Medical Receptionist RANT

[canan]

Hi all. I have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes last week. As many of you have experienced the receptionist was not helpful at all. I have to wait till Friday to see my GP. Diabetes runs in my dad's side of the family and two of my dad's siblings had to have amputations.

My dad is suffering from diabetes also and not doing very well. I have been so upset since my diagnosis. All I can think about is if I end up like my dad or his brother and sister.

I am 34 years old with two daughters and also suffer from a slipped disc. Being on my own and not having a very helpful family is making me very sad and upset.

I have been reading all your experiences and if I am very honest you all have given me new hope.

I have been testing my blood sugar levels at home and the readings are quite high. It reads over 10 in the mornings on an empty stomach and between 15 and 19 two hours after food.

My question is do I wait till Friday and worry my self to death or am I right in wanting to start medication ASAP.

Sorry for rambling on. TIA




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[izzzi]

Hi,Canon.

Control is the best thing you can do and you will soon get lots of help from this forum.Your GP should put you on the correct medication if required etc;
Try not to worry, however you seem to have some idea as you are already taking note of your BS levels.Just use your comman sense until your visit to the Doctor.

Best of luck on Friday.

 

[pavlosn]

Hi all. I have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes last week. As many of you have experienced the receptionist was not helpful at all. I have to wait till Friday to see my GP. Diabetes runs in my dad's side of the family and two of my dad's siblings had to have amputations.

My dad is suffering from diabetes also and not doing very well. I have been so upset since my diagnosis. All I can think about is if I end up like my dad or his brother and sister.

I am 34 years old with two daughters and also suffer from a slipped disc. Being on my own and not having a very helpful family is making me very sad and upset.

I have been reading all your experiences and if I am very honest you all have given me new hope.

I have been testing my blood sugar levels at home and the readings are quite high. It reads over 10 in the mornings on an empty stomach and between 15 and 19 two hours after food.

My question is do I wait till Friday and worry my self to death or am I right in wanting to start medication ASAP.

Sorry for rambling on. TIA




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Hi Canon

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis.

It is a shock for all of us when we are first diagnosed but try not to worry too much. Your blood glucose levels are high but I do not believe that you need to be too concerned for the "delay" until Friday - diabetes causes damage in the long term not over a couple of days.

Anyway, you can do something immediately to start bring your levels down - cut/restrict carbohydrates from your diet for the next couple of days until you see your doctor. Carbohydrates are sugar, pasta, bread, rice, potatoes and other root vegetables. Stick to lean meat and green vegetables. Test your glucose as you have been doing and you should see the levels coming down gradually.

Best of luck for Friday ( although appointment not something to worry about )


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[canan]

Thank you both for your kind words I will be stressing a lot less now till Friday xxx


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[2christine]

Hi good luck you have come to the best place for advice,DAISY will be in touch soon with some more details if not open up a post on newly diagnosed.
If you follow advice on here you may find like I did,to need no medication ,lose 2st,improve my health eyes,skin,eating,feet all in 12 weeks.

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[2christine]

Hi good luck you have come to the best place for advice,DAISY will be in touch soon with some more details if not open up a post on newly diagnosed.
If you follow advice on here you may find like I did,to need no medication ,lose 2st,improve my health eyes,skin,eating,feet all in 12 weeks.

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and just got back from seeing the diabetic nurse (6month review) she said WOW I have never had a patient do so well, you have gone from a HBA1C 74 to 40,I am now putting on your record has "non diabetic" but "at risk of diabetic" so she can see me in 6 months.
I am well chuffed.

 

[izzzi]

and just got back from seeing the diabetic nurse (6month review) she said WOW I have never had a patient do so well, you have gone from a HBA1C 74 to 40,I am now putting on your record has "non diabetic" but "at risk of diabetic" so she can see me in 6 months.
I am well chuffed.

Well done Christine, There is something good about this Forum and you are definitely part of that.
keep up your good work with control and stay healthy.

 

[pavlosn]

and just got back from seeing the diabetic nurse (6month review) she said WOW I have never had a patient do so well, you have gone from a HBA1C 74 to 40,I am now putting on your record has "non diabetic" but "at risk of diabetic" so she can see me in 6 months.
I am well chuffed.

