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.

But she did show compassion and a little understanding, by waiting for 10/15 mins before she said anything. As did everyone else in the queue. AND the receptionist.

The only person who appears DIDN'T show any thought to anyone one else, was the person keeping everyone waiting for 25 mins.

YABU. It wasnt your place to correct this lady. Its was the receptionists job to deal with this.

Absolutely agree with shy you did it but you had no right to get involved.

Is the Touch Screen going to be the new 'cancel the cheque'

The OP has said, if people bother to actually read their posts, that it was OUT OF ORDER.

You were perfectly reasonable and more patient than I would have been 😂

No wonder people believe fake news, people! Just stop and think for a moment. Twenty five minutes…

It is the receptionists job to deal with it efficiently, however it is also on the lady to have some self awareness and not allow a queue to build up unreasonably while she goes round in circles.

Ten minutes is an unreasonable amount of time to spend at a reception desk, let alone twenty five.

I don't think there's anything wrong with piping up so that the other people waiting can be seen.

This often happens at the post office where I am but we have an excellent postmaster who is adept at moving slower customers to one side so they can go at their own pace while allowing the staff to work through the queue, which is a good job as often the queue is out of the door and into the market square.

A 25 minute wait? Standing in a queue all that time? That was some argument. That's actually several appointments that the clinicians could have completed. No GP practice can afford to do that. You have to keep the patients moving.
They're going to make sure that touch screen keeps working 🙄

All the receptionist had to do was say to the older lady, 'These people need to be checked in, just let me do that then we'll try to sort this out.'

This thread is going the way of the conversation 😂

• Is there not a check-in screen?

• Why is the woman's age relevant?

• What do you think the medics were doing in all this?

• Why didn't you ask to check-in more politely?

• 25 minutes?

All relevant questions, but being asked over and over, and going round in circles. It's what people do.

GP receptionist here. We don't have self check in.
This was on the receptionist. She should have booked the old woman in for a phone call. If that didn't work and the woman wouldn't leave she should have still checked the people behind her in (its literally a button click) and either spoke to the old woman in between checking in or just been firm and say "i've booked you in for a call with doctor, I'm dealing with these people now"
Some people linger, these also tend to be the ones who call us all sorts of names because we cant devote endless time to them and sometimes have to be blunt.

Absolutely, you're right.
What a ludicrous situation.

I can well believe OP may have been rude and over assertive to a fellow patient at the GP’s, but I just don’t believe a receptionist allowed one patient to hold up a queue of people for nearly half an hour whilst doctors sat in their surgeries, wondering where all their patients were.

Yep-important that you emphasize “old woman”. Because young people are never pains in the arse.

Yep-important that you emphasize “old woman”. Because young people are never pains in the arse.

Absolutely. It's the usual, isn't it. So tedious.

I was thinking I've just watched a whole episode of Frasier in that time!

I suspect exaggeration to justify the uncaring and rude display of "assertiveness"

you did good. :-)

That poor receptionist. Day from hell.

All that and yet the whole waiting room didn't stand up and clap.
Must gave been very disappointing OP.

😂

Well done for speaking up !

Sadly, I think SOME elderly people love the chit chat as well as not being in tune with other people's needs (the bigger picture )

Another staff member should have intervened and taken her to the side .

Does your surgery not have a self serve computer log in to say you have arrived ?

She said it was broken.

This is really weird. As a receptionist myself I would have given her five minutes max then asked if I could please check other people in. We are lucky that generally we have one of us for quick things, and one for enquiries though. It sounds difficult. Sometimes we get peole who are confused and we help them as best we can, although often it’s something like an adult social care referral.

Quite.
In only her 3rd post.
I can understand people not reading every post in a long thread, but at least read the OP's posts.
SOME people just love to rush in with their valuable opinion before understanding exactly what's going on.