Receptionist attitude should I complain

[DestituteDesperate]

Feel utterly ashamed of myself, today I watched a doctors receptionist speak so appallingly to two patients and, instead of challenging her, or mentioning it to another staff member, like a coward I froze in fear.

long story short, long queue at surgery for the last appointments of the day and one late 20s girl and another maybe 50s, asked something rather innocuous, as I heard blood test and referral. Each time the receptionist was talking to them both like they committed a crime.

The younger girl took her bollocking and said she would call back on Monday after 2pm. The woman though, fair play, tried to give it back but the receptionist used her leverage as staff to make the woman back down.

maybe both patients had done something so terrible to illicit such a response but the receptionist appeared that she quite enjoyed belittling them, loudly and publicly. The thing is, most of what I heard in the queue was from her tone not theirs.

Most of us were shocked and we did the rather British thing of tut and shake our heads.

However, I am ashamed because I would have desperately wanted someone to stand up for me if I were being baited and humiliated it public and instead I froze (I’ve had an incident where I was reduced to tears so I know how demoralising it can be) instead of being a good human being and standing up for them.

Being so cowardly in that moment, is really affecting me to such an extent on a Friday I’m on MN writing this thread.

should I report what I saw? I know I couldn’t help in the moment but would it be reasonable to report it via an online reporting form or a call on Monday?

or should I let it go and hope she doesn’t humiliate any other patients.

If it is bothering you this much, imagine how they must be feeling. I think you should do something, so eventhought it may not change what happened to them she can act decent for others.

I would complain. Doctors' receptionists should have the 'bedside manner' too. They are dealing with people who are sick, in pain, etc.

Yes, I think you should report it too.

I think you should stay out of it.

Complain to the practice manager. There is no need for such horrible behaviour when people are already ill and seeking help. I am sick of GP receptionists acting like they are doing the world a favour when they did in fact choose that job. Yes, you do get a lot of abuse from patients but that doesn’t mean you can take it out on innocent people who are just asking for help.

I would report it exactly as it happened. Even if nothing improves you will know you did what was right.

I would definitely report it.

It’s funny because if this was a patient, even a huge intimidating man, I’d have have stuck up for these people and given him a piece of my mind but I too probably would have kept quiet because it was the receptionist and it’s ’their Job’ - but this is exactly why they think they can get away with it because they know that people won’t say anything.

Definitely report it.

Report report report.

Yeah, write to them. I did this recently (in a restaurant) - the manager was so awful but I was with my kids and didn’t want to cause a scene in a near empty pizza express. So I bit my lip, declined service charge and wrote them a full review. I also noticed how he would comment back as the GM to most reviews, it's been weeks and he’s ignored mine 😂

I never forget 20 years ago when I was a young mum I went to the GP with a very sick baby, and I was nearly 10 minutes late due to parking but then I queued over 5 minutes to get to the front of the desk and the receptionist was a right bitch and said no you can't see a doctor. I just burst into tears and walked out and god bless them half a dozen people stepped in, two came running out to call me back and then when I got back in there were a couple at the reception desk complaining about my treatment (edited to say other people were on their feet protesting my treatment) - the receptionist was shouting "I've recorded this I've recorded this I've done nothing wrong!!" and the practice manager ran out to see what was going on. She was an utterly evil cow and my DD needed hospital admission, we went straight from GP to paediatric ward.

Do what you need to and good for you OP although sadly I bet nothing will come of it.

So you heard half a conversation and don't know what they actually asked, or what the issue was? Stay out of it.

Thank you ladies, I will report this via their online website instead of waiting until Monday. I’ll keep it factual and concise as possible and hope the receptionist realises she can not speak to people so appallingly.

if I get a reply, I shall share on this thread.

This.

Weird isn't it quite rightly there are notices up everywhere saying abuse of our staff is not tolerated. But when the boot is on the other foot apparently that's ok ?

Please write to the practice manager. It sounds as though she's abusing her power. She can cause a lot of misery.

@DecisionTime123 I really hope you made a complaint about that after. The fact that it resulted in a hospital admission would have been enough for them to revisit their criteria for exceptions. What would have happened if you just went home? I dread to think.

I’m going to sound like I’m a right complaining cow because I’m going to say that I don’t really complain but here’s my second example of when I have 😂 (I’m really not, I rarely leave constructive feedback - as a manager in CS I’ve developed a good sense of understanding of policies and processes which make me quite measured) but my DH was turned away and threatened by security out of A&E. He was in so much pain that he kept asking for someone to look in to his issue a bit more because they told him there was nothing wrong. Well we used our private healthcare that led to a rather rushed surgery. I wrote a complaint to PALS not just about the fact that he wasn’t given pain relief (not even a paracetamol) at 3am, he was misdiagnosed and told he made it up, told that he needs to leave or else, the fact he had surgery for this issue but that the treatment he received was because of the sheer arrogance of the A&E doctor who didn’t like to be questioned and bias. But the thing that pissed me off the most was that we were blessed enough to have private coverage, many many people don’t. And due to ego they’re denied treatment. We received a lovely apology from the director of that trust and I hope they made changes.

Yeah, report it. The receptionist doesn't know what these patients are going through but by being at the docs I presume not there for fun. Nobody should talk to other people like this, let alone when in a position of responsibility.

Just today I've quit a 2 year waiting list (no end in sight) with gynae because of the way some woman spoke to me on the telephone because I had dared raise a complaint with PAL's. I now have no faith in them and will try another hospital.

What exactly did she say though?

Well that was a bit silly of you wasn’t it?

Take a note of the date and time this happened. If you can get the receptionists name do so, if not add a description. The practice manager will know who it is with these details. Put as much detail about what happened as you can into a letter of complaint and address this to the practice manager. Most surgeries have cctv so the practice manager may be able to rewatch the exchange. I am a GP receptionist and believe we should treat every patient with care and respect. I can’t stand receptionists like this, there is no need. We are there to help and support patients when they are sick and need help. Definitely report, I would. People like this give us fellow GP receptionists a bad name.

I would complain in writing to the practice manager.
it’s hard to do something in the moment, sometimes it doesn’t feel safe to do so. But you can certainly make a difference now. Complaint letters have to be answered.

Well that was a bit patronising of you wasn't it dear?

@DecisionTime123 As a GP receptionist this story makes my blood run cold. I will bend over backwards to try and get late patients seen and if it was a baby there is no way I would back down to an arrogant GP (yes we get both barrels from the Drs sometimes for sticking our necks out) who was refusing to see. I would take that to the admin or practice manager if it happened to me. We would never turn a poorly baby away. I’m so sorry that happened to you and to everyone who has been spoken to like crap at a GP practice. It simply shouldn’t happen.

There must be a Doctors receptionist that isn’t a complete Dickhead but I am yet to meet one.

Well obviously she will do it to more patients so it all depends how much you really care.