To not what the GP receptionist to loudly proclaim that I'm overdue for a smear test in the waiting room?

[nahhh88]

I went into the GP surgery for a completely unrelated manner, and when the GP receptionist pulled up my profile she said I'm overdue for my smear test, and did I want to book in for the smear test. I just said I'll book it another time and tried to get her to stop talking. I've never had a smear test as I'm a virgin and had the HPV vaccines as a teenager, and I have no intention of having one done any time soon.

I felt really embarrassed knowing everyone in the waiting room will have heard (the chairs are all very close to the reception desk, there's no privacy so you end up knowing everyone's private medical details said aloud for everyone to hear. As I walked out this old man made eye contact with me and I just felt really embarrassed by it.

AIBU to think GP receptions need to have more privacy and things handled more quietly and sensitively?

I'm sure it wasn't the loud proclamation you felt it was at the time, and nobody in the waiting room would have been interested in you being given a reminder about a routine test even if they did hear. You're a woman, you will be offered that test. No shame or embarrassment required.

The layout of our (otherwise excellent) gp surgery is such that anyone having a normal voice conversation with the receptionist can be heard by all in the waiting room. Every time I go I think it's a bit odd. I'm medical by profession and (I assume it's because of that) basically feel immune to caring myself about stuff being discussed but realise not everyone feels the same, so on that basis agree that yanbu.

(The only time I have been embarrassed was when I saw a trainee doctor who had been sitting in on a gynae clinic earlier that day in the pub that evening. There was one of those 'er hi I recognise you, how are you... oh that's because you were looking at my cervix earlier' moments between us which I really didn't fancy explaining to the running club friends I was with.)

Why are they doing the smear tests in the waiting room.
😉😁😁

It’s all very well people saying OP shouldn’t be embarrassed, but clearly many women feel uncomfortable about the whole thing and it contributes to the low uptake of smear tests. A bit of discretion isn’t too much to ask for fgs.

I think this a breach of privacy.

also no sex ( no oral as well) means no cervical cancer

Ignore people that are giving you a hard time about this… I still put off having smears for as long as possible and recently had to have one along with several biopsy’s…. There might not be shame in smears etc… BUT it’s still our private bits and we are entitled to feel embarrassed about it being discussed in public!
Inwould speak to your sergers over the phone and ask them not to discuss your personal business in the waiting room in such a way in future.
I hate that reception is so public… also hate when you collect a prescription and have to give out your name and address
in front of a whole room of people.. it’s so invasive

YABU, They don't know your specific circumstances- the information available is that you are overdue a medical test offered to women and asked if you wanted to book it. It's not particularly sensitive, other than your feelings on it and I doubt anyone else gives a shit. A simple 'no thanks' was all that was needed.

The reception at a GP surgery isn't a private place, the conversations have to happen or you end up with the other side where something is missed and they are under fire for failing someone by not offering routine tests.

This embarrassment about simple things is a really sad sign of just how women are made to feel ashamed and hide away.

Everyone knows that women have regular smear tests. Men and women. Nothing to be embarrassed about as it can be a life saving procedure and definitely worth doing.

Edit - if they had told you the results of the smear then yes, but to say you were overdue, no.

This hardly qualifies as private medical information?

Out of all the lovely staff at our practice, there is one absolute cow who delights in her judgy comments. I now hang up when she answers the phone. I had to take a stool sample in and kept my voice down when she demanded to know what it was. She knew full well what it was as the bag it was in was provided by the practice specifically for that purpose but she played deaf pretending she couldn't hear me. Eventually the whole waiting room knew I was handing over a stool sample. It was completely unnecessary and I was very embarrassed. I'm not normally embarrassed about things but the room was full and everybody was looking at me. I made a complaint. I will not engage with her now. It's perfectly OK to feel upset about sharing private issues with a room full of people.

Really? I thought the smear test looked for HPV which is an STD, so no sex or oral sex surely means zero risk of HPV?

OP I’d be annoyed too, and I’m pretty shocked at someone’s pharmacist shouting out the medications 😫

I mean, she should be more discreet whilst discussing any medical things. But all women (of a certain age) should be having smear tests, so it’s absolutely nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed by. Wouldn’t phase me at all.
Its not like she said “we think you could have an chlamydia so come in for a test”.

Whether or not OP "should" feel embarrassed or not is not the point; she is entitled to privacy and confidentiality, and to not have medical details made public to everyone in the waiting room.

I'd be annoyed too, OP.

Same at our GPs the reception, waiting room and pharmacy are all the same place…last time I went to pick something up from the pharmacy for my MIL, they wanted to check my identity, so wanted to know what my last Drs appointment had been about, and who I’d seen, to be shouted through the Perspex screen! Seems odd when there’s so many data protection laws, that your private medical information can be shouted out to any randoms that are sat in the waiting room.

I'm booked in for my smear on the weekend. Dreading it as I've gained lots of weight so another layer to the embarrassment.

Wish I didn't have to go.
Can they refuse to give me the pill if I don't have my smear?

Why, do men have cervix?
Yes, it is patient's choice to decide whether or not to have a smear test. Just like it is their choice whether or not to go to a GP if they notice a lump in their breast.
I am not exactly sure of statistics but I would hazard a guess that smear tests prevent more cancers than conspiracy theories.

Define, "should". Are we morally obliged to have a medical test if we don't want to? Informed consent, right?

Personally I don't have smears because I understand my own risks and I understand conditional probability. That's my decision. Perhaps you mean that smears should be offered to all women of a certain age - I'd agree with that, though IME the NHS tends to go beyond "offered" well into "pestered".

I think you should complain, as there could be other perhaps more sensitive information being told by the receptionists.

Pity you did not have the presence of mind to ask if they had undergone one recently.

Something being medically advised doesn't make it a moral obligation, no.
Why have you jumped on the word "should" like that? We all know what it means in this context.
Nobody suggested it was obligatory.

Are GP receptionists supposed to whisper or write it down?

All medical information, with the possible exception of communicable diseases, is private.

Sorry op but I do think you're being a tad sensitive. Would you be embarrassed if they spoke about your flu jab or Covid jab in reception ? Medical info should be confidential but the set up of GP practices and now they often have Perspex sneeze screens, it's hard to communicate quietly with staff

I get more annoyed when they shout out my name and address/ DOB in front of the whole waiting room, that's more identifying than me having a vagina.

I would assume that they were actually referring to prostate checks for men...

It's a standard test for women and so it wouldn't embarrass me, in fact the less embarrassment around standard health care checks for women (and men) the better of you ask me

if I heard a man being asked to book a prostate exam then it might prompt me to ask my husband to book one. Who knows.

However I don't think anything other than standard recommended things should be overheard.

Blimey I thought receptionist had yelled across the waiting room "Hey nahhh, your smear test is due!"

Not that they just informed you as you checked in