Should a gp receptionist ask you your personal business
I am not the contrary one here Dav010, so again, knock it on the head.
You could equally ask how many patients who do need urgent GP treatment are prevented from accessing it due to non urgent patients taking up appointments?
It could also be said, that if the wrong people are taking up appointments, then receptionists are really not the right people to be scheduling appointments.
I also notice you answered my first question, but not my second.
I'm actually hoping not to feel like I have been abandoned by my primary health care provider, and that when I am ill, I can get to see them in a timely manner, without having to sacrifice my dignity or battle my way past a dragon receptionist when I am not feeling my best. That is all.
Drs appointments have never been so expensive. Doesn't seem to have had any effect on demand.
I'm not rubbishing your suggestions. But I know from IT systems the majority of people will choose top priority if the given the choice. Human nature. I know a few people who work in GPs and I've heard all their stories. Same thing.
In that case you need to find a GP who doesn’t have a Receptionist and answers his/her own phone.
A significant number, many of whom do not need urgent treatment but believe they do, many who are contrary like you because they are kept waiting many hours after being deemed not to be priority.
There is always going to be a delay in accessing GP care, the fact that each GP clinic has thousands of patients makes that inevitable. You could equally ask how many patients who do need urgent GP treatment are prevented from accessing it due to non urgent patients taking up appointments?
Yes the crisis has been going on years.
The idea of having lots of sick people crammed into the same space is a lot less appealing after COVID. You'd think someone with a respiratory condition as you said would be a lot more aware of this.
What are you hoping for? A scene out of Dr Zhivago.
I dunno you seem to be aware there's a crisis but then you say something that ignores that reality completely.
I would suggest if this patient needs to see a doctor they should be able to see a doctor and an extra charge applied. Most people if they have to pay extra will decide for themselves how urgent they are. If you really need to see a doctor you would be willing to pay the extra. I think you will then see a reduction in the amount of patients who request urgent appointments.
Well I can just speak for how it works in the practice I attend - the receptionist does not consult a GP to decide if your case is urgent or not - she makes the decision whether I get an appointment today or next week. I have no problem whatsover telling a receptionist my medical problem - what I have a problem with is the receptionist deciding whether Im worthy of an urgent appointment.
I know receptionists are just doing what they are told to do but they shouldnt have this responsibity. I am a person who only contacts the GP when I really need to ( mostly because of the high cost) so when I need to see a doctor I really do need to see one.
You can't imagine capacity into existence.
You didn't answer the question.
I'm just curious what would you suggest.
Yeah? IIRC your wife is an A&E Doctor, is she not?
How many people does she see a year who should not be in A&E but have been refused appointments by their GP practice?
How many people does she see a year who have to be admitted, which could have been prevented if they'd been seen and treated by a GP in a timely manner?
By asking about other symptoms of course. Or do you think everyone who has a headache or a hangover should get an urgent appointment.
Jesus wept, Receptionists have heard all this before and will pass the information you give onto the GP.
My GP practice was full and not taking on new patients loooonnnngggg before covid ever happened.
"We're so busy" is always the excuse, yet when you do manage to get an appointment, the surgery waiting room is empty.
Potentially a headache can be serious - it could be indicative of a brain bleed, tumour, meningitis etc or it may be just a migraine. So how can the recptionist decide how serious this is.
I think the op over shared. Seemed stressed and over thinking it to be honest.
They will have no problem giving you the first available appointment in that case. Might take a month, but then you can discuss your problem with the GP.
Because resources have got even more stretched. It's not a mystery.
I have no problem discussing the nature of my illness with a medical professional. A receptionist is not a medical professional and is not qualified to assess my symptoms.
By the way, in my GP practice at least, this request to disclose the nature of your illness when booking any appointment (not just urgent ones) is a new thing since covid.
If they didn't need to ask these questions to make appts in 2019, then why the need for them now.
And also, by the way, this thread is not about me, I am not the OP, so quit with the personal digs.
Most GPs don't have practice nurses on reception. Or indeed on site most of the time.
You're basically saying a doctor needs to be the receptionist. If they have validate every call over the phone.
Basically hire more nurses and doctors when it's impossible. I dunno how many times that point has to be made.
Again, it is you that is missing the point.
Receptionists follow protocols put in place by GPs. Most are very experienced, and will pass on patient information to the GP. If you don’t want to give that information, then the Receptionist has no basis for prioritising patients and when the GP asks for the details of the symptoms, there aren’t any.
I suspect most here think that they are one of a few patients phoning a Clinic each day for an urgent appointment. The phones literally never stop ringing with patients who all feel their problems are urgent. There has got to be policies in place for prioritising patients, and it is these policies which Receptionists follow. Incidentally, medical receptionists are qualified professionals, many have worked for years so have seen, and heard it all before.
Run with that example.
So do you think all headaches should be flagged as urgent.
100%.
It also should noted that over 13 hours after this thread was started the OP edited their opening post down to a single line. From about 40 lines . 😵💫 It’s somewhat odd.
I now have far better care out here offshore. One practice has a dragon receptionist but mine is polite and efficient. Luck of the draw! It is incredibly ... healing..
I think you are missing the point though - How can a receptionist decide whether that headache you have is urgent or not? - They cant because they are not medically trained.
How many eg old folk are online?
What makes your appointment more urgent than anyone else’s at the Clinic?
Surely the answer to that question lies in the symptoms you are experiencing.
You will have to accept that all GP clinics are now bursting at the seams, many are refusing to take in new patients. People like you who think you should be seen before others are the bane of Receptionists and GPs alike, so if you feel that you will be better catered for elsewhere, everyone is a winner.
If you want to be seen urgently, help yourself by explaining why you need an urgent appointment, and why you need to be prioritised. Otherwise you will just be given the first available appointment. If you have a serious problem, do you want someone who has a minor issue, but feels their problem is “urgent”, being given an appointment before you? How do you think the Clinic distinguishes priority between you with a serious problem, and them with a minor one, if both refuse to tell the person they speak to on the phone why an urgent appointment is necessary?
I've already said, direct the request to the practice nurse to make a call on it, or the GP themself.
It should not be left in the hands of someone who has no medical training. How many times does the same point have to be made?
I'm sure lots of people have died because they decided to go to GP instead of A&E.
Except its not just an appointment. Its an urgent immediate appointment. How do you think it should work. If there are 40 slots and 60 people saying their appointments are "urgent" what then...
The receptionists are not qualified to filter patients though so its a system that doesnt work. Its only a matter of time (if it hasnt already happened) before a patient dies because a receptionist decided that person was not deserving of a GP appointment.
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