To think the GP receptionist should have asked, 'Are you ok'?

[shonapop]

My mood has been slowly spiralling downwards. I've had many gentle suggestions from family that perhaps it's time to think about increasing my anti depressants.
I've been really putting it off, trying to fix myself with all the usual exercise, meditation, etc. Just getting worse.
Plucked up the courage to call the GP today, feeling like a total failure and on my way to rock bottom.
Told the receptionist 'I think I need to tweak my antidepressants' she said 'I can't get you a phonecall with a GP until next week ' that was it. Didn't ask if I was ok, was it an mental health emergency? Or even what direction was I wanting to tweak them.
What if it was someone AT rock bottom? Suicidal? Can't believe the lack of compassion.

its not the receptionist job to ask, they are under a lot of pressure and prob get a lot of rude and abusive calls.

But it's exactly our job to ask. That's the whole point of a GP receptionist. To appropriately triage calls.

What the hell did you expect her to do? Seriously

OP, would you have given another polite veiled answer if the GP receptionist had asked if you were OK? How far did you want them to keep on pushing the questions till you reveal you're on your way to rock bottom etc? They often get flak for being too intrusive of privacy, even just for physical, let alone mental health, conditions.

If someone is rock bottom or really struggling they are unlikely to say calmly that they think they need to tweak their meds. I burst into tears on the phone when I was in that situation. The receptionist would know what to look out for.

Are you okay op?

You could ask if it's OK to take an extra tab/ half a tab until your appointment. Tweak sounds deliberately vague and can mean reduce a well as increase the dose.

But is it though? It could mean nothing to some and certain death to others. A couple of simple questions could be the decider.

@shonapop I think people need to take some individual responsibility.

Receptionists are constantly accused of being too intrusive.

Why can't the caller just say it's urgent, I need a same day appointment. If they can't make that assessment themselves then why should a receptionist be expected to read their mind.

No one takes responsibility these days and then blames other people.

To be honest I feel like I've cried all of my tears.
Perhaps if the receptionist had simply said 'are you ok?' Or 'will you be ok until next week?' The tears may have come again.

Oh come on she wasn’t to know that. She’s a receptionist not a clairvoyant. I’m sorry for your struggles but you’re being really unreasonable here.

I will be fine. Thankyou.

I think it’s an indication that you are not well that when you rang you were unable to state your true state of mind and feel put off by the receptionists reaction so much. Depression and anxiety can rob you of emotional resilience.

I was going through a very bad time a few weeks ago and after much delay finally rang the doctors. I started off ok but ended up crying down the phone and admitting I was having ‘dark thoughts’. She didn’t sound very sympathetic so I was surprised when I was given an appointment that same afternoon.

The receptionist was probably more used to people like me, and your request was too subtle for her to pick up on. Please give it another go, or even ask someone else to do it for you.

Receptionists can't offer medical advice, so there was really no point in her asking you if you were 'ok' ... especially with people queueing on the phone and in the waiting area no doubt.

As someone who has several mental health conditions I think YABU.

The receptionists can’t win! They can’t read your mind and if it was a mental health emergency you’d probably be ringing 999 or 111 or heading over to a&e, or ringing one of the very many charities and services out there to support in these crisis. They can’t “check in” with everyone running up about the mental health medication!

With the greatest of respect, not not to trivialise how you’re feeling st all, but you’d be amazed at the number of people who are medicated for depression/anxiety/both nowadays. It’s incredibly common and definitely wouldn’t flag anything up on its own.

Exactly this.
They speak to lots of ppl everyday too so don't have time to get involved like that.

Exactly.

My husband was a GP. I dont think asking if someone is ok is considered intrusive. Intrusive is 'what condition have you got and how bad is it so I can decide if you need an appointment'.

Think how many calls come through per day to the surgery regarding mental health. The receptionist does not have time to ask how everyone is and engage them in conversation. Tweak your medication could have meant anything.

She's not a GP or therapist. She's there for making appointments and sadly can't ask every patient if they are ok. If you were sobbing down the phone a little understanding from her wouldn't go amiss sure, but to ask someone "if they were OK" isn't really appropriate. I say this as someone who worked as a GP receptionist.

Hmm… I think the receptionist reacted precisely how I'd have wanted her to react if I'd rung up with the same query, and she has no way to know whether she's got someone with preferences more like mine on the other end of the phone, or someone with preferences more like yours.

Firstly, as you mentioned, when you're feeling low but just about holding it together, a kindly-meant inquiry into whether you're really coping can bring on the tears. That's something I absolutely wouldn't want on an administrative call to a receptionist, because I'd feel embarrassed, there would be nothing the receptionist could do for me in that moment, it might take minutes or hours after the call to rebuild my fragile able-to-cope framework, and I'd worry about holding up the queue.

Secondly, I've taken various psychiatric meds for most of my life, and if I'm bringing a matter-of-fact request like a consultation for a meds adjustment to the table, with no particular indication that I'm struggling, I like to be treated like any other patient making a routine request. It actually irks me sometimes to be treated with unwarranted gentleness, asked if I'm really truly coping, probed for suicidal thoughts, and so on, when I'm doing fine, presenting fine, and am there for something unrelated, or for some medication-related issue. I understand why they sometimes need to ask about my mental health, but I don't want to be automatically treated as inherently delicate and potentially less able to ask for what I need, just because I take medication for a mental illness.

Reception staff aren't trained mental health professionals and they shouldn't be getting into a dialogue about someone's mental health when they aren't equipped to deal with the answers.

but what would be the point of the question?

What is she going to do with the answer?

Antidepressants are not going to make her "ears perk up" - it will be the most common medication prescribed in the practice.

It is her job to sort out an appointment, which she has done?

So I think you are being a bit unrealistic - GP receptionists can't go asking "are you OK?" - because anyway, surely the answer is always going to be "No" - or else why would they be ringing the GP?

She will be dealing with people in terrible situations all day every day - and she will know many of them are not OK, bereaved, dying, disabled, in pain, etc - her job is to sort out their appointments for them

I understand where you are coming from and I hope you are ok