Why aren’t doctor’s receptionists more discrete?

[BakedPotatoBeansCheeseColeslaw]

I’m waiting in the doctor's surgery this morning for something routine.

I woman has turned up wailing that she doesn’t feel very well and asking to see a doctor. The receptionist is doing the “triage” with her but it is extremely public. The woman herself is extremely loud but she’s clearly not mentally very well as she has announced to the room that she thinks she is having a nervous breakdown. However the woman on reception is practically shouting the questions.

I know this woman’s name, date of birth, first line of address and what medication she is currently taking. It’s all very embarrassing.

AIBU to think if doctor’s receptionists are going to ask questions about your medical problem, they should do so privately and not to a room full of patients?

I don't think she was being a dick there. I wasn't aware of discrete/discreet at all, so I actually found that really useful! 😁 In some threads, it's not appropriate, but I don't think this is one of those threads.

TBF it can be taken as the wording in your title "Why aren't receptionists separate to the waiting room" discrete as well as "why don't they keep their blinking voices down" discreet.

Agree if they're triaging then they should have somewhere away from main thoroughfares to take the patient.

I do think this is probably a difficult situation for the receptionists and if it was me in her position I’d probably struggle. Even with all the training in the world, when someone has a manic episode in front of you it’s definitely jarring. I’m not saying she’s right - she should definitely try and get her into a private room but form the sounds of it it’s probably beyond the skills of the GPs receptionists and in a perfect world she would be being handled by a MH specialist.

And I agree staff should be discreet and try and maintain confidentiality as much as possible. Surgeries aren't always set up for privacy but staff should endeavour to maintain confidentiality.

It's really hard sometimes though - hard of hearing patients that need to shout/be spoken to loudly, indiscreet patients who themselves love to overshare!

My surgery has no spare rooms for private discussion with receptionists and nowhere patients can be taken - all rooms are in use almost all the time. We were aware of patients in the waiting room sometimes being able to overhear phone conversations from back reception due to the building layout so we got a licence to have radio in the waiting room, but now we get regular complaints about the choice of radio station.... we can't win!!

UTIs aren’t embarrassing though?

I b agree, but the patient can always ask to speak to her in confidence.,

They aren't embarrassing FOR YOU. But a UTI was embarrassing for me, especially as there was a queue of men standing very closely to me who could hear every word.

What is embarrassing for one person isn't embarrassing for another. This is part of the discussion of this thread that there has to be sensitivity involved when talking about medical problems in a public place.

What worries me the most is that the receptionists are allowed to triage the patients. How much medical training do they get?
Im sure there must be times when serious illnesses don’t get prompt treatment because of this.

It's unacceptable.

I'm have private insurance and at private hospitals ( I know it's completely different), but for date of birth (when checking in at reception) they provide paper and pen and ask you to write it down. That means the rest of the waiting room can't hear.

I've also been asked to check (and confirm) my address on the computer screen.

It might be worth asking if you can do this at least for DOB.

Irrelevant - it’s private information and should be treated with discretion. Medical data is some of the most sensitive data there is.

If you think this is bad wait until your in a hospital and realise the blue magic curtain isn't soundproof

It’s utterly inappropriate and I’m amazed that it’s just accepted. Pharmacies are even worse. Every month I’m in a queue basically shouting my personal details to the person who will bring my prescription out - because they’re standing a good 6 feet behind the actual counter, as that’s where the computer is. Full name, DOB, first line of address, and then type of medication. I once asked them if they could just move up to the counter and maybe write down the info on a piece of paper and take it back to their computer as I don’t want to be shouting my details, and they said that’s unsafe as the bit of paper means personal info are jotted down 😭 just shred it?! Better than me shouting all my deets

You ask for that piece of paper and take it away with you.

I think assistants and pharmacists need training with this.
No one should be giving out info like this in earshot of anyone else.

We must be using the same pharmacy! I had 100% the same experience. I was trying to speak quietly and was instead forced to shout very personal details across the room. They were incredibly arsey about it too. I changed pharmacies, the privacy situation is still shit but the people are nicer.

Our surgery have addressed this recently on a newsletter, and asked people to phone in should it be a private matter that they don't want to discuss at reception. Or you can contact the surgery via the website and there is a form to fill in but it shouldn't be used for emergencies/urgent appointments as it's not always seen same day.

Except I have a headache. I may just need to take some paracetamol or drink some water. Alternatively I may have meningitis or giant cell arteritus (sp?) both of which need urgent treatment.
Do we really think it’s okay for a receptionist to decide if I need to see a doctor?

I had this with my dh. He suffers from serious mental health issues, including psychosis. I am his full time carer and when I asked if I could accompany him to see the doctor, receptionist started to say no. There was a long queue behind us, all listening as I tried to quietly explain about the Psychosis and that he needed me with him. She started shouting "is he having a psychotic episode now? If he isn't having a psychotic episode he should be able to go in alone". She couldn't have shouted out the word psychotic more if she'd tried! I turned round and everyone in the queue was looking at us, we felt so humiliated. When we both, finally, went in to see the Doctor, I told him what had happened and he said there was no problem at all with me accompanying dh and she was wrong to challenge us.

The receptionist might not "give a f*k personally but other people do care about their privacy and have a right to for that to be recognised.

Just saying "it's her job" is not the shut down you might think it is.

her medications should be on file already, no need to ask that

we tell our patients we’re not clinical so cannot ask or answer clinical questions. the doctor I work with speaks so low when he’s giving me follow up I can hardly hear him I have to try and read his lips 😆

Yes this. I was once next to a patient being told her treatment wasn't working and there was nothing else that could be done. She was weeping loudly, inches away from me.

I find it so odd in all this data protection era and don’t give your details to anyone that you still have your name flash up on the board and have to be shouting your business through a sheet of glass!

I went to pick up a prescription for DH, this caused a bit of a ho-ha as they wanted to prove who i was. I know the lady shouted, through the glass, tell me what your last drs appointment was for. As it happened i couldn’t remember as fortunately it’d been a while since I’ve needed a Dr but I felt like shouting back something embarrassing! I know lots of people wouldn't be happy saying what the last appointment was for in a room full of strangers, or maybe even worse people you know!

When I went to speak to the receptionist at local GP practice about a very private issue, she bellowed the questions very loudly. Being asked the date of your last period in front of a room of strangers wasn’t great. I actually told the GP about her behaviour when I had my appointment. The GP apologised and the receptionist was never seen again. I guess I wasn’t the first to object to her manner. (Still no idea why she asked about my period!)

During Covid my GP's surgery installed Perspex screens, and they've kept them. So, it's nearly impossible to hear the receptionists speaking, and you have to shout confidential information through the screens.

Worse, for some time they've also had local radio blaring out on the speakers, so it's impossible to hear the announcements - and the announcement system is very poor quality and so its difficult to hear your name being called.

The layout of the surgery is a long 'J' shape, with the reception at one end, and so the receptionists can't see you once you have been sent to your allocated waiting zone, and it's a decent walk back to the reception desk.

The whole practice is organised around the needs of the staff, it seems.

I've long suspected that the real purpose of GP receptionists is to discourage people from coming at all and they deliberately engage to most unpleasant and least competent people they can find. At least, that's my experience. There's very few ailments I can think of that are worse that dealing with the receptionists at my GP surgery.

Same at mine, you have to give name, DOB and full address including postcode, it is a small area and always packed. I just have to trust that everyone else is like me and just wants to collect their medication and get out and isn't taking in anybody's personal info to use for nefarious purposes!