GP receptionist application

[Vanillalattecandle]

A job has come up that I'm interested in as a gp receptionist/ administrator. I have 6 years experience as a desk receptionist in a hotel and do various other behind the scenes admin there too so I know I can do the role.

Does anyone do this job or hire for it and can advise what kind of skills are important that they look for in an applicant so I can put the most relevant points down in my reason for application?
I'd love to get this job so I want to nail the application

I’m a GP receptionist.
I think any type of customer care background is good, particularly reception.
The ability to handle patients who are angry, anxious or emotional, to remain polite and calm, to work under pressure, to work as part of a team, to follow protocols while also using your initiative, to maintain confidentiality.
Common sense is important as we have to triage patients without any real training, so eg chest pain, you have to try to work out if it’s just because someone has a chest infection and keeps coughing or if it’s a possible heart attack. If in doubt, consult the duty GP.
Signposting patients to pharmacies for more minor illnesses is a big thing at the moment. You should be given a list of things they will see patients for.
We are also told to divert anything we can to the advanced nurse or paramedic who work at our surgery and again have a list of problems they can deal with.
There are never enough GP appointments and we have to prioritise young children and elderly people.
Some things, like a suspected broken bone, no point in a patient coming to the GP as they’ll only be sent to A&E for an x ray.
It’s interesting, frustrating at times, and poorly paid, but I like to think I go the extra mile for patients and make a difference. I also like the variety as I might be a seeing the phone for a couple of hours, then putting prescriptions through to the GPs, then doing new patient registrations. It’s a learning curve as I’ve been doing it for around two and a half years and am still learning.
Good luck and shout if you have any questions.

Ps you have to be friendly, polite and patient but also firm! GP receptionists have a reputation as dragons but I do bend over backwards to help if I possibly can.
Being a good communicator is also important. Being able to tell a patient nicely that there aren’t any appointments left, being able to summarise in a couple of sentences to a GP what someone’s symptoms are, being able to efficiently hand over to your colleague at the end of a shift eg telling them you’ve been trying to contact Mr X to say we need to change his appointment time because the GP’s car has broken down and he’s going to be late in but there’s no answer so can your colleague keep trying.

I'm a GP receptionist too and agree with everything @Papergirl1968 has said . Every day, well every hour actually, is different . You need to be empathetic yet firm and be able to stand your ground when people are being rude and argumentative. I would mention in the application that you cope well under pressure and can relate to people from all walks of life . Also think of all your transferable skills , good luck !

@Papergirl1968 it's a crazy job isn't it !

Just practice saying ‘there’s no appointments left’ you should be a shoo in

"we have to triage patients without any real training,"

this is terrible!! Please, please don't agree to doing this. It's not fair on you and it's AWFUL for the patient and their loved ones ...

we have to triage patients without any real training, so eg chest pain, you have to try to work out if it’s just because someone has a chest infection and keeps coughing or if it’s a possible heart attack. If in doubt, consult the duty GP.

Triaged by untrained non-clinical admin staff, then treated/diagnosed by 'physician associates'.
Go Team NHS!

It certainly is, and there are days my colleagues have been reduced to tears by patients having a go. I haven’t - I just say firmly please don’t shout and swear at me, I’m not paid enough to be treated like that. Luckily they’re far outnumbered by the ones who thank me or tell me how understanding I’ve been.
As for having to triage, I do a fair bit of looking on the NHS website for guidance, but also I’m nearly 56 and have life experience and common sense. Yes, it’s not ideal but a GP is always there if unsure. Bottom line is too many patients, not enough GPs or appointments.

Sorry, that last bit was to @SerenityNowInsanityLater and @NinetyNineRedBalloonsGoBy
I think all GP practices are the same. It is what it is, unfortunately.

There's a difference between being firm and being hostile and confrontational from the outset of a conversation.
I dread any interaction with our GP practice reception.

A hotel receptionist is worlds apart from a doctors receptionist. See if you can talk to any receptionists locally or even do a trial in which you can walk away if needbe.

It isn’t sit behind a desk admin and answering calls - you need to be as hard as nails, not have anxiety at 8am with 80 callers queuing with only a fraction of precious appointments to give, what they don’t tell you is you’ll be there to open and close, you’ll be there with the crash trolley. Be unshy about death, suicide and drugs. As the new person you’ll be doing double the work. It truly is a clinical environment and can be a harsh one.

Fortunately my ex boss kept my old job open for me, and only when I got a uti did I come to my senses, but like you I thought worked in a live hotel front and back roles, spent a year in domiciliary home care, so lots of transferable skills and had worked in the courier industry where people could get irate wrong time of year but very mistaken.

I was lucky to get 5 days training equivalent to the part time hours of the job and found the patients lovely but nothing could prepare me and I feel very sorry for people who get trapped in this type of job but from the amount of re posting of job adverts some people must save themselves. If ever there was a reason why a sector should run character testing it would be foremost to consider this line of work. Please do a search on here of people working in the role.

