Sexual discrimination?

[Cleikumstovies]

If a person refuses to speak to a receptionist because of their sex, and demands one of the other sex, is that sexual discrimination?

Ds working at a GP surgery - only man, with ten women taking calls for appointments. Patients call for appointments. Staff ask " do you mind giving me an idea what the issue is?". Most happy to say, some say it's personal - not a problem for the staff. If it's "lady bits" the staff will book a double appointment to allow a PV exam. No pressure on patients.

In the last two weeks he has had four women upon hearing his voice say " I need to speak to a woman, not a man". We'd appreciate thoughts before he makes a complaint.

Why shouldn't patients give information to the receptionists? Its their actual job to know.

(Not of opposite sex if not comfortable)

I hope he had more empathy than his parents. Trumpian?? Christ almighty.

Actually, no, it’s not their job to know. Patients are under zero obligation to tell receptionists any more than their basic information so they can be booked onto the system.

Your son is in the wrong profession if he's bleating about discrimination because women don't want to share intimate information with him. How entitled does a man have to be to even contemplate complaining about this.

What a ridiculous thread!

Of course patients have the right to choose who they discuss their private medical info with.

What has Donald Trump got to do with it? Because he doesn't want men in women's sports?

Who is your son going to complain to? Does he want the female patients to be punished?

How do they decide how important the appointment is then? It’s like running into a and e and refusing to answer any questions and quietly bleeding to death! Or would you speak to that receptionist?

I think he should tell them to call back and hope to go through to a female receptionist. He should raise it in a meeting so they decide how they will tackle this as they do want receptionists to stream patients to the right services/practitioners.

It's likely because part of his job is to direct patients to the appropriate service or practitioner. They put pressure on him to know what the patient needs, but haven't told him what to do about those who do not want to share for whatever reason. But if he makes an appointment for someone with a GP when they could have seen the HCA, he will get a bollocking.

No, I don't think it is, much as I understand it not being pleasant for your DS.

Your hyperbole here in calling women "Trumpian" shows your own bias towards your son's feelings rather than women feeling embarrassed to speak to a man who is NOT a GP.

You're being utterly ridiculous and unsympathetic to these women.

Id be exploring why your DS wants to force women to speak to him tbh.

No, sorry. Anything regarding health and sex is fair territory for people to specify the sex of the person they will speak to/see.
It’s not discrimination- it’s respect for patients.

Your DS needs to respect their wishes, not complain about them.

Why does your DS care so much about this? I mean it's not that big a problem fr him surely?

Maybe he is in the wrong job.

https://www.willowmedicalpractice.co.uk/pages/Why-does-the-receptionist-need-to-ask-whats-wrong-with-me

If they were complaining more generally about him being male then that would be discriminatory (eg complaining that men are allowed to be midwives or nursery teachers), but if they are politely requesting a female receptionist when asked the nature of their problem then that is absolutely fine. You can have sex defined services as long as proportional.

my surgery has multiple women plus one man, he is always in demand when men want appointments for sensitive male issues, my drs also makes it clear you can state I think it’s a man problem, I think it’s a woman problem or I’m worried about a lump and needs to be a female gp giving no more information, but they do need this amount so they can allocate gps with additional training in these areas

Personally I'm happy to speak to anyone 😊 my last pap smear was done by a male but I don't know if this would be discrimination because I think your allowed to ask for a female aren't you?

Does he truly believe that these women didn’t talk to him because they like to treat men as less-than or think they wouldn’t do a good job booking the appointment?
Or (like anybody with common sense) does he believe they were embarrassed to discuss private body matters with someone if the opposite sex?

It sounds like he wants to complain to make a point. Is he angry about ‘advantages’ women have, like women-only spaces, positive discrimination, etc and thinks he has found a gotcha situation?

I think in healthcare people are entitled to request a member of their sex. But it only becomes priority if it's something more intimate than just saying a couple of words about what's wrong. Also it depends if one is available.

Is it a massive hassle for the man to just patch the call through to one of the women?

Or simply say in that case you'll need to ring back and hopefully a woman will answer. Or you could just say no women are present on desk.

You don't seem to understand what sexual discrimination is. If your DS's employer was making decisions based on his sex - not allowing him to do certain tasks, for example, that would be sexual discrimination and he could complain, as it affects his ability to do his job and to progress. The behaviour of customers/patients has nothing to do with sexual discrimination. If, for example, a passenger on a plane said 'I'd rather have a male pilot,' that is not sexual discrimination in a legal sense, it's an idiot member of the public with an idiotic viewpoint. If that passenger then started kicking off they could be removed of course but it still wouldn't have anything to do with sexual discrimination. Similarly, patients who would rather speak to a woman are expressing a preference, as is their right, but they aren't discriminating as they have no power over your DS in a legal sense. Your DS might think it's wrong or annoying but there's no complaint to be made to anyone.

Thank goodness for the e consult system. He shouldn't even be discussing this with you. I don't see what Trump has to do with it either.

Lol, who are you planning to complain to?!

Receptionists do need to know the gist of the problem so they can book with the appropriate clinicians. Of course patients can prefer not to say but run the risk of booking in with someone who doesn’t have that expertise. This often happened re smear tests and steroid injections at my surgery. The patient then had to rebook, wasting appts and waiting longer for their procedure. Honestly, receptionists take hundreds of calls a week and are really not interested in anyone’s personal info, they just want to get on with their job.

I think most of us do understand this but it's not a question of how the receptionist feels but how comfortable a patient is with discussing personal matters with a member of the opposite sex. Some people won't care and that's great but for the small number who do, it matters.

You say yourself that GP receptionists take hundreds of calls a week but he has had just 4 women request to speak to a female member of staff in the last couple of weeks. Hardly a big issue but he wants to make it one.