Really upset by GP's receptionist attitude

I worked for the NHS but not in a GP surgery but I can see this from the surgery’s point of view.
I’m not sure which computer programme your surgery uses but most use a particular program that shows an onscreen diary. The receptionist would right mouse click on the appointment and mark you as arrived. This changes the colour of your appointment on all the surgery screens. It would be their way of advising the clinician of your arrival without disturbing any current appointment. As opposed to phoning through to the clinical room which could interrupt an appointment.
It is possible that she didn’t immediately do this if the phone rung at the same time and she had to help that patient. It’s possible that the clinician didn’t notice the colour change.
It’s possible the system had a glitch and the clinicians screen didn’t update as it should.
It could be therefore that the receptionist hadn’t done anything to apologise for.
Regarding your second jab, it is really difficult in surgeries atm who want to vaccinate as many people as they can but with uncertainty over supplies. They are trying to tackle the various age groups as they are advised. They would have planned that all those having their first jabs would be having their second at the same time. By missing a week you are then trying to slot into another cohorts second vaccination and there mightn’t be enough vaccines.
I’m not saying your assumptions aren’t true regarding your experience but it would be useful allowing the practice manager to investigate this. ?

Maddyone- if its the practice manager doing the apologising and not the member of staff who actually did it then what's the point? Also, if they don't get 'reprimanded' in any way at all,(even just by being told to be more polite next time, and not to forget to mark patients in!) then how is that going to help them improve???

GP receptionists can be nightmares at anytime and some are very good. Leaving you outside so the physio had to ring you, when the receptionist had told you to wait outside, is so wrong and I would report that.
I have no idea when my next injection is due I am waiting for the surgery to contact me.
Our surgery is still not face to face appointments, but telephone only and they are so hard to get. I find the most annoying part that the receptionists are the ones who decide if you need to speak to the GP or not.
I did not know receptionists had medical degrees and so the knowledge if you are showing symptoms of something that needs to be spoke about/seen by qualified GP's.
I was kept in hospital ones night with cellulitis and an abscess. I had antibiotics and was told if my leg became red again to seek medical advice. A week later it was a little red and I thought I should check with my GP, but no, the receptionist decided there was no need and to wait over the long weekend and then ring. So that was the 'medical advice'.
Some receptionists will be loving the 'power; they have at the present time and some love the 'power' they have at anytime.
I did use to say to receptionists when they asked what was wrong when I was much younger 'Are you a GP?' and when they said 'No' I would just say I am ringing yo to book an appointment to talk to the GP about what is wrong!

As has been said before - write to or ask to speak to the Practice Manager. This is a disgraceful attitude on the part of the receptionist. Yes I know they have had a lot of disruption but there are plenty of kind, considerate and professional receptionists coping with all sorts of difficult situations every day
It is not your fault, do not let it get to you, this lady is possibly in the wrong job and her employers need to 'have a word' with some additional training thrown in

We are all grateful for it NannaShirlz- but some folk are just 'like this' to everyone, like the older receptionist at my G.P surgery! And it shouldn't be allowed.And it doesn't mean GrandmaTrisha can't have a winge to us on here about it either! All the NHS have been doing a great job, but most of them have done it politely as well!?

I had my second vaccine two weeks ago not at the surgery but at our council offices which had been turned into a hub. Fantastically efficient and helpful, in and out in about 7 minutes.

We have some dismissive receptionists at our surgery but we have a few lovely ones that go out of their way to help and those I always thank and say how nice they’ve been whilst on the phone to them, they are delighted I have done so. I have been known to say to the unpleasant receptionist “there is no need to be rude to me” They have been very taken aback but hopefully will think more next time with someone else.

Both times I had a text link to go online and book an appt myself. I think there are lots of different systems operating round the country which doesn’t help. I had the AstraZeneca, I do think the lower temperature for storage may mean it is more available.

The Practice Manager will apologise but she/he will nor reprimand the receptionist.

