To think this is what happens when receptionists are the ones who decide whether or not you actually *see* a GP? (Ear infection)

[lCantHearYou]

Wednesday last week- woke up with an intense pain in my left ear, and assume I’ve just jammed my ear plug in a bit too far, but over an hour later the pain is still there and I can’t hear out of that ear, so I ring the GP surgery.

The receptionist, based on no medical expertise whatsoever, asks what the problem is and unilaterally decides that all I need is a telephone appointment. The GP she’s scheduled the call with is well known in our community for not doing face to face appointments if she can help it and generally having the attitude of just wanting to get you off the phone as quickly as possible.

Later that morning, GP call. I explain that I’ve been having this very intense pain for several hours now that paracetamol isn’t really touching, my ear is ringing very loudly and all external sound is very muffled and barely audible.

She decides over the course of the 3 minute call that since I’m recovering from a cold I’m probably just a bit congested, tells me to take some Sudafed/other decongestant and paracetamol and it should right itself in a few days.

I start alternating pseudoephedrine, paracetamol and ibuprofen, but the pain wakes me in the night every night.

Thursday evening DH, the DC and I travel up to PILs house.

Friday morning, DH and I leave for a long weekend abroad (on the Eurostar, thank god we didn’t fly or I’d probably have at least one ruptured ear drum).

By Friday evening the pain and hearing loss has now spread into the right ear as well. Spend the whole weekend in pain and practically deaf, which kind of spoils things somewhat.

Monday evening, we all get home. 3:00 am I wake up in so much pain I can’t keep still, DH wakes to the sight of me sitting upright, rocking back and forth with my hands clamped over the back of my head. He calls 111 who schedule a phonecall with a Dr… who rings back 3 and a half hours later and says, sounds like an infection, I can prescribe antibiotics or you can just wait and see your own GP. I opt to see my own GP, so 111 Dr puts in notes that I need a face to face appointment.

So we’re back on the phone to the surgery, to the receptionist who’s halfway through saying “I can schedule a phonecall…” when I tell her about 111 Dr’s advice to seek a face to face appointment. Then she relents and schedules one with a different GP to the one I spoke to the week before. At the actual appointment, this GP barely needs to glance in my ears before saying it’s a severe infection, inner ears are very sore and red, lots of pus and gunk and, in her words, “looks incredibly painful”.

I’ve now been on amoxicillin and cocodamol (which I’m alternating with ibuprofen) for 5 days now. I can still barely hear a thing beyond the very loud ringing and the sound of my own pulse throbbing in my ears. All external sound is very muffled and distorted. If I wait too long between taking pain meds I fucking know about it… I’ve taken to sleeping with the cocodamol under my pillow so that when (not if) the pain wakes me in the night I don’t have to grope around on my bedside table to find them. Part of my job involves being on the phone, sometimes for hours at a time, so I have to jam my earphones right into my ears and turn the volume up full, and by the end of my shift (I work very late at night) I’m doubly exhausted from the effort of straining to hear anything.

AIBU to think that if, on that first day, the receptionist or indeed the GP had paused for a moment and thought “hmmm, intense inner ear pain, badly affected hearing, maybe get her in so we can see if there’s an infection”, then I could have started on antibiotics that day and at the very least the infection would likely have been contained to one ear and might even be starting to get better? As it is the receptionist didn’t bother, the GP didn’t bother, and instead of getting better it got considerably worse, the antibiotics are making fuck all difference and I’ve now had almost two weeks of intense pain and hearing loss for no good reason? And AIBU to be pretty pissed off about it?

Sorry for the twilight rant… I’ve just woken up feeling like the back of my skull is being squeezed. Again.

I know people belittle Receptionists by saying "they think they are Doctors" or "when did they go to med school" but being in the job 13 years I have learned things, as we all do in whatever jobs we do, to be able to pass on correct information to the GPs. I never give any medical advice, I'm not allowed to but listen what the patient says, may be ask for additional information and advise them of the best course of action.

It’s not belittling, it’s factual. You are not a healthcare professional. You are a receptionist and nobody should be discussing their medical issues or records with you. I think it’s appalling that any GP surgery thinks it’s appropriate for their receptionists to ask private questions of patients. You don’t need to pass any information on, the patient will and it’s far better for that to happen then for you to decide anything at all about a patients needs.

