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

@Fretfulmum

The reason you can’t have more than a 28-day prescription is down to the way the NHS pays pharmacists. It’s actually nothing to do with GPs. The NHS pharmacy payment mechanism stipulates a 28-day prescription max so it’s a contractual issue which GP practices have to comply with

I have 3 prescriptions on 3 month at a time! 84 each - they have been that way for over 4 years now.

@sleaf

My neighbour has just started as a receptionist at our local surgery and now knows when my next smear is and what medical conditions I have. I bet she's also discussing it with other neighbours.

I bet she doesn't. That would be wholly unethical. And if she did, completely stupid. Why would she risk her job? Plus, would the neighbours really be interested and / or want to continue to talk to her. I'd tell her to do one and report her.

I had a friend who was a receptionist she rang me and asked me if I minded her doing the call due to confidentiality didn't even access my file to find out why she was being asked to call me until I gave her permission she is fantastic at her job

@limitedperiodonly I don’t need to give you a further answer.

I’ve already told you what I think. I’m not going to repeat myself, just because you have a biased lack of understanding, as to why people see this as an annoyance.

So like I said, move on.

@PineConesInTheSnow it’s not a law that GPs aren’t allowed to prescribe for more than 28 days, but if they do it in large volumes, they will get pulled up by NHS England so they can only do it here and there for select patients

I work in NHS audit for my county, and if any GPs regularly prescribe over 28 days worth of medicines and are outliers compared to other GPs in the area, then we have to flag them up and advise them they need to cut down the length of medicines given for as pharmacies would then get paid less money

Just out of curiosity rather than anything.

My gp always refers to the receptionists as "the girls on reception" . Do the g p's at your surgery do that and do you find it rude?

Do you get many people who either don't turn up for their appointment or want to see a Dr for something a pharmacist could sort out?

Is it normal to get almost no support at all for mental health problems? I take 150 mg of sertraline a day which I thought was a fairly high dose but apart from a meds review by the pharmacist once a year I get no professional support at all. I used to get quite a lot of support from the health visitor but nothing since my youngest was about 2. When my 12 year old tried to kill himself I was expecting a phone call from the surgery saying that they were there if we needed support but there was absolutely nothing.

@Fretfulmum

I work in NHS audit for my county, and if any GPs regularly prescribe over 28 days worth of medicines and are outliers compared to other GPs in the area, then we have to flag them up and advise them they need to cut down the length of medicines given for as pharmacies would then get paid less money

Out of curiosity, how do pharmacies get paid when lots of patients now have pre-payment certificates? Or other Exemptions?

Is there a complicated billing and charge-back process going on? It must be a hugely costly administrative burden for NHS England.

My practice now refuses to arrange appointments by phone at all, you have to fill in an online form and might be seen sometime in the next two weeks or more. The only exception if you ring first thing in the morning at 8am and say it’s an emergency. As others have said, this encourages people to exaggerate their symptoms in order to get seen. Or people go to A&E. The sense is that barriers are being deliberately constructed to dissuade patients from attending the surgery.

I'm a trained & qualified medical secretary and can attest to everything the OP says. Good posting, @TwistedSisterUK!

@FeeLock

I'm a trained & qualified medical secretary and can attest to everything the OP says. Good posting, *@TwistedSisterUK*!

What, you can attest to everything she specifically says about her own workplace is true? Great. What a co-incidence you work together.

My practice offer telephone appts - in the next 48 hrs. I’ve explained that I need a time as I teach and can’t just answer the phone misd lesson. No - within 48hrs. I’ve tried 3 different times and each time missed the call. Paid £150 to go to a private GP.

I was appalled at how badly the reception staff at my GPS treated some old people in the pandemic and still now to this day. A man came in and was desperate to make an appointment for his wife and he was basically shouted at to go home and go online to make an appointment. He couldn't understand what was going on. She was shouting COVID is dangerous at him in a huge great big massive empty surgery. It was horrible and that's the sort of thing that happens over and over again. I realize how busy receptionist are and that is precisely the problem. If you have overworked and underpaid staff then there's going to be clashes with the public and that is what is happening all over the country.

Thank you so much for your honesty working as a receptionist in the GP office. We as patient feel that you are empathetic and there are sometime some people who have no empathy because the job is so hard and with so much pressure on you. I had felt at home that after spending half an hour waiting on the phone just to get an appointment for for doctor to call, is the worst and having to listen to that awful music when you know that at a patient might be sick or your child be sick wanting willing to be senr child I would like to thank the receptionist everywhere. You do you have a hard time with the job watching children grow up and adults grow older it must be so hard I really do feel for you God bless

@Londoncallingme

My practice offer telephone appts - in the next 48 hrs. I’ve explained that I need a time as I teach and can’t just answer the phone misd lesson. No - within 48hrs. I’ve tried 3 different times and each time missed the call. Paid £150 to go to a private GP.

