doctors secretary questions

Having worked as a receptionist in a doctors office the questions do sound pretty standard. The thing you have to remember everyone who rings thinks their situation is different/urgent/important etc etc and while it will be true some need to be seen, many don't need an urgent same day appointment and the staff at the practice have to do some triage otherwise they'd could be overwhelmed. they ask for details as they will have limited training on what should be seen by GP today, what can wait and what should go straight to an emergency room. I'm sorry you were made to feel uncomfortable but try not to take it personal, they could have had dozens of calls that day already looking for appointments and are just trying to do their job.

I had some amount of abuse from people ringing when I told them there wasn't any appointments that day, they'd demand to speak to the doctor whose run off their feet and tells them exactly the same thing I did. I had one woman come in after being told we were slammed, her case wasn't urgent but she wanted to see the doctor, was really abusive then the doctor arrived out and she was all smiles. Doctor told her no appointment that day and she waited till he left to start yelling abuse again.

marieholmfan wrote: »

They aren't professionals in any meaningful sense of the word.

What do you mean? You would be surprised the number of secretaries who are now educated to degree and even masters level. Even if they're not their work requires them to act in a professional manner (just like anyone who has a job) because they are usually the first point of contact with the public.

It takes all kinds of workers to run the world. If those without "professional" qualifications stopped doing their jobs you would feel the adverse effects of that very quickly.

Back to the OP. Not all GP practices can afford to have a nurse on hand to ask health related personal information. Practice nurses are run off their feet as well. Any information requested by the secretary will be needed by the GP. The GP, who has gone through 7 or more years of medical school, will have told the secretary what questions to ask. Any information given to medical secretaries or any other staff in the GP surgery will be strictly confidential.

I have to say OP, I think that you are being completely unreasonable.

I was in a very similar situation a week ago, I had no appointment with my preferred GP, and wanted very much to be seen as quickly as possible. The lady at the front desk asked me to describe what was wrong, and I went into detail, thinking that the more detail I give, the more chance that they will be able to slip me in somewhere. It is usually a very busy practice.

If I had taken the line with her that 'it was urgent' and kept my symptoms vague, then I would have fully expected them to offer me something the next day, etc, and rightly so.