To report this receptionist?

[Ezlo]

Today I had to call in at my surgery to get blood bags.

I had to queue for a while to get seen to and when I did, the receptionist didn't smile, she didn't apologise for the long wait and then couldn't find on the system why I needed the blood to be taken. Her colleague eventually helped and after more faffing, I got my blood bag. She had a sour face throughout.

There were two other staff members Sat who were only taking prescription requests or arriving people in for their appointments but were mostly sat without any patients.

By that point I had just missed the hourly bus to where the bloods where being taken and had to walk about a mile all up hill whilst severly anaemic.

This is the same clinic where you can only book an appointment by going in to surgery at 8am each weekday or by using the online triage which is accessible from 8am to around 9.15am each weekday. If you work those times then you don't get an appointment. They refuse to give appointments by phone.

You can't report her for not smiling and the other things are beyond her control.

Working as a GP receptionist is very different to working as a receptionist in most places. They get constant abuse and being told "If I die its your fault" is a daily thing. They are overworked, understaffed and blamed for all the policies and procedures the partners put in place. Yes, they should be happy and smiley but you don't know what she may have just dealt with.

I covered on reception at my surgery today, at our small satellite surgery. We have minimal staff there. A man came in with his wife feeling very unwell. The GP needed him to go to hospital but the ambulance was a 14 hour wait so they rang a taxi. We had no nurse in today and the GP needed to get on with other patients so I was asked to sit in another room with him and his wife whilst they waited for the taxi as the GP didnt want them left alone (if he had stayed with them the other patients in the waiting room would have kicked off).

He went into cardiac arrest whilst I was sat with them. GP came through and dealt with it whilst I called the ambulance. I then went back onto reception. Three hours later we got notification he died - I still had another 4 hours to work on reception. I got on with it, being shouted at by a number of patients because their prescriptions weren't ready. And then someone wanted to complain to my manager that I wasnt particularly smiley or happy!

You have no idea what that receptionist may have just had to deal with before you came to her counter. Yes - they should be smiley and nice but sometimes they deal with more than you can every imagine.

Cut the receptionist some slack. Complain about the system not the people.

She’s a receptionist in a GP surgery - very busy and under pressure

she’s not working the front customer service desk at the Ritz

so yes go ahead and report her for failure
to wear a pleasant expression 😳

Tbh, if I were in a queue at the GP surgery and needed something important within a set time frame, I would say, "excuse me, I need to get the X am bus to the clinic for my bloods and need the required bags immediately, so please give them to me now."

If there isn't the required response, repeat, louder, as many times as necessary.

But that's even more reason for her to be warm, empathetic and to be able to handle high pressure situations. Not less. People at the Ritz aren't terrified that they have cancer, or worried their child has meningitis, or their Mum is having a heart attack. Nobody expects a receptionist to be like a circus clown, but they should absolutely be approachable and warm and welcoming. All customer service roles involve being complained at, if you can't do that calmly and humanly then maybe you should get a job somewhere else.

You knew the bus comes every hour you should’ve got in the queue earlier you’re angry with yourself not the woman or her face

Why didn’t you just tell her to smile? It always goes down with me when random people tell me to cheer up.

I'd be complaining about the utterly shit "system" they have with not taking bloods but that's not her fault.

I don't think I've ever in my entire life seen a medical receptionist smile. They have one of the worst jobs IMO. Dealing with the public who are unwell, stressed, snappy and blaming them for things way beyond their control.

No I don’t think you can complain, you could’ve got the bags earlier, they aren’t responsible for your time and the bus timetable.
They were busy they have a system in place, that wasn’t efficient for you but it’s the system that works for them.

😂😂😂😂

And if I were in front of you in that queue, I'd tell you to wait your turn!

I dont think its worthy of a complaint.

I dont think you can complain about there being a queue that you didn't allow enough time for

Ok so she could have done better at finding what you needed quicker, but she might be new? everyone has to learn.

I wouldn’t bother. We all know they’re staggering on with inadequate funding and staffing levels. Push another one off the end of their tether and that’s another one gone.

If you’re wanting to report someone for a resting bitch face I would say your life is going pretty well.
Let’s be honest, the shit doctor’s receptionists go through on a daily basis would probably warrant a sour face. They do what they are told to do, it’s not personal, it’s just life at the moment.

Report her for what exactly??

Why didn’t you go earlier, or the previous day if you knew there was only one bus an hour? A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on her part.

my surgery outsources blood tests too, and you have to pick up the paperwork from the practice, so I always make sure I go in advance.

And no, of course you can’t report someone because you didn’t like their face!

She isn't a commercial customer service role, yes, correct. She is in a more important role actually to do with someone's health. Quite a lot of surgeries have patient forums or similiar. I'd maybe try checking that. I don't think we are helping the health service improve unless patients are encouraged to be honest about their experiences

There will always be selfish people who won't let someone who obviously needs something urgently go ahead. It's still worth asking, because, presumably, the receptionists will be able to see that it's more important that OP gets the blood bags in time than that the prescriptions that aren't time-dependent go first. (Obviously, there might be more urgent cases in the queue, in which case it's hard luck for OP, but I'm going on the basis that there weren't, as OP suggests she was able to know that.)

Agree

She has to deal with the crappy system every working day. You would have a sour face if you were her.

Who are you going to report it to? No one is going to care that you think the receptionist is grumpy.

You can walk a mile when several anaemic it's not that far. Sounds like you're making a mountain out of a mole hill.

I had a crappy system in a customer facing role (not medical) and still had to treat customers with kindness and concern, identify someone who may be vulnerable and provide appropriate service/care. I never had a sour face on. I mitigated the crappy systems to do the best I could for the customer. Why shouldn't someone do that in a medical role? It's worrying people think it's ok if they are more concerned about their own job issues than helping the people they are paid to help/be concerned for

Not surprised front facing staff don't smile, they have so many people moaning at them for things they have no control over in their capacity.

Why not. I'm in medical and I never greet any patient with a cats bum face. I have no idea what they are going through.

Yes, shout at her. That’ll make her smile.