Dental receptionist - Was there any need for this?

[applesandorangejuice]

Hi everyone, I've just had a very unpleasant phone call with the receptionist at my dentists office. I've been with them for a few years now. I know how lucky I am to have a dentist, especially with the NHS and as such I've never cancelled, rescheduled or been late to an appointment.

Anyway, I've had terrible tooth ache since Monday night. I've been monitoring it, taking painkillers and hoped it would go away on its own. This particular tooth can be sensitive at times, however it hasn't stopped on this occasion and seems to be getting worse.

I phoned the dentist this morning to ask for an appointment and before I'd even had a chance to finish my sentence/explain what was wrong, the receptionist cut me off and said "well it's no good phoning now, why didn't you phone on Monday?" I replied "Ok, well I wanted to see how I got on. The tooth can be sensitive sometimes and the pain never usually lasts this long". She ignored me and offered me an appointment on Monday.

I'm travelling for work on Monday and had totally forgot so I apologised and said "I'm so sorry, Monday is the only day I can't do because I have a work trip and I can't cancel it at such short notice, do you have any other days available?". She then said, quite sarcastically "we don't, no. Look I've offered you an appointment on Monday and you don't want it". I told her it wasn't because I didn't want it (of course I want to get it sorted) but that I was going to be 6 hours away and couldn't come without cancelling the entire trip. She then managed to find me another slot on Wednesday.

I'm very grateful for the appointment obviously, but was there any need for this attitude/unpleasantness? I know how much shit nurses/receptionists put up with from patients at times. But this woman just seemed gunning for an argument as soon as she answered the phone.

But most dental practices , particularly at this time of the year, if they are NHS will not because the penalties for not hitting targets are so great , and this year many more practices will have run out of funding because promised extra funds have been withdrawn and changes in contract to encourage taking on of new patients means funding ran out quicker. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czq5yjl7zn1o

It also needs to be said that in England and Wales there is no such thing as a registered patient. A practice only has an obligation to see you whilst you are under a course of treatment. Most practices try to prioritise regular patients but unless you are in Scotland or Northern Ireland you are not registered to a NHS dental practice.

I would be furious and also would be writing in to complain and requesting an explanation of the outcome.
The company needs to know about this. There are plenty of people who are in need of work, and they will work hard and the company would be grateful for staff who won't be giving them a bad name. Chances are the call will be recorded. You definitely don't deserve to be spoken to like that even more so when you are in pain. God knows how many other people she has spoken to this way, and if some of these people are on the spectrum/don't like to make a fuss/elderly or easily bullied then you would be doing these people a favour. Can you tell this is a bug-bear of mine? Lol

And they probably have signs up about being kind to staff as ‘they’ won’t tolerate abuse.

I had a run in a couple of years ago with our previous NHS dentist over the way he spoke to our 12 year old DD. She has issues with her teeth, shes been very careful with what she eats, brushes her teeth ( better than me!) and he had a complete rant at her , told her she’s got to stop drinking fizzy drinks, eating biscuits/sweets in bed at night, stop eating cakes at school. All very lazy assumptions, I was in the room and was speechless at first. We left the room and she burst into tears, her older brother comforted her in the waiting room.
I went back to speak to him, he didn't like that! I asked him why he felt the need to make a child cry, why not investigate the cause, speak to parent too. He was ( still probably is) a bully who appears to get off on upsetting people.
We went private, it’s soo much calmer, reassuring and after researching , she has weak enamel, genetic probably.
Apparently since the 70’s the Government have only allocated enough NHS dentistry funding for around 50% of the population, probably assumed people would go private.

When I read posts like this I wonder why people choose to become receptionists, especially for medical establishments where patients calling up may be unwell or in pain, so not at their best themselves..
I would be really unhappy with an interaction like that, especially with the barb about being grateful to have an NHS appointment - isn't that what we pay our hard earned taxes for? I can only think she was having a bad day, but really shouldn't be taken it out on the patients.
I'd be inclined to take this as a one off, but would report it to the practice manager if it happened again.

I do agree there is no need to rudeness. But I cannot tell you the amount of people that ring up the dentist on a Friday (often in the afternoon) because they suddenly remember they are in agony (but when questioned the pain started on Monday) and demand to be seen THAT DAY. When offered 4.30pm they can’t because they are at work. Monday they can’t as they have a hair appointment. But they are IN AGONY and need to be seen at 6pm that day because they are going on a weekend away. Often they say they “hoped it would get better but it hasn’t and now they need to come in in the next hour.”

So no, no one should be rude. But when you ring with a dental problem you can’t really say it’s an emergency and in pain when it actually isn’t. It would be lovely if all dentists (and doctors!) had appointments available exactly when you needed them. But life isn’t like that. You can’t go to a&e and been seen instantly. You can’t get referred for a hospital appointment and be seen within a week on a Saturday . You can’t ring your GP and request a 3.30pm appointment that day just because you want it. And no you can’t always get an “emergency” dentist appointment exactly when you need it either.

Some dentists do keep emergency slots available. We do. At 12.30. If you ring after that you’ll need to wait until tomorrow. If you can’t come at that time “because you’re at work” then it’s not really an emergency. I’ve had severe tooth ache. I’d have climbed Everest to get seen if I had to.

