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

@RosesAndHellebores

When I call my surgery the conversation goes like this.

"What's your name" "Mrs Roses Hellebores"

"What's your date of birth Roses" "xx.xx.xx"

Me "my name is Mrs Hellebores, may I have an appointment with Dr Bloggs or Dr Jones, it's for my review so not urgent but I work full-time so after 6.30pm please"

"I can give you one tomorrow with Dr Smith, alright Roses dahlin"

"No I asked for Dr Bloggs or Jones after 6.30pm and I'm happy to wait and my name is Mrs Hellebores please"

"Well luvvy I can fit you in Friday at 2.30pm"

I'm sorry may I repeat it has to be after 6.30 and I can wait but would like it with Dr Bloggs or Jones.

"Dr Bloggs is doing lates on Monday x April. She can see you at 6.50pm."

"Great, thank you".

OP please can you explain two things:

1. Why Dr's receptionists appear incapable of following my request and instead would rather waste time and frustrate the caller?

1. If the GPs are referred to as title and surname, ie, formally, why do receptionists invariably think they may use my first name or luvvy. Are patients not equal stakeholders in their care? That goes for the GPs too BTW

Goodness me you sound like a snob. How dare the receptionist address you by your first name like you're equals or something

I have always wondered how the time schedule works. You obviously cant possibly know how long a patient will need with the doctor. Some take longer, some are quick, either because of how complicated issue they have or because they cant communicate that effectively etc.

How do referrals to hospital specialists work? Asking because they so often go missing or dont get done and then the patient spends time making phone calls to each with one insisting it has been sent and another that it hasn't been received.
Is it a physical letter in the post which is why both have different answers?
Me, my partner and my parents are all in different surgeries and have had the same experiences so it cant be just a problem at mine, we are all under the same Trust though.

I used to be a gp receptionist. It was grim. I'd never do it again. Hats off to you.

Our GP also has quite a lot of older secretaries who just don't have the IT skills to do the job at the speed required. You stand there at the desk while they try and search for a record etc, typing painstakingly slowly, only to hear 2 mins later "oh wendy can you come and take a look, I'm sorry, I just can't work this system out....!" I also suspect that historically the job was a fairly low paid job that consisted mainly of filing, answering the phone and the odd bit of typing, and was probably popular with lower skilled mothers of school kids, and I wonder if as a result GP practices don't offer decent enough wages to attract more highly skilled staff.

@SevenWaystoLeave I think you are missing the point about equality. If the GP is afforded the courtesy of a title I expect to be afforded the same level of courtesy. For what it's worth, I also think the GP should address the receptionist formally if they expect to be addressed as Dr x, y or z. As humans we are all equal and to treat another human as less equal is reductive. If the receptionist refers to the GP as Dr Bloggs then surely he or she shoukd refer to the patie t by title and indeed the nurses and hca's?

If a receptionist wouldn't call the GP luvvy why would he or she call the patient luvvy? I don't use such reductive terms when speaking to people.

I think you and every other GP receptionists are doing a fantastic job. I must admit I didn’t realise just how much extra work you had to do, yet you’re always smiling and reassuring to whoever you have to deal with, no matter how well or horribly they’re treating you.

@danadas I’ve only ever done this job in the private sector, liaising with the tippity top London private hospitals. Astoundingly (as of 5 years ago) we were almost entirely using fax machines and the post. I couldn’t believe it. It amazed me that anyone ever got booked in for anything. Think the NHS was phasing out fax machines more successfully than the private sector at that point.

I actually came to love the fax machines though. Think private is more forgiving to using them because the number of patients is so much smaller and there are more staff dedicated to following up booking etc. But still, it was 2017, we had the internet.

OP, would you presume to give a patient benefit advice?

I was refused an appointment for a fit note (long term absence from work) until after the previous one had expired. Receptionist kept saying 'it can be backdated', which I knew, but I needed to submit the new fit note before the current one expired to ensure that the DWP continued to pay my benefits, which were my only source of income.

Receptionist refused to accept this and the practice manager backed her up, while telling me that receptionist knew about this because she had had breast cancer! My benefits were suspended for a period of weeks until I was able to get my backdated fit note.

I complained, but nothing came of it, and then the same thing happened again.

I have another question. There’s lots of ‘is it urgent’ or claims of things being urgent. But the thing is, how do we or indeed the receptionist know if it’s urgent? Surely the doctor is the one who has the best chance of knowing this? For example, a random lump or bump - could be nothing, could be a really serious fast-growing issue. So it’s a bit unhelpful to have people who don’t know if it’s urgent in charge of gate-keeping access to the person who does know if it’s urgent or not, using urgency as the main criterion.

The ones at my surgery are lovely. The ones I have to deal with at work genuinely seem to think they’re above everyone else, no concern for the patients at all. They can be rude, don’t understand what discrete means and they are forever losing paperwork.

For those of you questioning tests not being done when patients have been seen and told they need a blood test, they’re probably the same ones that don’t collect their prescriptions each month. We have to undo many, many bags of medication every week. Then the patient will turn up two weeks after their prescription has been undone demanding it immediately, how dare we not just keep it for them to collect at their leisure.

[quote RosesAndHellebores]@SevenWaystoLeave I think you are missing the point about equality. If the GP is afforded the courtesy of a title I expect to be afforded the same level of courtesy. For what it's worth, I also think the GP should address the receptionist formally if they expect to be addressed as Dr x, y or z. As humans we are all equal and to treat another human as less equal is reductive. If the receptionist refers to the GP as Dr Bloggs then surely he or she shoukd refer to the patie t by title and indeed the nurses and hca's?

