booked in advance or for prescription queries etc. It just seems so inefficient and designed to stress people out
Sometimes you need to book an appt for a review or something that is non-urgent but needs a GP referral. It can wait a few weeks. Instead, you have this system where you cant book ahead and have to join the daily scrum for appointments.

There is another patient at my GP surgery with almost the same (very common) name and different birthdate but born in the same year. I know this because the GPs are constantly getting our notes mixed up with some quite serious consequences. I am constantly being asked how I am getting on with medication I have never taken, being sent for tests with a form printed from the other person's records, and on my last visit I was told that I was a nurse working at the local hospital. Er no, I'm an accountant. On many occasions very nearly got prescribed medication that would have been dangerous for me. The worst incident was when my solicitor requested a full set of my medical records from them. They sent a fully comprehensive set of all medical records right from birth to the present day... for the other person! My solicitor was appalled but the surgery were not even slightly bothered.

Do you have systems and checks at your surgery to avoid such mixups, as mine seem to think it is perfectly reasonable to just pick a set of notes randomly if the name matches, even though I make a point of giving my date of birth every time.

@SpinningTheSeedsOfLove

They went through 5-7 years training to earn the right to be called doctor. It's not the same as calling someone "miss" or "mrs"

So do GP surgery staff and hospital staff routinely call patients who have the title 'Dr' by their title? Curious.

Mine do! Even after I've told them to call me my first name. I think they know we're lending them the job title . Seriously though, in retrospect, before I graduated they called me by my first name. Which is interesting!

I rang my GP for an appt last week while suffering a MC. I had to describe in detail to the receptionist what I was experiencing. She booked a telephone consultation for me so that I could get a referral to EPU. I waited for my appt. It never happened. The receptionist never booked it - I called to chase it after waiting all day. The receptionist (different person now) said rather abruptly that the GPs couldn't refer me to EPU anyway.so there isn't any point having an appt. Oh and I had to describe a second time to that receptionist what I was experiencing also.

Two receptionist - no attempt at compassion, no appointment made.

Question - if I suffered sepsis or some other nasty effect of an incomplete MC, what would and should happen to the receptionists? Would they be subjected to disciplinary misconduct? Would they lose their job? Would it be a case of "do better next time?"

I am genuinely interested if a receptionist is in a position to avoid a medical situation from worsening and decided against taking that action - what happens to them?