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.

@TheQuirkyMaker There's what you say, and how you say it, OP. The fact that you said it loud enough for other people to hear sounds like you were lacking care and tact in your approach. Sounds like a very weak approach to me. Especially when dealing with an elderly woman.

A stronger and more confident person would have approached the elderly woman and receptionist more gently, lowered their voice, and gently suggest that the discussion could continue after other people had a chance to check in.

@TheQuirkyMaker Voted yabu as you said she was elderly and female.
makes me wonder if you would have done the same, been so rude if patient was younger and/ or male???

Of course you were right, she can’t stop the whole surgery. Reception should’ve dealt with her better though tbh. She can make a new appointment to discuss the medication if she must but it’s nothing to do with reception.

YWNBU reception should have said something sooner. Our Drs usually have 2 receptionists on at once. There has been occasions when both have had someone going on for ages. Elderly are the worse thinking they can just walk in and be seen.

Some people are in their own bubble they don’t give a shit about anyone else. Can garantee I will get 1 of these people if I have to go in because a prescription hasn’t been sent or they have made an error so can’t dispense usual meds. I’m in and out in a minute and it’s frustrating.

They won’t have changed her meds but it would have been a different brand name. The pharmacy will give whatever’s available. They do it with 1 of my DD’s. For 1 of her meds though it really does have an effect on her and her consultant wrote it into her prescription she is only to have 1 brand which is more expensive than the others.

Whilst I was sitting and waiting for an appt last week, the receptionist took a call for someone to make an appointment. They went back and forth for soooo long, it became a bit crazy. The caller was obviously giving "I can do X Y Z before or after these times". Offered certain dates and times and couldn't do any of them - this happened about 3-4 times. The receptionist had to put them on hold twice to answer and hold other calls. I ended up thinking, "this isn't a restaurant or activity you're booking, just take one of the offered times!". These patients take up so much time, sometime they need to be firmly told and their expectations managed. If we all took 15 minutes to speak with a receptionist we would be in a lot worse state than we are now.

After 5 minutes, another receptionist should have been called to deal with the queue of waiting patients, while the original receptionist dealt with the elderly lady.

Did it not occur to you that if the lady had received the wrong medication and taken it, it could have been fatal ? If my medication was wrong, I would have stood there until I was given some clarification too.

It sounds like she was just given a generic one so correct meds but just another name. Especially as she kept repeating “no one told me”.
No doubt she bent the ear of the pharmacy but they were swifter in dealing with the situation.

The tutters were probably cheering you on, internally 👏👏👏

Sorry-was it really 25 minutes? Honestly?

OP can't possibly have known that though, any more than we can. I agree it's a likely explanation but bullying the woman into standing down wasn't the
OP's right or business.

All OP needed to do was ask to be allowed to check in on time.

What another patient was discussing with the reception isn't her business, and it's irrelevant. Just say sorry to interrupt, may I check in please. Don't interfere in someone else's medical issues.
.

My surgery has a self check-in screen, and this situation proves every surgery should have one!

The op wasn’t interfering though.
And yes it does sound likely it was a generic item.
The person holding up the queue for 25 minutes was complaining the doctor didn’t tell her.
Its not going to change anything, will still get the same prescription, no matter how many times she repeats “ she wasn’t told”.

I find it hard to believe that there was only one person available to deal with this. Where I live - small rural town, not in the UK - there are several admin staff floating about in the back room and one of them would have come out, either to deal with the woman holding up the queue or with the patients behind her.

I used to run a public service point (not a doctors) but there are skills involved in dealing with time wasters when there is a queue. One way is to make a note of the person's contact details and call them later in the day when you have the required information. Another is to ask them to wait while you deal with the queue. However its ineffcient and unprofessional to keep a number of people waiting while you attempt to deal with a problem that is not immediately solvable. Im surprised the receptionist did not deal with it by offering to call the patient later or asking the GP to do so. She clearly neededs further training. In the circumstances other customers sometimes have to step in to deal with a difficult situation like this.

OP did interfere. She told the receptionist the discussion was going nowhere and blamed the woman, loud enough for others to hear, for repeating herself. That just wasn't her business and it wasn't necessary.

I would have asked to check in, politely. That's all it needed.

I can understand your frustration at having to wait but the way in which you complained about the woman was extremely rude. I’m not at all surprised that people got a ‘bit sniffy’ at your unpleasant attitude.

Well by that idea the woman who was spending 25 minutes repeating herself unnecessarily was interfering with the running of the practice, interfering with the duties of the receptionist and interfering with everyone else who was waiting in the queue.
And quite honestly she doesn’t sound like a little old dear who needs sympathy and understanding but someone who is entitled and needed a reminder that the world doesn’t dance to her tune.

Doesn't matter. OP had no business interfering in another person's medical affairs and didn't need to. There was no reason for her to be so rude and officious. She just needed to check in.

And she would have been able to if the woman was not hogging the only available receptionist with a nothing query.

We don't know that it was a nothing query. The fact that people here can guess at a likely reason doesn't make it a nothing query.

It's the receptionist's job to handle the interaction. Why didn't OP tell them off if she thought she should criticise someone?

OP was unnecessarily rude and interfering. She only needed to ask to check in - not to criticize a stranger engaged in a personal conversation.

Of course it was a nothing query.Shes got her prescription, she just is making a meal out of not “being told “ for 25 minutes.
And yes most people stand back at the reception area to allow privacy but everyone is going to tune in to wonder what the hell the queue hogged is going on about.
It’s not interfering when this woman is holding everyone up, other patients, doctors and the receptionist.
If anyone was rude it is this woman who thinks she can get her own way by being entitled to everyone’s time with a nothing query.

It really doesn’t matter whether the OP considered that the woman’s query was importantly, valid, or whatever. What matters is the OP’s very rude way of handling her irritation at the delay. It would have been perfectly acceptable to have politely said thst she was worried she might miss her appointment because she couldn’t check in but instead she chose to be unnecessarily rude and talked loudly enough about another patient that other, more tolerant, patients made it clear that they thought she was being unreasonable. The fact the the woman she was complaining about was elderly has nothing to do with anything either but is yet another example of the unpleasant ageism that seems to be so acceptable on Mumsnet. One day the OP will be classed as elderly and I hope she is treated with more respect than she showed to the woman in the surgery today.!

We simply don't know that. Neither does OP. There's no information in her post confirming the change wasn't significant. And it was none of her business anyway.

I was at the drs the other day and elderly man told the receptionist his wife had died yesterday and he was coming in to tell them. She said sorry, took her name and then looked at the next person and said 'How can i help you'
When the poor man was still standing there
She Had no compassion at all

I know its different but i think the elderly sometimes need a listening ear and the lady in the Q was obviously confused and needed some empathy and advice
Everyone was in the Q so im sure you all still would of been seen
I personally dont rush elderly people

You seem very rude