to really have it in for GP's surgeries...

[mersmam]

Had an appointment with my community midwife today (I'm 30 weeks pregnant and haven't seen her since I was 16 weeks, which was when she made the appointment.)
Got to the drs surgery to find it locked and a notice up saying that the surgery is closed this afternoon for staff training! As far as I'm aware there has been no attempt to contact me about this! I rang the midwife's office straight away but could only leave a message and have so far had no response.
Am really annoyed as have arranged my whole day around the appointment (and DH had arranged to work from home so he could come too).
Generally I am just sick of the whole GP system - I can never get an appointment at a convenient time - when I do I always have to wait at least half an hour (no joke with three DCs under 5) and the staff on reception are rude.
I asked for a home visit once as I was ill along with all the DCs and you'd think I'd asked for the moon...

The thing with the midwife today feels like the final straw...

Should I change surgeries to somewhere further away (which would be less convenient?) or are they all like this?

Seriously fanjo why are you taking the piss out of something that left me really upset, along with a lot of women, and made me lose lots of confdence in the level of care I would receive from the hospital when birth time came?

When it could have been alleviated by one sentance from one of the three women who just sat there and watched all of this going on?

That it was about 70 degrees (middle of summer) and as clinics were running late people were left standing for well over an hour?

You think that is funny?

Boffin to be honest after all of it I was so tired and upset that I didnt want a run-in with the women on reception. I knew that they knew there were lots of chairs next door and that presumably they didn't want anyone sitting on them for whatever reason, and that if I went up and asked why people weren't able to take chairs from next door they would probably have taken it as a challenge and I was too tired and upset for that. Crap I know i just didn't have the energy.

Dalrymps I can't explain that - but I would suggest that if you go in expecting a fight - human nature being what it is - you are likley to get one! It takes a lot not to respond to aggression with aggression. People shout at us, we shout back - so who is the chicken and who is the egg in your situation?

Tumtum - don't guilt trip me please.

I did not take the piss out of the situation, i took the piss out of YOU, for

a) demanding that i explain why the women were treated like that, because, as I work on reception I should know.

and b) Suggesting that I would say that they should be treated like that because they might have been difficult patients.

So, I'm afraid I feel what you said was pretty challenging to me, and I responded.

And yet again you try to make me feel guilty about this incident I have nothing to do with.

you know nothing about how I feel about how they were treated, or indeed how my pregnancy was (terrible) so don't get all passive aggressive about it now and try to guilt-trip me, thanks.

There's good and bad in every profession.

I've just had to move back to a surgery where i wasn't overly happy with one of the receptionists or GP's but spoke to the practice manager and so far its ok.

However, i do feel sorry for some receptionists as some GP's do seem to treat them like second class citizens. A friend who is a GP was moaning the other day because the receptionist hadn't made her a drink and had dared to address her by her christian name. Afraid i laughed and asked if she was working in the nineteenth century.

I said that maybe you could explain as you were the person on the thread saying that there were good reasons for the experiences the people were relating and that it was wrong to say that in those situations the receptionists were rude.

If you tale a position on a thread then people will challenge you on that position if they disagree with it, citing examples from personal experience as that is all we have to go on.

A lot of people said they found doctor's receptionists rude. You said that it was understandable that they were rude as they get a lot of difficult people to deal with.

My point is that sometimes they do do terrible things and are rude to people who are not rude to them. Working in a role where you face the public you will get shit, your job is to deal with it, not to transfer your annoyance onto the next person who happens your way.

People get very upset when they are treated badly when they are at their most vulnerable. I was very upset by that particular incident, which I just don't understand. I mean whay did they do it, I have no idea.

I am not trying to make you feel guilty, that would be ridiculous, it wasn't you who did it. I am trying to make you see that sometimes these people can do really horrible things on purpose and that it is not always the fault of the patient.

Ahem. i did not ever say it was understandable they were rude. So please don't put incorrect words into my mouth.

please show me where I "was the person saying there were good reasons for the experiences the people were relating"?!

I merely said that you should stop giving them a hard time because they have to deal with so much crap all the time.

Don't give me even MORE grief based on a position I don't even HOLD, ffs.

Erm, no northern, I don't 'expect a fight' at all... I am quite a shy person, I am a very polite person, I am quietly spoken. I always actually try to sound friendly on purpose whether I call the Gp surgery or go there in person. I do this in the hope they will return my friendly nature and speak to me as an equal.
Everytime, without fail I am met with the same rudeness. I am certain it is not my fault so please don't assume that I am misunderstood, it is not the case at all.

"Anyone who has not worked on reception in a doctor's/dentist's has NO idea how much crap the receptionists have to take from the general public CONSTANTLY..."

That sounds to me like you are saying that it is understandable if they are rude, as the comment was in response to people saying that doctors receptionists are rude. That they have to deal with difficult people a lot so that is why they are rude, even to people who are not rude to them. That the experiences people were relating which were met with rudeness were because of this, and that this was justifiable.

I just think that sometimes things happen that really upset people and they need to talk about it, and to be told that it's because some other people may have given the receptionist a bad time isn't an excuse.

Well said tumtumtetum

Well, whatever it SOUNDS like to you, I didn't actually mean that.