Well said Natasha.

Trouble is it may be that the lady who GrandmaTrisha is complaining about actually IS the practice manager- or if not, probably is 'pally' with the practice manager if they've both been working there a long time- so that could be difficult to do- also if she gets reprimanded for it then it might make her even worse with the patient who'se complained! Its very difficult. I would have advised to deal with her there & then, (as i did when it happened to me) But on other hand they don't know when they are getting which vaccine in (nicer receptionist explained this when i rang a month ago just in case as they said there was a shortage) but she had no need to be rude to you at all.Best to try nip these things in the bud though.?

Funnily enough as we are emerging from lockdown, there have been quite a few resignations of front line admin staff.

I wonder why?

I'm afraid I don't allow people like that to make me so angry that it upsets the rest of my day. If its something local like your GP surgery where you will be going back again I wouldn't complain, I would buy a cheap bunch of daffs or pick some from my garden or a box of quality street and take them back to the lady. If you say to her I wanted to say "thank you for all the work you are doing" or "you seem to be having a bad day so I wanted to cheer you up" you wrong foot her.
People like that enjoy an argument and don't quite know how to deal with someone who is being personally nice to them. It leaves me feeling I got the better of them in my way and also I've found I get more polite treatment in the future.
You never know she could have been having a really bad day.

Maybe she was snowed under with other patients. You have applied you didn’t like the way she spoke to you, but how did you come across when you spoke to her. Also not her fault or your GPS surgery that you chose to go away. Knowing that your jab was due. I think all Nhs workers have had a pretty hard year worked off their feet. Maybe take a step back and think others and not just yourself. You are not the only patient there have. And they world doesn’t revolve around you.I’m more than grateful for having my jabs.

We have one receptionist like this (to everyone) at our G.P practice- she's been right mardy over the nearly 9 years we have been going there and she did indeed forget to mark me in once for my appt, (before covid, so i was actually sat in smallish waiting room, she could see who was there!) I sat & waited whilst everyone who came in after me went in, then out- so i went to window to mention this- they'd not marked me there so I'd waited over an hour for beggar all! She said I'd have to rebook, and i had no other choice but to do so- even though i struggle with walking, but i told her straight it had better not happen again- it never did but she's always been 'a cow'- I thought she had retired, as she was missing for months & a new younger lady started work there- but i think she's back, maybe to help out with all the extra work with covid! I too rang about when 2nd vacs were going to be booked and asked if youngest son could at least have it urgent as he's been shielding and then put in a small room alone back at college, but needs to join rest of class really- she said no, but 'she understands' but still no..Later in day i got a text from surgery to say we were all 3 invited to book 2nd jab (none in actual G.P surgery but loads available next wk at clinic round the corner, where we had it first anyway.I think that may have been when the nicer reception lady came on duty in afternoon!?

The receptionist was rude and unprofessional, so you are fully entitled to complain about her attitude.

It is part of her job to be polite and to explain why there may be delays.

If you were not specifically told that being away would mean forfeiting your place in the queue, someone ought to be able to tell you how you go about making a new appointment.

Complain about this treatment. It may not help matters, but if people just put up with rude and unreasonable behaviour it won't change.

No excuse for rudeness, but behind the scenes vaccine delivery has been very erratic. We have just had to reschedule a three day pfizer clinic as it was decided to deliver the vaccine three days early. Consequently patients were texted to contact the surgery and the waitlist on the appointment line was over 30. Funnily enough as we are emerging from lockdown, there have been quite a few resignations of frontline admin staff.

You really do need to report this woman to the practice manager. Too many people put up with this kind of behaviour without saying anything. This woman isn’t doing her job correctly and notwithstanding the vaccine issue, the fact she left you standing outside and made you late for your physio appointment is grounds enough for complaint. Everyone makes mistakes but for her to just glare at you when she should have been apologising tells me the kind of person she is. Please take this higher.

