The Dragon Receptionist!!

[Kia]

We should all take our doctors/dentists to task about demon receptionists!! Don't let them get away with 'she's near retirement age, poor thing' or 'the receptionist is only following doctors instructions' sign and when you get in to see him finally, he says - why didn't you call me sooner? Yes, well I would have done if I could have got past Atilla the Hun on the front desk, matey!! My poor sister has just spent a week with a sick child only to have the doctor tell her she should have come in earlier!! She opened the door to the office and pointed to the receptionist and said 'why don't you ask HER?' Now I know all the receptionists will come on saying what a terrible life they lead etc etc! But who is running the show here? The doctor or his staff? My own doctor gave his receptionist quite a stiff talking to when I turned up just before Christmas Eve with a sick and very distressed child and she told me he couldn't possibly see me till after New Year!! Oh rant rant rant!

I did a stint on surgery reception. It was hell on earth in a busy surgery but any idiot worth their salt should be able to prioritise (spelling?) and a good surgery should always be able to deal with the "must be seen" cases.The surgery I now attend will never turn a patient away, they have a duty doctor set aside each day to deal with the extras, it's her/his good fortune if it turns out to be a quiet day, and as an extra you have to accept you may need to wait in the surgery a while if it's really busy, but you will be seen.
My advise for dealing with the dragon on the desk is to stay calm. Calm but insistant people are the hardest to deal with and the most likely to get what they want.

I agree with Kia about doctors' receptionists. They are really out of order! It seems to be the norm for them to be really rude (one said 'goodbye!' and put the phone down on me recently while I was in the middle of asking her a question!). They also think that they can make decisions about who is accepted as a patient at the surgery (one recently invented a new rule on the spot about eligibility to try and fob off someone I know), as well as when you can get an appointment. Sadly, the practice managers and doctors often seem to back up their receptionists rude and bossy behaviour. The general attitude seems to be that the surgery is run for the benefit of the doctors. But who is paying the doctors salaries?? Us!!

Yes, I can add to this one. When it became clear to me on a visit home that my mother was not well, and seemed to be losing her ability to speak, it took a week of nagging her doctor's receptionist before I could talk to the doctor on the phone, even though the receptionist knew my situation: new born baby, not in the best of health myself, living 60 miles away from the surgery, so not able to 'pop in and wait to be seen'.

I'm not blaming the receptionist really - she was overworked, along with the doctor. She was not a dragon. It was the inflexible surgery set-up.

I must be so lucky. I go to a wonderful health centre. The receptionists are always friendly and polite, we've never had to wait more than a few hours to see a doctor and, on the one occassion I turn up at the surgery with a distressed baby in arms and no appointment, the receptionist pulled a doctor out of his tea break for me. The community midwife is adorable and the health visitor is very approachable! If you'd like to join me I live in a small village just North of Brighton.....

Incidently my Mother is a dental receptionist and I have heard all her stories about some of the dreadful people she has to deal with. Based on what she says those that are polite but firm are much more likely to get what they want. Those who are rude will get her back up and she won't 'bend' the rules to help them....

I am sure that doctors' receptionists put up with a great deal of abuse and anti-social behaviour but I bet it comes from a small minority of the total number of patients on their books. What I find difficult to understand is how they don't seem able to distinguish between someone who is being deliberately offensive and someone who is politely insisting on being seen/asking a sensible question. I have never, ever been rude to a receptionist but I have had to stand my ground a few times, and been treated with staggering rudeness as a result. Maybe the effort required to look at the person in the window and actually listen to what they are saying is too much for some receptionists. And has it occurred to them that the person they are dealing with may have an illness that is making them "difficult": deafness, impaired vision, mental health problems or in a lot of physical pain? You do sometimes wonder.
There are some good ones about as well though - we have a local GP locum service for out of hours and the people who answer the calls right through the night are calmness and reassurance personified, making you feel better before you've even spoken to a doctor. It's won awards and the whole team really deserve them.

There is always one isn't there. On the whole our surgery is pretty good, with a duty doctor to see urgent cases. We now bypass the dragon by just asking to speak to the triage nurse who offers advice and sees whether it's necessary for you to come to the surgery, all very helpful.

Hubby is really naughty though he can't be bothered with ringing so turns up and drives the dragon mad. She said to him, you can't just come down here you have to ring in. He said ok I'll just go outside and ring you! Luckily he always gets his way and was able to be seen.

We changed doctors a few years ago and based the decision on the new dotor on the receptionist.

The doctor is OK, but the receptionist is brilliant, kind, pleasant, helpful for more important than the doctor!

Some of you know my mum is a doctors receptionist, so, I'm going to tell her about this discussion, as we refer to her as the Dragon now and again!!!!, he, he, I'm going to tell on you all.

Hi, my job is a Practice Manager at a Doctor's surgery and I have to say that if I heard my Reception staff turning sick people away they would be in my office for a talking to. In situations where Receptionists are making decisions on behalf of doctors as described below I would have to blame the doctors/manager for either having protocols that are not in the best interest of the patient (ie not seeing ANY extras or having a duty doctor policy) of NOT having protocols for people to follow and letting them have carte blanche.

We operate an extras system, duty doctor and a triage nurse system, which clinically prioritises cases (much more appropriate all round - you would be surprised how many "desperately ill people end up in reality just to be trying to get in for a sick note), and the only way to set these systems up is to put in work, time, effort and money, and unfortunately this is where a lot of practices fall down.

I'm sorry that you have had some awful experiences, and I really would encourage you to use the practice's complaints policy - it should make them take some notice of issues around staff training and development that maybe they have been ignoring.

It is true that Practice staff get a lot of abuse and poor treatment from some people - I personally have been threatened with "a sparking" (scary if I knew what it meant) and am currently being harrassed by a mentally ill patient who telephones my practice every day and throws wild accusations about me around (today I am running an International Vice Ring) and generally is abusive about me. However, if they are a practice worth thier salt they should appreciate their patients are all different.

Sorry to ramble

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Our doctors receptionists seem to delight in being as rude as possible - our surgery closes from one to two and on day I turned up for an antenatal appt 5 minutes early and had to stand in the rain (37weeks pregnant with twins) with my one year old while thay watched the clock until 2.

Two years ago my cousin's four year old daughter died from Septacemia (spelt badly can't find dictionary). She had chicken pox and became more and more ill. She was refused an appointment by a receptionist that knew she had chicken pox. When she phoned the doctor's again I can quote the answer given "well they are ill with chicken pox dear". When she finally lost consciousness the doctor came immediately but she died later in hospital as it was too late for her to be treated. My cousin will never recover from this, she has had a breakdown and they have moved away from the area they were in (she has two older daughters).

The only thing that can be learned is that if your instinct tells you that your child is very ill, dial 999.