Gp receptionist interview questions

[ThandieNewtongirlcrush]

I have an interview for a gp receptionists role next week and the question that seems to come up when you google it is: if a doctor is wanting to ask you something, the phone is ringing and a patient is at the desk- in what order do you deal with them in? I was just wondering if anyone knows and also if they have any other tips/experience for the interview as I really want this job! Thank you x

Doctor, desk, phone?

Blimey. Answer phone, put on hold. Tell person waiting at desk you'll be right with them. Answer doctor. Unless there are other recoptionists, then I would send the call to one of them then do the same with the patient waiting and doctor.

My first instinct would be to stop the bloody phone from ringing in my ear, but so much of this depends on the actual circumstances.

Always phone first, the patient at desk and Dr can see you’re busy, person ringing phone can’t. So answer phone, put them on hold.

I would then speak to patient at desk before Dr.

@Jellybeansincognito that was what I thought as well!

I'd go phone, patient, doctor. The phone is only one that can't see that there is a queue and is the unknown quantity. Providing that the patient you can see doesn't look like they are about to collapse or have a heart attack

I get why you would answer the phone first- but in previous customer service roles I have had we always had to deal with the person who was physically there first and then answer the phone as we weren’t supposed to answer the phone whilst there was someone physically there waiting for your attention- this was in a vets customer service role though so I appreciate that it is probably completely different!

Tell the doctor 2 sugars... then answer phone...give the person at desk sign language.

I was always told phone last as the person in front would feel devalued that you are ignoring them.

@Jupiter13 that made me laugh!

@fedupntired that was what I thought! Do you mind me asking if you’ve worked as a gp receptionist before? Only as I have another question that you may be able to answer

I'm glad I've made someone laugh today...😂😂😂😂

Patient at desk, GP, phone last

In my opinion, if a person is standing in front of you and the phone starts ringing, say excuse me, answer the phone immediately putting them on hold, and go back to the person in front of you. You don't want to be rude but at the same time it's very difficult to talk to someone with a phone blasting in your ear. If I were the person standing there, I would want the receptionist to answer the damn phone. One person can only do the best they can manage in any circumstance.

I hope you get the job... good luck...☺️

Ask Dr if you're needed immediately, could need you to ring for urgent ambulance etc. If not ask if you could back to them ASAP.
Answer phone, put on hold then attend person at desk?

In my experience of speaking to GP surgeries - I do it daily in my job. Phone would be last. Even then you might answer and immediately ask the person to please hold the line.

You get used to the phone ringing all the time. Deal with the patient at the desk and doctor first, depending on the urgency of the docs question. Most docs will want you to deal with patient at the desk first. Be prepared to be asked how you would react to being told TMI from people. Eg woman comes out and asks to book an appointment, for a termination of a pregnancy. How do you deal with this putting your feelings re terminations aside. Baring in mind, not all doctors will, for their own moral reasons, do a termination appointment.
This was a scinario I was faced with as a gp receptionist and was used in the interviews for my replacement when I left.

The doctors time is most valuable. In all GP offices they are way overbooked and each delay means fewer patients seen. So you put the person on the phone on hold, see to the Dr, then see to the patient at the desk, then the person on hold. You should never ever leave the Dr to last.

Not phone first unless it's the mad rush first thing. check with the GP if it's anything urgent, back to person in front of you (apologise for delay)
Ours normally has two people manning the desk though, so one does phone and one deals with the people at the desk.

Phone always last, if it was urgent they’d need to call 999 or 111- the services are there so they can wait for your time.

A gp may urgently need information about a patient in his care, or need an ambulance or another service calling immediately so they always come first as they are treating a patient.

So Gp- patient being treated comes first
Patient at the desk- waiting to be treated so comes second
Person on the phone: requesting treatment, comes third.

I think anyway! I commented earlier but didn’t give my reasoning.

I’m a go receptionist and would go doctor, desk, phone. Doctors are stupidly busy so if you can answer their question first they can get back to what they were doing, patient at the desk next as they are physically stood there in front of you then answer the phone last. Having said that where I work you wouldn’t be answering the phone whilst on the front desk, there would be somebody else manning the phones but that’s the answer I would give.