Of course they have to decide! If there's 10 people asking to be seen for one appointment or if agreeing to see everyone means that it would be midnight before you were able to see everyone then of course somebody has to decide and prioritise! I can't believe that this needs spelling out to even the sinplest of brains tbh

You are blaming the wrong person. Most Receptionists do not have permission to change telephone slots to face to face slots. If, as you yourself say is the case, this GP does not like to see patients face to face then booking you a phonecall would have been the best the Reception could offer on that day.

Your complaint should be exclusively against the GP who listened to your symptoms and failed to a) invite you in to surgery for an examination and b) prescribe antibiotics. As you rightly say - the GP is the one with medical training not the Receptionist.

To pre-empt the "the Receptionist should have booked me with someone else" response, at the practice I work in the appointments with the popular GPs go within the first 5 minutes of the lines opening for the day. The GP with the less than perfect reputation was probably all that was left. Our Receptionists would always book something like as face to face if they have that option - but as a phonecall if not, in the hope that the GP will do their job & either call you in or prescribe appropriately!

Honestly, blaming the minimum wage employee for working within their limited remit is scapegoating at its best. Your issue needs to be with the people who put those policies in place.

L1ttledrummergirl Walk in centre's are being deluged due to patients doing exactly what you are suggesting because GP's are still in hiding.

Also why should pharmacists do a GP's job for them especially as they are paid a lot less than said GP and that's not even taking into consideration that pharmacist can't even prescribe medicines like basic antibiotics on their own say so, or use equipment like otoscopes to make a correct diagnosis.

I also feel sympathy for practice nurses, many are now burdened with doing the GP's job for them in addition to their own.

Every GP surgery in England is obliged to close for one half day per month for manditory training. Every. Single. Practice.

It is not a choice.

then of course somebody has to decide and prioritise! I can't believe that this needs spelling out to even the sinplest of brains tbh

Not the receptionist. The receptionist has no medical training to make those decisions. It’s also ridiculous to suggest that phone calls save time. They don’t. The GP should see everyone face to face now. There is no excuse. My GP saw me this March face to face to discuss HRT, check my nose as I had pain and to book me in for a specialist for a long standing neck lump ( US within just 6 weeks ). I’m in a busy area too.
If you’re going to throw insults about me having a simple brain, you should take the time to check your spelling or it loses its impact.

Actually, Pharmacists can prescribe antibiotics on their own say so for various conditions. UTIs to name the most common one.

OldEnoughToHaveReadBunty I agreed misguided blame .At the end of the day, GP's are the bosses and have the final say in how their surgeries are run not the minimum wage receptionists. If the GP doesn't want to see patients what is their employee receptionist to do really?

You'd all be pretty pissed if you couldn't get a GP appointment because the receptionist didn't ask anyone why they were booking in one day and the on the day appointments were all taken by people who should have been in A+E, or people at the other end of the spectrum who only needed a pill review 🙄

Of course you should tell the receptionist why you need an appointment. They get so many time wasters and also non emergencies taking up emergency slots.

I guess I don’t understand why it’s gone so shit since covid?

before that it sort of worked.

I would be happy to pay to see a doctor. in my family we have private heath insurance so I try to use that as much as I can. We have virtual gp and they Usually just forward you straight to consultant as needed.

regarding the training. I think it’s too much. When you call and you are 50th at 8am… to go in and see one other person in waiting room is an absolute joke.

OldEnoughToHaveReadBunty. Yes and that's useful for people know, but not broad spectrum antibiotics like amoxicillin. Which is rather standard for ear infections.

Goodness, I was not expecting this many replies!

The reason I didn’t go back for another appointment before leaving for Amsterdam (not France) was because the GP said it would take a few days to clear up, and I assumed she knew what she was talking about.

The reason I still went away for the weekend is because DH and I had this booked in (and cancelled, and re-booked several times) since before covid, it’s our first break for 3 and a half years and we were desperate to go. At the time that we left it was also still just the one ear.