If a receptionist wouldn't call the GP luvvy why would he or she call the patient luvvy? I don't use such reductive terms when speaking to people.[/quote]
How do you know what the receptionist calls the Dr when she speaks to them directly? Could well be luvvy for all you know. Almost certainly will be first name and not "Dr Bloggs" all the time.

@SevenWaystoLeave if that's the case and it's correct it should be then my GP appointments should be made with Sally and Fiona. When that is the case the GP may call me Roses too. Until it is the GP may call me Mrs Hellebores. To do otherwise subordinates and is reductive.

Do all receptionists sing from the same hymn sheet (so to speak) Last Monday I rang for an appointment due to covid symptons which I've had over a month and been in for 3 times. Monday receptionist was very rude said I couldn't speak to a doctor at all until end April. I rang up again Tuesday, different receptionist I said exactly the same as I did Monday, she put me on the urgent call list, within 10 mins on call doctor rang me,sent me down to surgery within 30 mins and referred me for chest xray following day and blood tests. If I had just left it as Monday receptionist I would still be here now with none of these tests. So my question is, how come some can get appts and some can't? How do you work out who needs urgent appt like I had last week? Thank you for all you do though as I can imagine it's a very hard job x

Interesting thread

If you’re anything like the receptionists at my surgery, you’re all bloody amazing! Ours are great and go above and beyond to help you out if they can for you all!

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.

That's a huge admin load. Its a great shame that you and your colleagues have been let down so badly by the IT systems in the NHS Out of interest, why do all the receptionists do all of it;
wouldn't it be more efficient if specific people were on phones, another on prescriptions & consultants letters etc? I understand you are short staffed but it must waste a lot of time & focus switching between a thousand things.

Also, are you paid by NHS directly or does the funding for your job come out of the individual practice funding? In other words, do the doctors collectively set your wage? Minimum wage for a job as stressful and with as much responsibility as yours deserves a much better reward imho.

@RosesAndHellebores this isn't the first time, nor the second, that you've expressed your displeasure at not being called Mrs by a GP Receptionist.

[quote RosesAndHellebores]@SevenWaystoLeave if that's the case and it's correct it should be then my GP appointments should be made with Sally and Fiona. When that is the case the GP may call me Roses too. Until it is the GP may call me Mrs Hellebores. To do otherwise subordinates and is reductive.[/quote]
I agree. I suspect this won’t be long coming though. I’m already on first name terms with my dentist.

My GP receptionist is brilliant.

I email a request for an appointment and she emails back with a couple of appointment options, if none are suitable I can call (or text!) I can invariably get an appointment same day if urgent or otherwise it’s usually the same week. I can book non urgent (e.g. smear/general check ups) weeks in advance as needed.

My GP is private.

@TroysMammy I would be perfectly happy for my first name to be used if the GPs first name were used. It never is, therefore mine may not be used either. Interesting though how they call DH sir and I've heard many male patients addressed as Sir or Mr Jones/Brown etc whilst in the waiting room but not the women. The Sex Discrimination Act was passed in 1974. Funnily enough in the 60s and 70s patients were addressed formally but now women are not.

I have had a few issues with receptionists at my practice, in terms of confidentiality.

Probably the most serious was a few years ago, my ex MIL had been diagnosed with cancer. I was not aware of this. An ex colleague of mine had got a new job as a receptionist at my practice. She stopped me in the street, very "concerned " and told me about the diagnosis as though it was ok to do that. I wrote to the Practice manager and either no action, or minimum action was taken as she's still there.

The other time was my first pregnancy, years ago, a receptionist told me they would all look through the pregnancy test results to see if they were anyone they knew.

Aside from rudeness on the phone, I think training is lacking in our practice.

Maybe it would be politer for receptionists to listen to the caller before talking over them with ‘no appointment’. Ours barely answer the phone before they bark ‘no appointments’. It gets peoples backs up immediately. Why not listen to what the patient has to say before making a judgement?

TwistedSister, the reception staff at my GP surgery are great. I am well aware, having been a medical secretary, of how difficult and demanding your job is. It requires special skills and a thick skin because you are in the front line. The amount of administration and liaison work you have to undertake would be beyond the capabilities of many. It's the same for hospital clinic receptionists who are extremely under valued. However, as you say, the job is rewarding as was mine. x

You deserve a treat: [cuppa] not in any particular order :-).

@TwistedSisterUK Thank you for doing a great job and caring about people, especially when they might be scared or in pain. Obviously no one should be subjected to rudeness or abuse, I always try my best to be extra polite because I know that someone may have had to deal with rudeness already iyswim.

I have a couple of questions:

What should a patient do if they feel they did not get appropriate treatment?

I had a situation like this where I knew something was seriously wrong (it was) and I was just made to feel like a nuisance by the Dr. I obviously know that isn't the receptionist's fault but if someone leaves their appointment knowing something is getting worse should they explain that to someone or just go to A and E. So in my situation it seemed crazy to wait until it was an emergency and then go to A and E, rather than get treatment at the time.

My next question is, some practices (yours may not be the same) want patients to queue at the desk and talk about the reason for their appointment. This sometimes happens in certain circumstances like asking for an emergency appointment, so something unexpected rather than standard procedure.

If that happens what can someone say/do? I totally understand that efficiency needs to be considered and no one else is really remotely bothered but the person I went with was both scared and embarrassed and ended up having to spell out in a room full of people (could not get through on the phone) what their symptoms were. Can someone refuse that or ask for a private room when requesting an emergency appointment?

I'm not saying that you or your practice would let those things happen but I'm wondering if there is a stock phrase that can be used in those circumstances.