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.

Good for you. With absolutely no sarcasm. Well done, this sort of nonsense should have been dealt with appropriately by staff, receptionist is not there to discuss meds at all and should have bumped the query to someone who could. But since it wasn't handled at all and was preventing other people from going about their business you had a perfect right to speak up.

I agree.

We also have a self check in. It's very simple and I don't usually need to see the receptionist at all so they are free to deal with queries.

There is a lot of entitlement in the world these days and it shows in some of the obtuse responses to this post.

The problem wasn't that the lady was querying the meds it was that she took up so much of a receptionist's time going around in circles. I'm going to guess that the receptionist either repeatedly responded with 'they're the same medicine just in a different package' or 'I'll send a message to the pharmacist/GP' but the lady just didn't accept this. This is exactly why GP receptionists and even GPs sometimes have no choice but to be rude. We're the Amazon Prime generation. People can no longer cope with waiting for anything or uncertainty about anything. Unfortunately there is usually a great deal of both in NHS healthcare

Yep. This.

You were unreasonable and rude in the way you raised it. It would have been better to interrupt and say you needed to check in rather than criticising the receptionist and the patient.

The fact that people who had been standing in this 15-25 minute queue just as long and in some cases, longer than OP, were sniffy and condemnatory towards her, suggests to me her tone and attitude was the equivalent of taking a gun to a snowball fight.

You should've been politer, I wouldn't have waited as long, but would've said something along the lines of "Sorry to interrupt but would it be OK to quickly check us in then see if this can be worked out after as I think we're a bit past my appointment time now"

I don’t think most people are saying that the OP should not have said something after she claims she stood in the queue for 15 minutes, with others apparently waiting for 25 minutes, and the receptionist should have handled the situation better. But the OP could have gone to the front of the queue and spoken politely to the receptionist to say that she was in danger of missing her appointment. Instead, she chose to be extremely rude about the woman who was holding up the queue and has then posted on Mumsnet basically inferring that this situation happened because the woman in the queue was a stupid older person.

Many elderly people do this because they have no human contact otherwise. Doctor and dental offices are familiar with this. Not everyone will actually make small talk, but some will do exactly like this lady and find a random problem to rehash over and over again. They're basically just desperate for some sort of human interaction, regardless of good or bad.

@User564523412 And so so many younger self important entitled younger people!

What a drip feed!

Yes to the receptionist managing the queue better, but if our doctors self check in is out of order then the GP or Nurse comes to see if the patient is there.

People are incredibly selfish, and don't care about holding queues up or inconveniencing other people, it's a relatively new issue in customer service roles and staff need to get tough with these people.

I think you did the right thing, but the receptionist should have handled this better. The receptionist should have said (after at most the third cycle round of the same conversation) "We'll need to look into this, would you mind please taking a seat and I'll come back to you/get someone to talk to you in private."

YWNBU to step in but you could have approached it more delicately and got the same outcome.

We do. But when it is broken then you are stuck in the queue of doom.

Receptionist had an almighty row with someone who'd not pushed in and was therefore late for their appointment.

You did the right thing, there’s nothing worse than people repeating themselves and taking over a queue. Well done, OP.

Ah the covid screens 😷

I think I would have been irritated too. The receptionist should have been more robust when it was obvious the exchange was just going round in circles and told her she needed to book people in and would leave a note for the Dr to respond to her question about her medication.

If people dont get checked in... they miss their appointment. It backs everything up.
Even if you have a functioning check- in screen- it wont allow you check in after you appointment slot has started.
Id have done the same actually. YANBU

The receptionist should have told her to stand aside while she dealt with everyone else, and told her that the doctor would call her later to explain.
It's possible that her meds weren't actually changed at all, but that the box showed the brand name instead of generic name, or vice versa, or a different manufacturer name. For example nurofen (brand name) versus ibuprofen (generic name).

It wasn't the lady's fault that the receptionist was shite at dealing with her issue, so YABU to have upset her. The receptionist should have got someone to look into it and asked the lady to wait.

But the surgery is way behind the times in having people "sign in" at reception. All the GPs here have had an electronic system where you "sign in" on a touchscreen for 10 years or so.

Rude, inept and attention seeking (in all the worst ways) - a simple, "sorry to interrupt, but my appointment is in 2 minutes, is it possible to just check me in while you are dealing with this lady's issue?" would have solved it for you without the performance.

Up to other people in queue to deal with their own time issues if they have one, they don't want or need you to speak for them especially in that way.

IT WAS BROKEN

Nobody with self awareness holds up a whole queue for that length of time in a busy surgery. It wasn't OPs fault either, and they needed equally prompt attention.

YANBU OP, for some people something like this is the highlight of their day, and they will happily stand in that endless loop all day if they can. If the receptionist directed her back to the pharmacy, or suggested another GP appointment then there’s nothing else she can do. My FIL would love the attention, and would stand there repeating himself until physically removed from the premises.