GP receptionist - report or let it go?

[6079SmithW]

I’ve just come off the phone with the GP surgery.
I had an appointment today which due escalating problems at work I needed to move to next week. It’s for a timed (28 days) injection so it’s really not convenient to move it as I will be outside of treatment for a week, but I didn’t feel I had any choice.
(Full disclosure - I also had to ring them yesterday because I had written the appointment down on different days in two different diaries).
After changing the appointment, and presumably after she thought the call was disconnected, the receptionist said (to person unknown) “She’s a right bloody nuisance ‘6079SmithW’ with her bloody injection”, then realised and hung up.
I rang the surgery back and told her that I had her comment and she apologised. I explained that I would love to be able to drop everything and just attend but that as I work full time, I have to balance priorities. She said “Well we struggle for appointments so it’s just a good job we could for you in”. I felt that the apology wasn’t genuine and she was just trying to justify herself.
I appreciate that we’re all busy and we all have work stress etc. but AIBU to think that a GP receptionist shouldn’t be slagging off patients (within earshot of god knows who)? Furthermore would you report her or just let it go? My inclination is to leave it there, but I feel like she hasn’t taken the incident seriously and probably just slagged me off a bit more once she got off the second call !

I mean it's not great but..

Trying to think how to word it! I'm effectively the receptionist in the situation and the amount of times I hear customers think they've hung up and start venting
Everything from stupid bitch, she was no fucking help, useless cow...
I can't complain about them. Yet if I said FFS at the end of a call thinking I had hung up, the customer would be fuming

Double standards

Why can't you leave work to get a pre scheduled medical appt? I wouldn't consider an event at work really a valid excuse to cancel an appointment last minute in most cases...

I like the suggestion from a PP that @6079SmithW asks the practice nurses to teach her how to give her own injections, it’s not difficult or painful to do and then she’ll only have herself to blame if she doesn’t get it on time. I’ve given my own injections for fertility treatments and heparin, saving everyone else’s time.

Report her, don't let that one go.

She's dealing with people who could be vulnerable and in urgent need of help and the last thing they and of course you need is her prejudice, she needs to face consequences for her arrogant attitude towards patients, its not acceptable.

I'd leave it. She said sorry and she'll probably be cringing about it for the rest of the week, which is punishment enough lol we've all been there, you have a little bitch/vent about someone, turn around and they're right behind you.

You wasted an appointment someone else could've had. They're precious, and it is a pain in the arse when patients do that. You got an apology, continuing with a complaint will prove the receptionist's point.

She's not belittling the medical need, just the fact they're getting numerous calls and the OP is messing them around

Get a grip!
How exactly was she breaking patient confidentiality? I’m assuming she didn’t answer the call whilst sitting on a packed train or the middle of the supermarket. She wasn’t talking TO the op, she was talking ABOUT her. Just like you’re talking ABOUT the receptionist on here, calling her a ‘desk dragon’. On a public forum.

In reality, everyone will have said things about someone else that they wouldn’t say to their faces. I’m certain people have said things about me that would upset me if I heard it. But I don’t hear it, so it doesn’t bother me. Even if it’s the doctors receptionist telling the other receptionist that she’s ‘bloody sick of me changing my appointments for my bloody injections’.

Have you ever heard of free speech? If she had said it directly to the op, then yes it would have been rude. But she didn’t. She wasn’t gossiping either - she was most likely fed up of the patient changing her appointment because she couldn’t write the correct date down in her diary, and then because she prioritised her work over her health.

Two calls. One to check the appointment date, and one to cancel her appointment. The receptionist’s job is to deal with similar calls all the time. If she is fed up with her job, to the extent that she has to vent to a colleague after a routine call, she should maybe find another one. As we have seen, her poor attitude will start to impact on the way she deals with patients.

She still messed them around. At a time when it’s virtually impossible to get a. GP appointment. She wasn’t “dealing with a patient”, she’d dealt with her and was simply venting to a colleague. I don’t believe for a moment you haven’t done the same.

@6079SmithW leave it. It's annoying but it's important to do your best to stay on good terms with the GP/receptionist. No good can come of complaining

I'd leave it now - you've had an apology what more do you want?

Yes she was unprofessional but it was an offhand comment made in what she thought was a private moment.