My practice operate a system where the GP will call you at any time in the morning or afternoon. No concept that people might be working or might not be able to take the call. We are all being forced to go private in my opinion. An elderly lady said to me the other day ‘we are living in brutal times. You can’t get to see a doctor. It’s either live or die’. Really sad.

My practice operate a system where the GP will call you at any time in the morning or afternoon. No concept that people might be working or might not be able to take the call. We are all being forced to go private in my opinion.

I still don't understand why, pre COVID, you could have an appointment at a pre booked time, but since COVID the doctor can't offer a fixed time for a phone call? What's the difference?

I still don't understand why, pre COVID, you could have an appointment at a pre booked time, but since COVID the doctor can't offer a fixed time for a phone call? What's the difference?

You’ve answered your question yourself - COVID is the difference! Even GP practices were on major incident status (in London) meaning they could not schedule routine appointments and now have a huge backlog of routine medical appointments to manage.

NHS Already underfunded and on its knees, now ££billions and many man hours into COVID. GP surgeries were very hard hit. No area of the NHS is impervious to the repercussions.

I still don't understand why, pre COVID, you could have an appointment at a pre booked time, but since COVID the doctor can't offer a fixed time for a phone call? What's the difference?

You’ve answered your question yourself - COVID is the difference! Even GP practices were on major incident status (in London) meaning they could not schedule routine appointments and now have a huge backlog of routine medical appointments to manage.

NHS Already underfunded and on its knees, now ££billions and many man hours into COVID. GP surgeries were very hard hit. No area of the NHS is impervious to the repercussions.

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No I haven't answered my own question! Our surgery certainly isn't operating on major incident status, they seem to be fairly ok again now apart from the inability to set fixed times. The NHS was drastically short of money even pre COVID, but they managed to set times for appointments.

No I haven't answered my own question! Our surgery certainly isn't operating on major incident status, they seem to be fairly ok again now apart from the inability to set fixed times. The NHS was drastically short of money even pre COVID, but they managed to set times for appointments.

And you can’t fathom how a pandemic that is still ongoing might have and is affecting routine appointment times?

Our surgery are offering routine appointments and have been for some time - the only thing that seems to have changed is the inability to offer a fixed time slot.

Interestingly if you need to see a nurse, nurse practitioner, healthcare assistant or a midwife, you get a fixed appointment. Presumably so the clinicians can arrange their days. But not with a GP.

@Coffeepot72

My practice operate a system where the GP will call you at any time in the morning or afternoon. No concept that people might be working or might not be able to take the call. We are all being forced to go private in my opinion.

I still don't understand why, pre COVID, you could have an appointment at a pre booked time, but since COVID the doctor can't offer a fixed time for a phone call? What's the difference?

They do at my practice, well not an exact time but something like between 4 pm and 5 pm, which works for me.

How many hours do you work a week and what is the pay?

@Coffeepot72

I still don't understand why, pre COVID, you could have an appointment at a pre booked time, but since COVID the doctor can't offer a fixed time for a phone call? What's the difference?

You’ve answered your question yourself - COVID is the difference! Even GP practices were on major incident status (in London) meaning they could not schedule routine appointments and now have a huge backlog of routine medical appointments to manage.

NHS Already underfunded and on its knees, now ££billions and many man hours into COVID. GP surgeries were very hard hit. No area of the NHS is impervious to the repercussions.

...................................

No I haven't answered my own question! Our surgery certainly isn't operating on major incident status, they seem to be fairly ok again now apart from the inability to set fixed times. The NHS was drastically short of money even pre COVID, but they managed to set times for appointments.

We are still working under COVID restrictions which advise to reduce footfall to the practice and we don't want stacks of patients waiting in waiting rooms like before. We don't give set times for phonecalls because we are actually doing more triage/ phonecalls than ever, some of them take 10 mins, some 20 mins and some are frequently taking longer because they have booked for one problem then due to covid and not attending, they added on another 3.

@TwistedSisterUK

My GP surgery is in a mess. Everyone in my town is complaining. The quality of service has dramatically declined and the GP’s are failing to diagnose the simplest of medical condition. The surgery is empty most of the time, car park deserted and the surgery closes for ‘training’ inconsistently without making the public aware on social media, website etc. Meaning people can’t get appointments. With GPs seemingly working part time on full time salaries, some of these GPs are earning £15 per vaccination. GPs and other medical workers are earning very well out of the pandemic. The NHS is in a mess because poor managers are operating to suit themselves. So, unfortunately, receptionist take the full weight of complaints as patients who can’t speak to their GPs. But, since when was the last time you heard a doctor apologies for any fall in service levels? The answer is never. If you got the same poor service in the private sector, in some cases you’d be damaging discounts, money off or free products/services. Think out it. After all, the patients are the customers paying for the service.