What an ignorant, rude woman! So sorry to hear about your upsetting experience. It is people like her that give doctors’ receptionists a bad name! I hope you manage to get your second jab soon. As others have said, it might be a good idea to report her unfriendly and unprofessional attitude to the Practice Manager or whoever is “in charge” (hopefully it is not HER). Good luck x

Our receptionists are like the Gestapo. I have not had to contact them about Covid matters and am thankful I didn't.
If you phone with an illness even pre Covid they insist on knowing what is wrong with you, what do they know? How can you show them down the phone?
I appreciate they might be run off their feet but common courtesy should be used at all times and yes the switchboard would be blocked if every vaccinated person phoned them and thanked them. What have they done to deserve the thank you. It's a job like everyone else's not a calling. I am sure we all thank the person who vaccinates us.
Would you phone the receptionist at the opticians for booking an appointment?
I would write to the Practise Manager but mark as suggested for that person only.
I have done this in the past on my mothers' behalf and got a very polite apologetic reply back.

I phoned my GPS receptionist regarding my covid Jab, it was just a question , but she too was snappy with me, I could hear the frustration in her voice, which told me she was sick of silly covid questions, but she also did her best to be polite so I let it go. In that situation fair enough she tried, but Grandma60s receptionist didn't even try to disguise her temper. Fed up or not she's in the wrong job.

I quite agree lesley60. A Lot of receptionists exceed their authority until something happens, then they deny all knowledge of ever speaking to you . I certainly wouldn't trust doctors advice from a receptionist, unless she was returning a message you passed on for the doctor. It's like Joe public giving unwarranted medical advice.

EllanVannin

What a shocking attitude. We're all different I know but I'd have come right back at her. There's no need for any receptionist to treat anyone like that and for what it's worth I'd tell the GP when you next see him/ her.

I wouldn’t wait until I next saw the GP; I would be putting in a formal complaint to the practice manager, and if she and the receptionist are one and the same, I would escalate the complaint up the chain

GrandmaTrisha - not sure why you couldn't book your next appointment even though you had chosen to go away because as holidays abroad were banned you must have been in the UK and had the ability to get online somehow or other. Couldn't you have logged on and taken an appointment for 30th April onwards when there were some available surely. Secondly, you did choose to go away and unlike others on here who talk about going to one's caravan etc. as being perfectly within the spirit of lockdown, not sure that 'booking a last minute' deal for a week falls into that category so you made a definite choice to have a holiday and prioritised that over being able to organise your second jab. No value judgement here, just pointing out that it was your choice to jeopardise your second jab and at that time there was lots of publicity about the shortage of Pfizer vaccine and the likelihood that people would be going over the 12 week period. Sure, the receptionist should have informed the physio and apologised for not doing so, but your question about your second jab was answered truthfully. If you feel you were being treated badly you should write to the practice manager. Hope you get your vaccine soon.

Two things: you can always report poor service to the Practice Manager. Also, add a not-very-rude but strong complaint to a google review. That will work, at least it did for me.

I am poking my head above the parapet to say this then ducking down again .
I speak As both a health care worker currently in a mass vaccination centre and a patient , the receptionist was wrong to have forgotten you and should have apologised for that, but why did you put Lady in inverted commas? This suggests you were miffed at being forgotten and when you spoke to the lady you were, maybe not quite as polite as you could have been , I wonder what the other side of the story is, if you were a little terse with her she may have responded as she did but I am sure she would be horrified to know this encounter had brought you to tears.
The fact is no GP surgeries or vaccination centres know from week to week or sometimes even day to day which vaccine is available to them so, unfortunately, you will have no choice but to continue to try daily. Have you tried ringing your local centres ? They may be able to fit you in if they have Pfizer.
Good luck

I’d speak to the practice manager. One of our receptionist’s sounds as though she is thinking ‘not you again’ when I ring the call centre, sorry doctor’s practice. It’s very off putting to be treated like this by front of house staff.