Hmm, I don’t really get stressed by the 8am flood of calls as you can only answer one at a time and there are at least two of us, often three, on.
Our most recent recruit was previously a receptionist at a vets and has slotted in fine.
We open up at 7am and close either at 6.30pm (8pm two nights a week). Shifts are generally the same times eg Mon, Tues and Friday morning and Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, but do vary slightly and it’s frustrating the rotas for the following week often aren’t sent through till the Friday afternoon. There are occasional Saturdays which they ask for people to volunteer for - I love those as they pay time and a half and it’s generally an easy shift.
I’ve had jobs before where I’ve worked or been on call on weekends and bank holidays, so in comparison I don’t find it stressful. To be honest I don’t really think about it much when I walk out of the door.
It’s true there are a lot of GP receptionist jobs going and I suspect that’s largely due to the poor pay. I’m on about £12 an hour and am contacted to do 17 and a half a week although it’s often 20-ish. Could do with more hours really but it has the advantage of being five mins drive from home.
GP practices are not always the most sympathetic of employers when it comes to employee sickness. My contract at a previous surgery, covering maternity leave, was terminated the day after I discovered I had a brain tumour - but I walked right into another job and they’ve been much more understanding, even when my seizures ramped up and I needed two months off for neurosurgery. However a colleague hasn’t found them very sympathetic with her pregnancy related complications.
One thing I forgot to mention is not the best job for anyone squeamish as patients do hand us samples of wee and poo etc, even though there is a box they’re supposed to put them in.

There’s more to being a doctors receptionist then meets the eye - it’s not just booking appointments and answering the telephone. People starting work at surgeries are usually very surprised how many people work behind the scenes.

However, it can be a stimulating, rewarding ( and stressful) job, which you either love, or can’t cope with.

But in answer to your question.
-customer service experience
-dealing with people
-responding to customer queries in person and by telephone

• admin skills
• confident with using the computer, booking in systems etc
• respecting confidentiality

(not sure why the formatting has gone to bulket points)

"Common sense is important as we have to triage patients without any real training, so eg chest pain, you have to try to work out if it’s just because someone has a chest infection and keeps coughing or if it’s a possible heart attack. If in doubt, consult the duty GP."

This is so, so concerning to read. Those of you who are GP receptionists and triage like this, is it officially asked of you? Or is it something you do off your own back to keep things moving? Just wondering where liability sits when it goes wrong.

We don’t really have any choice, otherwise every patient would want to see a GP that same day and there’s just not enough appointments. So you have to tell some that the nurse is well qualified to treat their chest infection, painful ear or d&v, or that their sore knees that they’ve had for two years can wait for a couple of weeks for a GP appointment.
Sometimes I have a glance back at a patient’s record the next day, not out of nosiness but to reassure myself and learn from it that it was the right call when I see the GP has put them on the two week pathway for suspected cancer or whatever.
Some things just raise alarm bells eg someone with what appears to be blood in their poo, and to be fair the patients often have a good idea themselves if it’s haemorrhoids or not. If they’ve got bloating, stomach pain, change in bowel habits, they’re red flags and it’s GP appointment ASAP.
Sometimes the nurse will glance down the list of appointments booked in with her and say this patient actually needs a GP. Or we can check with her if she’s happy to deal with something.
There was talk of a training session with a GP to help us determine what’s serious - but it never materialised.

Reading that back, it is a big responsibility for what we actually get paid…

Yes. Receptionists and other surgery admin staff are woefully underpaid for what they do, and the responsibility they hold, and are often on minimum wage.

In a pharmacy, counter assistants have to undergo training in basic conditions and drugs. Theres no formal training programme for surgery staff.

Thanks for the tips everyone, I've been asked to attend an interview.
Hopefully it goes well, any tips for this will be greatly appreciated 😁

Good luck, @Vanillalattecandle

Did you get the job? I've recently gained a job doing this. I start soon, if you gained the job how is it?

I did get the job. I've been doing it about 7 weeks now, I'll be honest I didn't like it at first, I felt very overwhelmed as there was so much to learn.

I also really struggled with telling very upset, unwell patients that there were no appointments left.
I have settled in now and the people I work with are lovely, I've also become hardened when saying there's no appointments. I've just had to tell myself that it isn't me saying no it is the system.
I must say though some of the things you hear people are going through is quite upsetting but that could just be me.
All in all I am enjoying it, it is so busy that it seems like it's Friday again very quickly. I'm glad I made the move.
Good luck in your new job

It's a really difficult job. I was a GP and had some amazing reception staff. Ours really didn't triage. They booked appointments and latterly asked for a reason which really helped us. They would divert UTIs to pharmacy within guidelines and eyes to opticians and teeth to dentist. They knew what was really urgent stuff like chest pain but didn't have to try and work out why like a previous poster...that was my job!

We actually got a lot of praise for our reception staff as the patients loved them. I couldn't do my job without them. The learning curve at the beginning is exponential.