I upset a lady at GP surgery today

[TheQuirkyMaker]

A queue of five people in front at surgery. Waiting room pretty full. Only one receptionist available. An elderly lady at the front was telling the receptionist that she had just picked up meds at the chemist, and they had been changed from her regular ones to different ones. There was back and forth discussion, and every few minutes the lady would say, "but nobody told me they would be changed". I asked the lady in front of me how long this had been going on and she said "about 10 minutes". After a full further 15 minutes I said "Look, this is getting us no where, none of us will get to see a doctor if we can't sign in". I got a bit of condemnation along the lines of "she was entitled to her time", but I said, "this is reception, not a consultation. Just repeating that she wasn't told her medication would be changed is getting us no where. This could go on forever".
People got a bit sniffy with me, and I got a few stares, but I was right, wasn't I?
I get we should be tolerant of older people, but there has to be a bit of give and take.

I hope someone sticks up for you when you are a confused elderly lady, OP.

The receptionist needed to handle that better, but what is she supposed to do?

Much easier to ask the pharmacy. They will have your prescribing history and can very quickly check for you and let you know if you need to speak to GP.

I'd have upset her as well. People chatting about their private lives whilst ignoring customers or patients really gets my goat as well.

I do understand what you mean.

I guess I'm thinking of my grandma who is almost 90 and bright as a button - she has a lot of prescriptions and I could imagine her being anxious if one of them changed unexpectedly. I would like to think that in this scenario the queue of people behind her would have some empathy and handle the situation a bit more sensitively than OP did.

The only infuriating aspect was the lady repeating, "but no one told me my medicine would be changed" every time the receptionist spoke to her. Looking back I think she was just being bloody-minded, because she seemed obstinate, not confused.

I think that when the receptionist should have suggested a phone call later with the GP - sometimes brand changes can have adverse affects on people - slight tweaks in formulas affecting how they work for indiduals or few times it's wrong - wrong dose.

Also know my Mum had to get very obsonate with receptionist at some points who'd insist on one thing then while later admit yes they had the test results/letters or perscription - Dad was very ill and to him it was often vital to them it was another task amoung many.

I do think I'd have had to pipe up though - (though having worked with general public waiting for a service time perceptions are frequently exaggerated or just off ) but it would have been an excuse me - sorry - I've been waiting x minutes and I'm going to miss my appointment as can't check it - and would expect many others to pitch in at this point as in same boat - and that would result in giving receptionist a change to move her to one side or call for extra help.

I would not personally have commented on her actual convesation - however frustrated I actually was with it - as that's when people will judge you as rude and impatient.

It might take a long time to get another GP's appointment if the pharmacist recommends that, and the pharmacist won't know why the doctor has made the decision and, in some cases, whether it's in error. They could say whether these are generic drugs, but that's not the only possibility. So it's easier and more efficient to check at source.

This. The ageism on here is appalling.

Why not say to the receptionist 'Is it just you on this morning or can you ask a colleague to help?'

Yep.

'Sorry to interrupt but is there anyone else available who could check us all in? Thanks.'

It's not unreasonable to get a bit annoyed at the situation, but you can deal with it politely rather than so passively-aggressively.

Just go up to the receptionist and say "sorry, excuse me, can you just check me in please while you deal with this lady". Easy.

It's very easy to come up with the ideal words AFTER the event!

This is literally what I would have said but I spent many years working in customer facing roles. Perhaps that's why - I also firmly believe in the old adage 'you catch more flies with honey' 🤷🏻‍♀️

Just leaving the woman alone and asking to check in could be said in a hundred different ways. The point is that there was never any need to upset her or get involved in her business.

I agree OP may have stumbled out of frustration and impatience and of course that's human. But she's come here asking if it was reasonable to criticise this woman publicly and the answer is no, it wasn't. So better to think first next time.

The OP apparently had 15 minutes to construct a sentence.

Come on now. This is hardly a challenging scenario. I would expect a grown adult to be able to talk to someone holding up a queue in a polite fashion.

Pharmacist will be able to tell you over phone immediately if it is a generic drug change, a change due to medication shortages, or a completely different medication. Then if it looks like an error you need to speak to "source"/GP.

It would delay speaking to the GP by say 5 minutes and potentially negate the need to speak to the GP at all - "easier" is dependent on the pharmacists answer.

Unkind. It wasn't the elderly person's fault she was dealt with badly. If you want to blame anyone, blame the surgery. A polite, 'excuse me, could I just check in for my appointment' would have been the best option.

But she was in the GP surgery (presumably collecting a prescription she needed). Pharmacies don't always answer the phone and in my experience the pharmacist themselves rarely takes calls immediately - might call back. While they could help if the generic labelling was the problem, they don't know the doctor's thought process if it was anything else. GP prescribes and is responsible for deciding and explaining the prescription. They are the right people to ask in this scenario.

How is it difficult to politely ask for what you want (if you can get checked in as your appointment is due) instead of performantly ranting?

It is not a coming up with the words issue it is an attitude issue.

Missed it if she was in the surgery picking up a prescription, so yes makes sense to ask there. Thought/assumed repeats will all automated directly to pharmacy nowadays.

Look, you can live your life always being polite and people pleasing and never saying what you think and getting a hernia from the stress of it, or you can open your mouth, say what everyone else is thinking and let them look at you like a crazy woman. I'd rather be the crazy woman than the woman with the hernia personally. You just need to own that you are the cartoon villain in these scenarios. Just have the attitude of "yeah, I make you uncomfortable, suck it".

There is something in that, but waiting 25 minutes to be the cartoon villain is definitely the worst of both worlds 😂

You just need to own that you are the cartoon villain in these scenarios. Just have the attitude of "yeah, I make you uncomfortable, suck it".

Indeed.
And continue on like that and in 10/20/30 years you'll be the one being described as the "confused elderly person" or the "weird old fart" or whatever.
I expect the lady asking about her prescription was thinking, "yeah, I make you uncomfortable, suck it" too.

Which is exactly the issue!!! If the lady in question was just thinking 'yeah, I make you uncomfortable, suck it' then this confirms OP was right to speak up!

Not really the point 🙄