I don't even THINK that.

I can't even argue with you because I genuinely don't think it and didn't mean that.

SO please stop giving me hassle about something you THINK i meant, when I didn't.

Sheesh. Seriously.

and don't you start as well Dalrymps.

Am going to watch the telly, as there is no point staying here to be berated by someone on a mission against me because they have misinterpreted my viewpoint.

Have a nice evening.

It seems to be the reverse at my GP northern.

I am v polite and due to experience a bit scared and wary of the receptionists at my GP surgery. They are usually rude and unhelpful.

Seeing other patients come in, the ones who start throwing their weight around always get want they want with no fuss, and polite courtesy. While the old ladies who tentatively dodder up are met with a glare and a very short approach.

I don't know why that is.

I'll 'start' all I like thanks for you are not the boss of me, ner ner!

There is no excuse to be rude!

Nobody is forced into being rude in a job if they are professional and pleasant in their dealings.

At my surgery where there is the the very snotty receptionist who denied me the vital appointment re my CS scar, there is equally a LOVELY receptionist who is polite,helpful, says please and thank you when putting you on hold etc.

Both these ladies deal with the SAME public, but one is snotty and one is nice. The nice one obviously has more people skills and wants to help you to the best of her ability.

Noone on this whole thread has ever once said there is an excuse to be rude, AFAIK.

Dear Mn,
With view to original post midwife appointments are springing up at childrens centres everywhere. This includes play sessions for dc while you see a mw. Our local supermarket has in house mw sessions while you shop, perhaps if none in your area you could lobby pct to be a bit more inventive

It's down to the individual GP practice to decide what training their receptionists should do - some don't seem to offer much, or run any refresher sessions for receptionists who have been in post for some time.

Some receptionists have had the fear of God put into them by grumpy GPs who have barked at them in the past for interrupting them to check whether a caller is an emergency or adding too many extras on the end of a busy surgery list.

Lots of practices have a list of questions receptionists should ask to try to pick up anyone who needs immediate attention - because the poster who talked about chest pain was right, in a very few cases people who should really be dialling 999 call their surgery instead (after all, they ain't doctors).

Tricky issue is where you draw the line - because as someone posted further down, receptionists can't diagnose at all, much less over the phone, and shouldn't be expected to.

It's something a few people are taking an interest in so hopefully the message will go out to practices that there are ways of organising surgeries/phone calls better to ensure patients who need urgent attention get it, and all patients get a better service.

But in the end, each surgery is an independent small business and does things its own way. If you are pissed off, write to the practice manager and explain what went wrong. Otherwise, nothing will change - the GPs and manager won't know that you couldn't get help or the receptionist was rude or their systems aren't working.

I've also had bad experiences with the receptionists at the last two surgeries I've been with. Awful in fact. My current one grills you on your symptoms and tries to dissuade you from making an appointment in the first place. My last one cocked up about telling me results of tests which could and did have serious consequences. All of the receptionists I've spoken to in both surgeries are beyond rude. The GPs and midwives are absolutely fine; it's getting to see them that's the problem. Also the environemnt is depressing and dirty. And the system for making appointments (not being able to book appointments in advance; having to phone at exactly 9 pm or 1 pm every day. I once phoned at five to and was told to phone back which means you are literally stuck on the phone for at last 1/2 an hour before you get through because everyone else is doing the same which means I can't do my job as a teacher during the time I'm making an appointment!). I dread having to go to the doctors or take my dcs there because of this sort of experience.

And I'm sorry the fact that it's a hard job and you have to deal with difficult people and situations sometimes does not entitle you to be rude. The GPs, nurses and midwives aren't. I agree that A & E staff including receptionists are usually brilliant in spite of all manner of adversity. It's incredibly, incredibly important that they are approachable, polite and helpful and they're often not. I wonder if they should be sent on proper training. Is that the problem? Because you do get a much nicer reception in McDonalds or virtually anywhere else.

Can I just say that Fanjo is the receptionist at the dentist I go to and is really lovely ? She's not called Fanjo in real life, though......

I'm going to run away now because the thread is too scary!

A nicer reception in Macdonalds eh? How much time do you spend at the 'reception' in Macdonalds then - a minute, thirty seconds? In that time do you expect the staff to come up with a number of answers to complicated and confidential questions and arrange for you to get your burger in the 45 minutes of opportunity you have identified that week? Do you expect the macdonalds staff to ensure nobody is in the queue ahead of you for your burger and that you get it without waiting? Or would you like them to pop round to your home address with it? Be sure not to pay for it up front as well. You've paid your taxes after all and they will of course pay for your burger needs your whole life long.

Liath is right - this thread is scary - because whilst mismanagement and rudeness is never justifiable, being a GP's receptionist is a very hard job, that many people do very well year in, year out. Sometimes - NOT all of the time, but sometimes they are dealing with patients who are wrong. It's not showing an absence of care to say that - frankly NHS staff care more than most of their patients will ever realise. Illness doesn't make patients perfect, anymore than a medical degree renders doctors so.

I recall now why as a long term MNetter and bona fide GP I avoid every single medical and GP thread on here NL dear give it up