Was it unfair to keep reception open after clinics closed for heat?

[Mumtoboys1719]

Am I being unreasonable?

I work in a dental practice as a receptionist. No air con but have a small desk fan.

It gets very hot in there and with the heatwave it's been even worse.

As the temperature was much hotter today where we are, the 2 dentists and 2 hygienists that were in today said they wanted their clinics cancelled this afternoon. 2 of them are pregnant so they're feeling it even more. Besides that they have to wear masks and gloves and they only have a fan in their surgery room as well.

So I spent the morning with my colleague cancelling their afternoon and they were all finishing at 1.30pm.

None of the owners (4 of them) were working today as they don't work Thursdays anyway.

I messaged our practice manager and asked if we on reception will need to stay until 5pm as per the NHS contract we have. She checked with one of the owners who said yes one of us has to stay to answer the phone in case any emergencies call then I'd need to call the dentist to triage and see if the patient would need to be seen or not.

I asked if considering the situation and the fact all clinicians deemed it too hot to work, could they divert the phone to whoever was on call so they could still take the calls and triage any emergencies themselves. They said no.

I was so upset by this decision and spent the afternoon all by myself (no emergency calls). I have emailed all the bosses about this which I never do normally but I felt in this situation it was a very unfair decision.

Do you think I'm being reasonable in thinking it was unfair for me to have to stay until 5pm by myself in the heat when everyone else said it was too hot to be there or not?

Yes I think you were unreasonable. It is very different to sit at a desk in this heat compared to undertaking dentistry, especially while pregnant. Presumably you could stand up, walk around, even step outside, apply a cool compress etc at any point while a masked dentist in the middle of a filling or extraction who felt faint could do very little in that moment.

I can also see why they didn't want to triage the patients directly without access to the diary etc, not to mention having to deal direct with someone demanding to be seen immediately.

I can understand why it feels unfair, but I think there is a huge difference between answering phones in a building with no actual patients there, where you could presumably move around, get yourself drinks, remove an outer layer of clothing etc - and carrying out clinical work in protective gear where you could be bent over a patient for an hour at a time.

YABU unfortunately, I agree with PP

I don't see a problem in reception staying open.

World of difference between doing dental procedures wearing ppe and working in reception, where you don't have to wear ppe and have freedom to choose whether to sit or stand, walk around the room, have a drink freely, cold compress, sit in front of fan.

The clinical staff didn't leave as the building itself was too hot to work, they left as the heat was not appropriate for them to carry out their job role. Your job role could be done in the heat.

I agree with everyone else. It’s completely different

You might have had better luck if you’d suggested diverting the phone to yourself rather than them. Though presumably you would need access to the patient records if anyone did call, so I’m not sure there was any way around keeping reception open.

YABU and you shouldn’t have sent that email.

You do a completely different job to them. Why exactly do you think it was unfair?

Gosh, that feels like an email that should have been slept on.

Being in Reception is obviously completely different to dealing with patients whilst wearing masks and gloves. I imagine it would have been very uncomfortable for the patients as well.

It wasn’t unreasonable to ask if you could also leave due to the heat, but I don’t think it was unfair of them to say no. I totally see how it would feel that way to you though. Hope it’s a bit cooler for you today.

Honestly I don't think you should have sent that email. You were sitting at a desk with a fan. Not standing . Pregnant etc. I think your bosses will be 😯 at your mail looking for get out of work.

Thanks for all your comments.

All of my bosses spoke to me today and all agreed it wasn't right for me to stay and apologised and will ensure if this situation happens again then the dentist on call will divert the phones as suggested.

But they are looking into air con for future anyway.