The reason I didn’t take the antibiotic prescription from the 111 Dr is because he called at about 7, my GP surgery opens at half 8 and the nearest pharmacy opens at half 9, so the difference in time between me starting the antibiotics from one or the other was an hour or two at most. I thought it worth seeing the GP in person in case there was something else going on that antibiotics alone wouldn’t fix (like, as a PP suggested, impacted ear wax). The GP I saw said to go back after a week if there’s no improvement, so I intend to make another appointment tomorrow and will be requesting that same GP again if I can.

The reason I haven’t called in sick to work is because it’s a new job and I’m still on probation, and I didn’t think it would look very good if I called in sick after my whole team knows I’ve been in Amsterdam for the weekend. I have however requested non-call work next week.

I do appreciate that I am probably BU for blaming the receptionist. What can I say… it was the middle of the night, I was in pain and in a very bad mood.

Agreed.

Peanut61 Peanut, I live in village, a large one admittedly, but a village all the same and the waiting time to see any GP for a normal appointment PRE Covid at the local surgery was 4 weeks. I even complained to my local MP about it. Their assistant didn't believe until they checked for themselves.

I ended up paying for a private GP appt to get antibiotics + steroids for my ear. I had gone to urgent care after being deaf and dizzy for a few days, they wouldn’t prescribe saying my ears were just blocked. I paid £60 for microsuction, one ear was clear, the other had wax that obscured my eardrum, my eardrum was bulging and she could see dark pus behind it. I tried for a GP appt but couldn’t get one. I was due to fly to Malta so in desperation I paid £100 for the private consult. I want to change Surgeries but all in my area are part of the same chain 🙄

I don't suppose that includes walking pneumonia? Unlikely, I know!

When I had mastoiditis it was in a country with a functional healthcare system. Within 15 minutes of noticing the swelling I saw a GP (in the surgery there is one walk-in GP always available for urgent appointments that don’t warrant A&E; it’s not abused since you can easily get an appointment with your normal doctor). Even though it is a life threatening condition it could be treated for a minimal sum at home as I could see a doctor so fast.
Compare that with the cost of the 5 day hospital stay with IV medication. It’s more expensive for the system to work this way.

Actually going to defend the receptionist here and say that she might have got you a same day appintment when she could have said they are full and emergencys only? In my surgery once f2f is full it is down ti telephone triage for emergencies/ things that can't wait. If you said you had an ongoing issue she may not have given you an appointment at all and told you to try another day. It's not down to her whether the GP brings you in, this was poor treatment by the GP but not by the receptionist

BorgQueen For what it's worth. I recently changed surgeries. (Because I couldn't even get though to NHS surgery, let alone make an appointment! And just to clarify they are still not allowing people to go in to the surgery in person either before any asks why I didn't just roll up and ask for an appointment ) And that was only allowed because it was my old surgery and my partner was still registered there.
Guess what? It's no better! I still can't see a NHS GP in person and even phone appointments have a wait of several weeks. I just consider myself very lucky to have BUPA on the highest cover level. Partners work perk, but many others are not that fortunate and at the end of the day my family are still paying for a service that you can't access.

If an earache disappears very quickly it often mean that the eardrum has perforated.

Please don't backtrack on your words. This is gaslighting at it's worst. Your very clear suggestion that nobody should deny you an appointment. This is true in theory but in reality there's human beings that are required to meet your's and lots of other people's needs. The fact is that people just want GP's blood and think paying them a pretty crumby wage actually compared to other countries half decent wage means that they owe you their blood. It's pathetically entitled and no wonder there aren't enough people willing to do it

Cheeseandcrackers86 I and I guess many others would not mind paying more if they actually did their job correctly and saw their patients in the flesh. As for the pound of flesh analogy. Other workers who refused to do a vital part of their job would be given their P45's and the door.

YABU. I've gone for this as The GP can overrule a receptionist. It's not her fault. She did what she could. On that initial call, the GP with all his medical expertise could at that point asked for you to come down even the day after to another member of staff. Even the practice nurse or advanced practitioner could have had a look at your ears and send a swab off for analysis. Not acceptable.

Of course you should tell the receptionist why you need an appointment.

No. they’re not your doctor. This puts people off making appointments.