Doctors surgeries receptionists

The problem I have, is that the receptionists in my surgery are acting in a triage capacity, deciding whether you get an appointment in three days, or next week. And they are not qualified to triage patients.

By the way, shouldn't this thread be in some other forum?

Well pity about you there’s a fcuking pandemic and the GPS are flat out you can’t get an app “right away” and very few people can.

it’s also absolutely unreal the cheek of some people here to speak about the receptionists in doctor surgeries as if they’re just picked up off the street and handed a phone. They’re more qualified than you or I to take patient calls and believe it or not they’re trained on the screening process for the GP… and if they’re unsure they can go ask the doctor (and my own GP practice has done in the past, if the receptionist isn’t sure about the urgency of the matter she checks and calls me back)

It boggles the mind to think that we can make the call that we need to see a doctor, but someone who works there, has training on screening patient calls can’t make an educated judgment on how urgent a call is?

if what’s wrong with you is so severe an appointment is needed NOW or within a couple HOURS you’re already wrong for ringing a GP you should be presenting to your local ED.

so much absolute rubbish being spouted here it’s unreal.

edit: typo

no, you go to the flipping ED if you have chest pain or feel faint.. what do you think they’re gonna do even if a GP did answer the phone?

you’ll be told to go to the hospital!

god give me peace 😂 as has been said already, if you want to speak to your doctor you need an appointment. They can do many things, doctors, cloning themselves isn’t one of those things. How do you envision they see patients while simultaneously answering every phone call they get asking for them?

mad though how almost everyone thinking a doctor or nurse should answer your call acts like the GP is there to serve them only..

Do you ring your dentist and refuse to tell the receptionist what the complaint is? Like appointment screening existed before covid, it’s been the norm for as long as I can remember because, as I said, doctors can’t see patients AND take phone calls all day.

Like what has me really confused is this demand that

1. I want to speak to the GP or a Nurse
2. i also want an appointment quickly without delay a few days is too long and a few weeks I’ll report ye (???)
3. I don’t want ANYONE BUT A DOCTOR TO ASK ME ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT MY COMPLAINT

in that case go hire your own doctor.

Ok, Mrs O’B, some of your opinions are the reason why good Receptionists are essential in GP practices, they spend a lot of time listening to grievances from the clueless.

You ask who is responsible for their training, professionalism and behaviour? The GP of course. If a GP receptionist was telling all and sundry about patients confidential information, the complaint would be made against the GP.

Trained medical professionals do not always make good receptionists, it is more about personality than medical knowledge. Personally I prefer to employ either qualified medical secretaries or experienced hotel reception staff. Why? Because they are well versed in dealing with complaints from demanding people. Every staff member undergoes thorough training and is in no doubt about the absolute importance of confidentiality.

In relation to calls for appointments, of course the patient is asked for details about their issue, how else to you expect staff to know who needs an urgent appointment or whether it can be scheduled for a later date, how much time will be needed, whether it needs to be scheduled for particular days when bloods are being taken, whether it is just for a repeat script etc etc. The receptionists are trained to note the important points and to know when to bring it to the Dr’s attention.

There may be plenty to nurses who are unable for the physical demands of hands on work, that does not mean they are all able to deal with people who just complain for the sake of it.

Oh, and the professional body to complain to is the Medical Council.

Yep, I can sympathise with that.

Jaysus if I was working in a surgery listening to someone carrying on with the attitude you've displayed in this thread, I might end up with chest pains myself. If I had anything I thought was imminent or serious I'd be going nowhere near my GP practice.

The phones ring constantly throughout the day, do you think Drs are available to talk to every patient who phones? If you don’t want to give details, you are given the next available appointment, which could be weeks away. Not much use if you need to be seen urgently.

Receptionists are trained to assess/triage patients according to the symptoms they describe and reason for attendance. If you don’t want to give that information, you are just a name on a sheet with an unknown reason for wanting an appointment.

The image people have of triage is what you see in an A&E or on TV where there is a full waiting room of extremely sick/injured people and the triage nurse assess the patient and literately decides the order of admittance based on severity. But this is also applied to GP appointments, it just isn’t as dramatic. The receptionist will book appointments based on the training and instruction given by the GP. They will also know when to bring information to the GPs attention, this of course is based on the information supplied by the patient. If you don’t want to give that information, there can be no assessment of urgency nor consideration of the order in which you will be seen.

Trust me, receptionist deal with all types, they don’t care what you tell them, only how that information relates to appointments and whether it needs to be brought urgently to the GPs attention. If you want to look down your nose at a Receptionist or question their ethics or professionalism, prepare for the consequences, they are the gatekeepers to the appointment book.