Really upset by GP's receptionist attitude

After my heart attack, I was given a letter by the hospital asking the GP to see me urgently within two days. I paid for a taxi to take the letter to the GP because I couldn't walk that far. I was told the first appointment was in five weeks! Maybe I should direct my GP surgery to yours to find out the meaning of "urgent". I ended up back in hospital for tests and medication, which could and should have been handled by the GP.

Loislovesstewie

growstuff; I have an adult child with type 1 diabetes. I know what it means to have other issues as well with the condition. There have never, ever been any problems with getting urgent treatment. I can only say that whenever the need arises the surgery have been brilliant, including at present with all the pandemic problems. (And, yes, they have lots of other health problems)

Well, I can only say that my surgery is nothing like yours. It really is appalling and was going downhill rapidly before Covid struck.

There's no excuse for such rudeness.

I get really flustered about even simple things like using my credit card etc and got home thinking that everyone must think I’m a batty old woman these days: it made me feel a bit tearful.

Shall we form a Batty Old Woman club.? I can't even remember how to use money sometimes even when the shops will let me. Feel confused most of the time.

But don't let it worry you. Take as long as you need to get things done. Laugh at yourself and don't let others make you feel inadequate.

m.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR2m9G_N9y-P7VB95K2AkXErqXxO9yY-EdS4UOz_v_hTVCwQLzLCEJsIdww&v=hAM3fSDq9kA&feature=youtu.be

It might be some automatic text sent. The Receptionist might not have that much to do with it.

on the subject of GPs, am feeling really upset and angry with mine, we have been with them. relatively small practise for many years and have often sung their praises but since the pandemic started,,,, well, what can I say, I know that , at first , precautions had to be taken to avoid the virus spreading but things are no better now, our practise has always had phone appointments, thats nothing new, usually instigated by the patient though, but now , phone or video call seems to be the only options, to actually see your doc in person, well, we have forgotten what ours looks like, my husband has had ill health for many years and all this video calling etc is not helping him, we even tried ringing 111 last week with hubbys health issues but that was very stressful, the lady who eventually , after about half an hour and pressing different buttons, who was not medical , said the doc would ring back within eight hours , by this time it was eight at night, we went to bed and left the phone within reach, then at five the next morning he rang, unfortunately we couldnt really understand him anyway so that was a complete waste of time. the latest was just today, last week hubby went for an x ray on his hip. we hadnt heard anything so rang docs today to see if there were any results, the receptionist said yes and doc wanted to speak to my husband but hes away so we couldnt get a phone appointment for ten days, we just feel so sad and depressed with it all

Report to Practice Manager - that’s what she’s there for - to sort issues.

growstuff; I have an adult child with type 1 diabetes. I know what it means to have other issues as well with the condition. There have never, ever been any problems with getting urgent treatment. I can only say that whenever the need arises the surgery have been brilliant, including at present with all the pandemic problems. (And, yes, they have lots of other health problems)

Loislovesstewie So why wasn't I seen immediately when I had an infection which has now lingered for over 8 months and for which I still take antibiotics? By the time I did speak to a doctor (on the phone), it had spread quite dramatically. I told the receptionist what was wrong, explained that I am diabetic and have had a heart attack. Diabetes means that my body is bad at fighting infections and infection could bring on heart problems. Telling her my problem and that I knew what was needed didn't produce any results.

A while ago, we had a similar problem with a receptionist when my OH had a fall and needed a scan. She forgot to book it and blamed us for not knowing the contact number of the several scan centres available to us. A friend recommended ringing PALS ( patient advisory liaison service) when the receptionist’s attitude worsened into obstructiveness. PALS were wonderful and we got an appointment within 20 minutes and they reported her behaviour to the practice manager who assured us that retraining would take place. Worth a go ! Good luck and try not to worry.

suziewoozie, I'm sure it would!

Hummm does this work

Me I’d like to see a doctor urgently please
Receptionist ( who I know and see around town and in the supermarket) what for please
Me I’ve got post coital vaginal bleeding after a particularly active night of passion
??

Several years ago I was bitten by my cat, the arm started to swell dramatically. I called the surgery;
'Hello I've been bitten by my cat, my arm is now really swollen, could I see someone please?
Receptionist, 'Can you pop in and see the nurse now?'
Me, 'I'm on my way'
Result; penicillin for the infection.
Fast-forward a few years
Me; 'Hello, I've come to work and have an awful pain in my ribs;I think it might be pleurisy as I'm having difficulty breathing'.
Receptionist; 'Can you pop in and see the nurse now? That sounds painful.
Me ; 'Yes, I'm on my way.
Result;penicillin for pleurisy.
The point is that I have told the receptionist what my issues are, and she has listened. I've been concise and polite. She is happy because she hasn't had to play guessing games.
And I said 'Thank you' on my way out.
You know the receptionists have to ask if it is urgent and have some idea what the issues are before making an appointment. They aren't being nosey!

