Why tell the receptionist why I'm seeing the doctor

[Eldermileniummam]

Why do they ask this? Is it so they can give you an appointment with the appropriate person or some other reason?

I usually don't mind but sometimes I'm embarrassed to say and never sure how specific I need to be.

Years ago I was asked by GP receptionist what the appointment was for. 3 days later she congratulated my mother on my (non-existent) pregnancy.

I avoid doctors as much as possible now, but use a private GP, they don’t care if you aren’t comfortable telling them over the phone why you want an appointment.

Getting to see a doctor is so fraught now, on top of having a medical condition. It should not be like this.
Receptionists are not qualified to triage. They are of course given guidelines but in the end these could be life/death decisions and they should not be burdened with these, nor the patients receive thus substandard service.
One time when I rang for a doctors appt the receptionist asked me what about ... I needed a phone consultation about drug changes which needed medical input . . I explained what I needed and she said "I am not a clinician so I cannot help you. I made it clear that I was well aware of that and I was asking to consult with a clinician. She just kept on saying "I am not a clinician" till I felt like tearing my hair out. She said she would get someone to ring me. Phone rang, I picked up, explained my problem and she said ...... "I am not a clinician" ... I was losing the will to live by this time. ......

Maybe our ideas of triage are different then?

At our surgery, you give a very brief description - ie ongoing gynae issues, blood test, b12 injection, sore knee, ingrowing toenail and they suggest who is best to see. Never have I been diagnosed over the phone. What's happening at your surgery?

I gave my (relatively minor) example. I asked for an appointment for a vaccination I needed for travel to an unusual place. The receptionist told me that I didn't need that vaccine to go to that place and so wouldn't give me an appointment with the nurse (for the travel service they advertise) (note - did not say go to a pharmacist). I knew I did need it so went and got it at a Boots travel clinic instead (hard to track down, as obscure). If I hadn't had it, travelled, and picked up the disease, I would have been very ill and potentially died.

Yep so my brief description was high blood pressure and reacting to the medication.
Answer: see the nurse
Wrong. A nurse cannot give medication if the first treatment failed. It needs to be reviewed by a GP. They should have known that. Part of basic training right?

A poster up thread said how she was told to see the chemist when she said her baby had a high fever (40oC) and a rash.

It’s not about diagnosing there. It’s about basic training to do said triage.

A nurse practioner could?

If in both of those situations you said "no I want to see a doctor" are you refused?

That happened to my cousin. Donkeys years ago She went in for a pregnancy test ( positive) . Couple of days later her mum popped in and receptionist congratulated her on upcoming grandchild. Thing is my cousin and her mother were no contact so she was less than impressed. Changed surgery pretty sharp ish

Of course they don't care. You're paying privately for their time, you could book an appointment and ask them their thoughts on evolution if you wanted.

You can just say id like to see a doc about a personal matter and they should be ok with that

Not for an appointment, but I asked the GP's receptionist for a repeat prescription for antibiotics for DS1 who's got cystic fibrosis. She tried to tell me he couldn't have a repeat prescription for antibiotics when they were basically keeping him alive. I had to get her to call the GP out.

Tooth infections can be fatal and a private dentist can be £70 + £12 for a private prescription, perhaps they couldn’t afford it. A kind doctor prescribed me antibiotics for a non-existent thumb infection to get around the rule that GPs can’t prescribe antibiotics for dental infections.

My doctors wouldn't see me a few weeks back i asked for a none emergency appointment for a mark i had for weeks.
I was just a bit concerned thats all nothing else.
Got told its really nothing to wory about and not worth an appointment got to the pharmacy .
Okay fair enough.
At the pharmacy told them what was said i was then told well your doctor said dont worry over it its fine.
Okay fair enough was not told what it was and how to rid of it.
I came to mums net said the same thing about this mark got told what it was and what i could try on it.
Went to Google and looked up what mumsnet told me and bang problem solved.
Got cream that was recommend 3 weeks on mark as now completely gone.

Yes this! It’s ridiculous that they can’t prescribe antibiotics for a tooth infection which can be fatal as you say.

Nope a nurse practitioner can’t.
They can prescribe when you see them the first time (that’s a nurse practitioner who prescribed the first meds) but not if there is an issue afterwards. The review has to be done by the GP.

