To be annoyed at the GP receptionist for being arsey about this?

[SneakyGremlin]

Had a GP phone appointment booked for 13:10 today, for something that needs sorting today (think medication review/replacement). Took my break at work from 13:00-13:30. 13:35 came, still no call, so I went back to work.

Finished work at 4:00 p.m, checked my phone and saw a missed call at 13:41 - so I rang back asking could I possibly get the GP to call me now as I'm not longer in work.

GP receptionist huffs, says she'll try but I should have kept an eye on my phone as they can't always help when it's the patients who missed the appointments. When I then point out to her that actually they rang half an hour after my scheduled appointment, which is why I missed it, she said that that shouldn't be relevant and I should always be by the phone because it's known that GPs run late sometimes.

AIBU to want to complain, or at least mention to the GP who I'm still waiting to call that some of us can't stop doing our jobs and wait for a call just because THEY are running late? If they'd sent a text or something that they were running behind I could have taken my break later and probably kept the appointment.

It feels like I'm being told off like a naughty child because THEY were late.

The response from the surgery aside, your employer should be understanding enough to know that you are expecting a call from the GP so will need your phone on you. That by accepting a telephone consultation you’re avoiding a lengthy chunk of time away from work to visit the GP

Unless it's an emergency, no, and a GP appointment doesn't class as an emergency. I'm on minimum wage I can't take the whole day off for one appointment unfortunately

Wouldn't it be great if there was a way to respond to appointment times to indicate the latest you could cope with the call being, so that a late-running GP can see something like:
13.00 Patient available until 18.00
13.10 Patient available until 13.40
13.20 Patient available until 14.20
13.30 Patient available until 14.00.
13.40 Patient available until 14.00, also 15.00 - 18.00
They could then prioritise those who only have a limited window of availability, until such point as they are caught up. They might even be able to flag to the reception team to let the first person know that it's going to be a while later.
Maybe someone will design a system like this eventually.

I once had a phone call back at past 9pm! So ridiculous

You're lucky yours gives a time for phone calls. Mine just says 'between 8am and 5pm'. They don't seem to have any concept of people actually being at work during the day. It's fucking pathetic.

This pisses me off too, same at my GP. If I was half hour plus late for my appointment in person they'd not see me, why isn't that courtesy extended?

I'd complain about the attitude..

I pretty much agree with this to be honest. Although
I definitely understand how annoying it is to wait, especially if you have timed your break at work to coincide with the appointment or if you have a job that prevents you from taking calls.

The issue for GPs I assume is that they only have 10 or 15 minutes allocated to each patient, including reading the notes beforehand and writing the notes up afterwards. Some of us cannot be dealt with in that time. Last week, I had a 40 minute phone call with my GP, so all appointments after mine must have been very late. The week before, I had a 30 minute face-to-face appointment with the same GP. This particular GP nearly always runs late. She is good.

What did your manager say when you asked to have your phone with you today as you had a telephone consultation?

Because that seems to be the real issue. GPs can run late, and you did miss their call. 30 minutes late isn't an unusual amount of time for a GP to run late for. A small amount of flexibility from your workplace would solve this issue

same here. Phone in hand scrabbling to answer it and they hang up!

I was told I could have my break around the appointment time - which I did! I had no way of knowing they were running late.

But that means the GP was working after 9pm. They’re so under pressure.

That does make telephone appointments super tricky!

It's definitely a good idea to mention your work rules/circumstances to your GP when you do get to speak to them (hopefully soon!) and also remind the practice every time you book your appointments (if this is an ongoing thing). They should be able to prioritise you if they're aware. Also, depending on the issue, the GP might be able to communicate by text message and go by photographs.

Kindly if you are a hotel receptionist you absolutely could have had your phone on you. On vibrate. Nothing bad would have happened if you took the call.

The thing is, this system absolutely entrenches inequity of access to care.

I have a nice cushty leadership job with my own office and a PA. If I need to block my diary or decide to WFH to accommdate a GP appointment, I can generally do that without having to take a day's leave.

And if I do take a day's leave, I don't lose pay as I am on a salary.

If you work in an hourly paid job with little autonomy and rigid management, or you work in a big public space with no private space you can commandeer at a moment's notice, then it is way harder. Sometimes impossible.

This is absolutely a social equality issue and in the sector I work, would be called out as such.

Sure except she might get disciplined if her manager saw. Or lose some pay. Never mind eh!

But then when your call was obviously late as it hadnt arrived?

Again the issue is your work being inflexible. You had no way of knowing they were running late, but it is also incredibly normal and predictable.

Once again the NHS are expected to solve problems that are actually incredibly simple to deal with, just have your phone with you throughout the afternoon.

I'd already had my break at that point though. I couldn't exactly take another break for who knows how long, I didn't know if they'd call in 10 mins or 10 hours. Hence why I had to wait til my shift finished to call them back.

My time is equally as important as their time. Why can’t we have a healthcare system that respects that? Why are we supposed to be grateful for being treated so badly?

Why should she? Why can’t we have GPs that work to time? We pay enough into the NHS. If they can’t be within half an hour of an appointment time can we admit that the whole healthcare system here is broken, scrap it and start again? Please!

But what did your manager say when you explained the situation? That the GP was running late and therefore hadn't called during your break?

Taking a break for a 5-10 minute medical call is reasonable. No ones expecting you to take a break all afternoon or indefinitely, just have your phone on you and answer it when the GP calls. This is a perfectly reasonable accommodation for a hotel receptionist that your manager could have made

Your stance is ridiculous, so many jobs cannot accommodate that. Teachers, nurses, drs, HCPs, TA’s, retail workers etc.
OP had took her break in what she thought was adequate time as thats when her appointment was scheduled. Her boss isn’t the going to say ok you’ve had your break take another.

Fwiw i work in the NHS my job wouldn’t allow for that either and i’m senior but unfortunately when i’m patient facing and doing my job i cannot have my phone on me or leave my patients. So my break would be scheduled around the time i thought my appointment was with staffing for safety allocated accordingly.

@Firtreefionayou clearly have no idea what a gp does. If people want such a personalised service then there is the option to go private.
Im certain that in this case if the OP had said to her boss that the call hadn’t happened and would it be ok to keep her phone with her and nip out to take the call for 10 mins. Literally no one would die or come to harm if a hotel receptionist isn’t at the desk for 10 mins

If you want GPs to run to time you will have to employ more GPs and accept waste in the system

GPS run late because they are packing in too many patients for the time they have, in order to treat as many as possible. We have a mass model of healthcare, you assume all appointments will take 10 minutes but some will take much longer, and some will be quicker. As a result GPS will run late. They aren't running late because they are faffing around

The NHS costs us a lot of money because providing healthcare is very expensive.

You say it's reasonable, my manager disagrees. I'm not going to cause more issues at work by ignoring the policy of no phones at the desk while dealing with guests. Especially for an appointment that's already late and I don't know when it'll be.

Not everyone is allowed to have their phone on their person whilst they're working, hence using breaks to check your phone and scheduling phone appointments during break times.

I deal with sensitve information, and we're not allowed to have our phones at our desks at all during the work day. And this is for an entire company that works completely from home.