I am unfailingly polite to everyone, receptionists included, and there is a very definite variety in the responses I've had over the years, ranging from kind and helpful to "excuse me while I scrape you off the sole of my shoe".

Thank you, though, to whomever it was in this thread who asked about taking the trouble to thank gp practices.

I always do on the spot, of course, but while I'd been profuse in thanking the hub vaccination staff on both occasions - Valentine's Day and my Birthday - I hadn't thanked the practice, who had organized it all.
So I did.
The practice manager was delighted!

Mamo

Suziewoozie Regardless of what I pointed out earlier about being overworked, I am absolutely horrified and very saddened by your experience when you were so ill. All the good, kind and caring GP secretaries/receptionists on here would be too. No matter how stressed I am at the moment, I hope I would always take a few moments to listen, comfort, show I care and help patients who are so in need of understanding and facilitating with an early appointment. I do hope you are in a better place now

Yes my new practice deserves to be canonised ? I hope none of my posts have come across as generalisations -rather I wanted to simply express the point that ( in rare cases) it isn’t about the patient not being polite but can just be the receptionist being awful. The thing is we’ll always remember the awful experience no matter how rare when it happens at a time you are scared, frightened and vulnerable . Writing all this brought back some really bad memories. I do know the doctors were aware and I think it was dreadful they tolerated it. One GP in particulars gave me a different number to use if needed an appointment and almost a code wired to use to bypass the reception system - that wasn’t right but she was very junior and doubt anyone listened to her.

Lox. That’s exactly how I was, too. I’d sometimes say to the doctor we haven’t heard from so and so for a while and they’d ring that patient up to see if they were ok. I used to love flu clinic days when I’d see people from the year before that I hadn’t seen.Used to deliver medicine to people etc.People think their doctors know and remember them personally but it’s often the receptionist that relays information to them. I feel awful that, now retired, I wasn’t prepared to ask the surgery if they needed extra help over the past year and sometimes miss my job terribly. That’s why it really upsets me to hear that people have such a horrible view of receptionists in general. I do agree that people should write and complain if they’ve been treated badly by a receptionist, though as sometimes the practice manager doesn’t know it’s happening.

Sorry you had to go through that ordeal by the receptionist. I have retired now but had been a GP receptionist for nearly 15 years, and we really did care for our patients. We would address them by their first name, and nine times out of ten would even recognise their voice when they phoned up. I used to even fetch bits from the pharmacy and drop them off for them. I would even make them a cuppa if we weren’t too busy. We got “outstanding” in the ofsted report and receptionist got full top marks. We treated patients as we would expect to be treated. So not all GP receptionists are bad! Hopefully that ONE is just a “one off”!!

Doctor's Receptionist Syndrome.

The Doctor's Receptionist Syndrome is the illusion that some doctors receptionists have when they feel they are more important than the doctor who employ them.

Others call it a personality flaw in which people suppose that, because they work for someone important like a doctor, they must have an equal claim to status and authority.

I would write a strong letter to the surgery and send a copy to your PCT too. There are 1000s of people looking for jobs who know how to be civil to folk! I doubt this will be her 1st complaint!

Suziewoozie Regardless of what I pointed out earlier about being overworked, I am absolutely horrified and very saddened by your experience when you were so ill. All the good, kind and caring GP secretaries/receptionists on here would be too. No matter how stressed I am at the moment, I hope I would always take a few moments to listen, comfort, show I care and help patients who are so in need of understanding and facilitating with an early appointment. I do hope you are in a better place now

I think this lady said her first jab was Pfizer so not sure if the second jab can be mixed to have AZ.

Shocking that you have had this experience. Ours have been brilliant, in fact they always are. Perhaps you should contact the practice manager and voice your concerns about your experiences. I know that if this happened at our practice it would not be acceptable, after all, they are the first impression!

Lucca

Hope everyone read Mamo’s post.

I have found that the politeness etc work both ways. I am unfailingly polite to the receptionists and that’s the treatment I get back!
Our surgery is great. If you ring up about an issue and explain briefly the
Robles you get a call back from either the practice nurse or doctor very quickly.

It really isn’t that simple. I agree as a general rule to live by but I can’t begin to tell you what my former practice was like. I got to a point when I was really ill when I didn’t dare ring up for an appt because I was scared - yes scared - of getting one of the majority of dreadful receptionists. My DH went down in person to join the 8 am queue leaving me sobbing at home. When he tried to explain how ill I was and needs an appt he was just told ‘well you all say that’ . Unless you’ve experienced this you really don’t know how awful it is and especially when you are very ill( I was awaiting the results of diagnostic tests so was in the system). I was so lucky I could change practices. But please try and understand the experiences some have which are nothing to do with not being polite and everything to do with dreadful receptionists

Hope everyone read Mamo’s post.

I have found that the politeness etc work both ways. I am unfailingly polite to the receptionists and that’s the treatment I get back!
Our surgery is great. If you ring up about an issue and explain briefly the
Robles you get a call back from either the practice nurse or doctor very quickly.