I couldn’t get an appointment and after much aggro got an out of hours appointment. With a nurse practitioner. They changed it pretty sharp to a GP appointment because of that. I’m just extremely lucky that they had one.

And then when I saw the GP who actually looked at my whole history instead of applying the ‘here is the first line of blood pressure meds we normally give’ he referred me back to my cardiologist. Because it was never going to be dealt with by the GP (complex).

So yes triage is great. Up to a point.

To be fair I phoned up today for DS and was told there were no appointments, but they squeezed me in due to his deteriorating mental health, so it can be worth explaining.

I also generally don't care anymore, and will happily explain that, no I can't go to pharmacist for thrush because I've taken 9 of the tablets this year and they won't sell them to me any more. They were actually really sympathetic and I got seen really quickly three times now, though no end in sight for solving it yet.

We pay for the NHS as well.

The difference is that customer centred approach is the norm when you are paying twice, its entirely hit and miss in the NHS.

There has to be some kind of triage or the whole thing would go to hell.
I am doing triage for my department from home as I'm recovering from surgery and it's certainly opened my eyes.
Our dept is very short staffed and we have to prioritise patients. We can't have people insisting on priority appointments for things we don't even cover or we'd go under in a week.
You don't have to tell them your life story, when I had mental health problems and needed to see a doctor I just said mental health when reception asked. Thst was enough.

My gp went to the e consult system after Covid. Normally I could do it easily but I became ill with a mental health issue and I just couldn’t do it I was trying to make out everything was fine when it absolutely wasn’t and I’d kept going into work . I tried several times to complete the e consult and in the end I phoned the surgery. It was early in the day and I explained how I couldn’t seem to do it. Obviously she could see that I’d always done it before. She said that she could do it for me if it would help but that she would have to ask personal questions. I could barely function and was so grateful for her help. She did the form then normally it says at the end of it, someone will contact you by 18.30 tomorrow. She said this verbally, I said that was fine . The gp phoned me within 15 minutes of the receptionist doing that form for me. I was called in immediately and diagnosed with severe depression. That receptionist not only did the form for me but she then highlighted it to the gp. That receptionist went way over above and beyond and I will always be grateful.

It's the triage system. They channel you to the appropriate medic and you are generally seen more quickly or have a telephone consultation. Works brilliantly in our surgery.

When I ring to make arrangements for my family they always have a message stressing you don't have to divulge any information you don't wish to
I think this should be compulsory for all surgeries & I'm sure they'll be just fine with the faintest description without disclosure of embarrassing or personal problems & details you know
Wishing you all the utmost very best
God Bless You&Yours

I'm a receptionist of nearly 16 years and I don't triage calls I take messages for the GPs to triage. I have however told people who say they have chest pain to go to A&E and not to drive or phone 999 immediately. I also advise people of pharmacy services but I don't decide who can or can't have a GP consultation and I don't decide if Brenda gets to see a GP sooner than Fred.

I think it works pretty well at mine, we have a few different people we can see. Due to my health issues I'm more likely to need to speak to the pharmacist at the surgery rather than the GP. I also don't know why it would be embarrassing, it's not something I've personally felt as I just think of it as I'm just a body, with some problem they'll have seen loads of times. Especially if I were speaking to them on the phone, as it feels very indirect. Only thing I miss about GPs is when you used to make an advance appointment for a non-urgent issue, but mine won't do that now.

No this definitely isn't the reason haha. They want to know if they can stop you getting an appointment and ask if you really need it and try and palm you off onto someone else like the pharmacy. And specialist gp gosh we would be lucky. They will put you in any open spaces. Even if that practitioner is a nurse or another medical professional even if they are unlikely to be able to help you in anyway. They can tick the box that they offered you an appointment to save them in the case anything ever went wrong. It's super sad the days are gone of seeing our family gp who knows us so well, will fit us in and listens and cares for us. They just don't make them like that anymore unfortunately. The state of the NHS now is super sad and I've worked in it for a long time.

Aah that's BC a dx is more an experienced opinion than a yes/no question.
Rarely e.g pregnant or not is almost 100% reliable due to tests available, otherwise it's balance if probability..

That is as it should be.