At my job we will do our very best to get someone seen if it’s a genuine emergency. But more often than not it isn’t an actual emergency.

I had this. I inadvertently crunched down on a black peppercorn and didn't realise that I had cracked one of my upper molars. A few weeks later I was in staggeringly awful pain (stupidly, I had thought it would just go away) and phoned the dentist to get an appointment. Could I get past the old dragon on the desk? No, I would have to wait a week, even though by this point I was crying with pain.

A week later, with treatment for a root canal commencing, the dentist asked me why on earth I hadn't come in earlier? Why hadn't I called to say it was an emergency?

'I did. They wouldn't give me an appointment until now.'

'Ah,' he said. 'I shall have to have a word with them ...'

Now, I've got to say that this same practice once phoned me up to bounce me from my regular checkup for 'an emergency' and although it was an absolute nuisance, I was understanding (on the phone, anyway, even if I was inwardly grumbling). These things happen.

YANBU
She enjoyed her little bit of power over you.

She sounds rude, I would never speak to a patient in that way and would be grateful of the fact you were willing to take the next available appointment. I used to work with a receptionist who was so rude to patients, she was rude to staff too. Some people are just this way out and manage to get away with it.

People saying that they don't know why receptionist are like this well firstly they are not robots sometimes they are dealing with up to or more than 8 dentists diaries whilst sorting forms records etc phoning patients rebooking dentists diaries who have not been able to attend whilst dealing with abuse they also have tried sometimes to accommodate patients who constantly say no can't do it yet say they're in extreme agony it's not an easy job and sometimes they may just be having a super shit day I'm pretty sure we have all had them

The OP might be "going on" about being grateful to prevent the inevitable flood of "you're lucky to have a dentist" from the competitive misery contingent.

Just to point out,again, there is no NHS registration in England and Wales , so unless you are under a course of treatment you do not have a right to a dental appointment at any particular practice .

This is particularly salient at this time of year when many practices have run out of funding or are running at full capacity to try to hit targets before March 31st to avoid money being clawed back.

She couldn't take the first appointment because she will be on a work trip!
Hardly being difficult 🙄

If it's an emergency you'd take the first appointment available surely?

• This is the problem with the definition of a dental emergency . The NHS local to me defines an emergency as
• heavy bleeding
• injuries to your face, mouth, or teeth
• severe swelling, or increasing swelling of your mouth, lips, throat, neck or
• eye

toothache , no matter how severe , is not an emergency .

Our emergency clinics , provided by NHS at weekends use this definition.

In practice most surgeries would do their best for severe toothache as well.

The problem comes when someone is in pain , rings up on a Friday when there are no slots available and reception have to gauge if this is

An emergency , needs to be seen today even if other patients need to be cancelled or made to wait and dentists and staff work through lunch , after work

urgent needs to be seen in next few days in a slot that is long enough to be able to do something

non urgent can wait until next free space .

This would appear to be urgent (OP was prioritising work over appointment offered) rather than an emergency .

Yes she was rude but it is so common in healthcare that you get a patient who has had a problem all week but waits till Friday to phone up and expects to be seen that day.

Combined with not being available on the Monday it does seem even more silly that you left it till Friday.

Totally agree. You have to be so so grateful 🙄. They are frequently so rude and do not do what they agreed to do e.g. my GP who after 3 appointments still hasn't done the referral they agreed to do. It's been going on from the start of December.

I agree too, we all have to pay for this shoddy incompetent service in our taxes it shouldn't be this bad, they are mostly all entitled and work shy which is why they strike all the time- they want more money for being shit!

Unless you have priorities that you put before your own needs?

Interesting take as in dentistry we’ve never had a strike, possibly because , as self employed , if we strike , or are sick , or are training etc we don’t get paid.

Very interesting as the average spent , per person treated , per year including patient payments is around £36 . Very little of your taxes or national insurance goes into NHS dentistry .

Even more interesting as NHS dentistry has had cuts in funding for at least the last two decades.

I was talking about NHS In general. Overall useless IMO.

I know this post was a,while ago but having the same problem.. receptionist said she would email reciept didnt and then didn't rebook my next appointment either She's always been arsey and difficult she was at my old dentist I moved and 3 months later she followed!!. I pondered do I make a complaint ? my nhs dentist is amazing ..I don't think it will make any difference and I don't want to lose my nhs dentist so I just try to call on her day off and grin and bear it somethings arent worth fighting for some are you have to weight it up.

I would say cut her some slack. My thoughts are always along the lines of working with the public is sometimes terrible. You don't know if she is going through a bad time. I missed making an appointment and was cancelled at my dentist's. It was ages before I was taken back .It is a nightmare finding an NHS dentist .NHS dentist is not always available. Some people love complaining. I came across that many times working with the public. I know a few people who pay a fortune now as the only dentist they could find are private.

Our dentist only does on the day emergency appointments. You phone up and they will fit you in but they expect you to attend the one they offer you or you will have to phone back the next day. I don't know what happens if you phone later in the day as I've always phoned first thing.