I work in a pharmacy and we have 20% of patients who take up 80% of our time and sometimes, when you've answered the third phonecall in two days from Mrs Jones asking another non important question about her repeat medication, you just need to have a moment of saying out loud "If Mrs Jones calls about this prescription one more time, I'm going to scream" to get the frustration out of your system before putting your customer service face back on and answering the next call/speaking to the next patient with your usual professional manner.

Is it professional? Not if you're doing it in front of other patients/customers, but those little moments taken in the back room, away from the public, are what gets you through having to deal professionally with the public the rest of the time.

Thanks for all your replies! I’m overwhelmed by the response (and still confused about what to do).

Just to clarify a few points:
I am disorganised - hands up to that. I’m waiting for an ADHD assessment which I think is probably the cause.

I am always very polite. When I rang to change the appointment I acknowledged that the receptionist had helped me the day before. When I rang her back, I was also very polite when I told her I had overheard.

There is a good chance that someone would take the appointment. I have benefited myself from receiving a cancellation appointment for my DD last time she needed one.

My reason for considering a further complaint is because it was definitely a breach of privacy. The receptionists sit at the entrance to the waiting room and can be easily overheard by anyone in the queue waiting to speak to them or in the waiting room. The GP is also in a small area where I used to live, so there’s a good chance that someone who overheard would know me.

I know my health is important (this is one of many treatments) and I do try to prioritise it normally. It was just too much at work yesterday, plus we had lots of abstractions because of the summer holidays and I am in a position of responsibility so I felt I had no choice.

I am capable of injecting myself and have done hundreds of times (literally). The issue is that this is a controlled drug and so not available except through the GP/hospital.

I don’t know if that helps/changes anyone’s mind. Strangely, I had a feedback form come through on text message earlier asking for feedback!

My reason for considering a further complaint is because it was definitely a breach of privacy. The receptionists sit at the entrance to the waiting room and can be easily overheard by anyone in the queue waiting to speak to them or in the waiting room. The GP is also in a small area where I used to live, so there’s a good chance that someone who overheard would know me.

Did she say your full name out loud?

Thank you for updating and explaining.

O think your possIble ADHD is an explanation but not an excuse for muddling up your appointment date.

The receptionist was unprofessional, cert, though I'm unclear why you think it was a breach of privacy - unless she actually mentioned your name?

Sorry about typos. Had meant to add I still vote for let it go...

You were a nuisance, particularly in cancelling your appointment last minute.
She was being mildly rude about you (behind your back).

Neither of you behaved perfectly so I'd leave it at that.

Just let it go and move on.

She was wrong but what’s done is done, complaining will not achieve anything.

For those asking the receptionist said my name and surname aloud and referred to my injection.

Also as @FlossOnTheMill said, and I agree, my potential ADHD was only meant as an explanation and not an excuse. I know this month I messed up the dates.

I think its ridiculous how many people are saying something about you changing appointments. The receptionists are there for this purpose. Life is complex and sometimes appointments need to be changed. The issue is when patients don't inform or turn up. Having the courtesy to ring and change it is actually what they want us to do. If they complain about changing appointments, they should probably find another job. It's the literal job of a receptionist.

I would not be giving it another thought and wasting headspace on it.

Fully agree. The NHS also often cancel appointments at very short notice themselves, sometimes with no prior warning at all until you're actually sat in the waiting room. Funny how it's OK for them to do it, but not when the patient does it! One rule for them, another for the patients.

It happened to my son only a few months ago. Turned up for an ultrasound scan appointment, handed over the letter, sat down, and was then called back to be told it had been cancelled due to staff being off sick. This was 4pm in the afternoon, so presumably the staff had been off all day, so why no attempt made whatsoever to cancel him in advance to avoid a wasted trip and loss of half a day's pay?

Same with my OH's chemotherapy. Out of a course of 4 treatments every fortnight over six months, on three occasions, he turned up at the appointed time to be turned away as the prescription hadn't been authorised! This was a scheduled course of treatment planned in advance, no last minute changes, so purely an administrative cock up that the issue of drugs hadn't been authorised!

Stones and glass houses springs to mind!

It will, she'll get told about it and hopefully she won't do it again.

Doubt it. It’s more likely that OP’s notes will have a cryptic mark denoting “pain in the arse”.