Way to go Christine!!

Really well done! Treat yourself to something special. You deserve it!

Pavlos


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[2christine]

thanks izzzi,you have really helped me in this journey, as have so many others .

 

[carraway]

Christine that is worth of a post in your own right!

Brilliantly well done!

Cara

 

[Mud Island Dweller]

Fantastic news there Christine well done

 

[connie104]

Really well done makes all the hard work worthwhile , fantastic results


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[daisy1]

Hi good luck you have come to the best place for advice,DAISY will be in touch soon with some more details if not open up a post on newly diagnosed.
If you follow advice on here you may find like I did,to need no medication ,lose 2st,improve my health eyes,skin,eating,feet all in 12 weeks.

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A bit off topic but never mind..... Here is the link to the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it helpful.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/basic-information-for-newly-diagnosed-diabetics.17088

 

[DiamondAsh]

... expect to be hit by the karma train at some point. I really hope they never need the compassion and sympathy of a medical receptionist. If they were a receptionist in a private medical clinic they wouldn't get away with treating patients disrespectfully.

Good point to make. I think they do it deliberately so as not to get pushed around by needy customers (patients) I've just moved to a new area and went to the local Practice to register. The receptionist wasn't very pleasant. I went to my New Patient Apnt to have my full check and I was left at the waiting post thing (where you are asked to wait in the queue) with the receptionist just staring at me. I stared back, she smiled, I smiled back.
'Are you waiting for someone,' she said,
'The doctor, hopefully.' I replied. ' I have an aptn' etc etc....

Never once did she invite me to the desk and offer to help. All she had to do was look my way and say ' yes, may I help you.' Who trains them up!! I would have thought that was obvious. I wouldn't go to the desk before being invited, as I've been told off for doing that before ... Just can't win!! I try to keep calm now and keep my voice down but just say it as it is, even to their face, if necessary.

I think anyone in customer services should be taught how to diffuse an irate situation, they do occur. Rather than digging their heels in and announcing that 'if you continue in that vein I can no longer help you !'

My own personal thoughts...

 

[donnellysdogs]

I am not a receptionist, but I feel they have a hard time actually. The reception at our GP can get absolutely bombarded at 8am in morning by phones and people in person. It is never nice from my point of view to tell people no to anything at all.. And they have hundreds of phone calls each morning.

Most larger practices have got prescriptions and bookin appointments online now. I use this facility, and can pretty much guarantee that if I use this service I will get seen the same day.

All doctors to comply with CQC standards have to have a Patients Participation or Reference Group. The Group should do an annual survey for patients to complete.. (This is in addition to the one that Mori sends to selected people).

All Practices should review the surveys and be seen to listen to their patients and act upon details like ' cant get through by phone' 'no appointments' etc. normally these surveys are published on line for patients to complete, or sometimes volunteers can give them out to patients.

Then you could go down the official line of sending your complaints to NHS choices if living in England, and I think Wales.

Patients have to take actions themselves. GP's do have to listen and improve. Unless patients voice their complaints officially the GP's never know whats happening in reception.



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[Scardoc]

In all honesty I'm not fussed if the GP's know what goes on or not - that's why there are Practise Managers to deal with the day to day running of the surgery and leave the GP's to get on with treating people.

Receptionists are just like every human being in the country and that means you are going to get the good, the bad and the "I am God" wherever you go. They do, in my opinion, get subjected to a lot of stressful situations through some of the phone calls and situations they have to deal with. You may turn up just after they have had someone drop down in front of them, or take a call from someone saying they're going to kill themselves. Not many people see that side.

Or you may just get an **** as the world and every work place is full of them too!!

 

[Jammi Ecronin]

Gah!

When selecting an appropriate receptionist for the job, do Dr's actually go looking for the least helpful jobsworths around?

I had my first H1abc on Friday, along with thyroid, liver, kidneys, and a few other bits and pieces.
I had a call from my surgery today, but missed the call on my mobile - they went to the extent of calling my next of kin to get hold of me whilst I was at work, and asked me to call asap.
I did, and was promptly told that my results are back but they need me to go in at the earliest opportunity. The Receptionist told me Nurse has reviewed my results and asked her to call me immediately to get me in. I told her that yes of course, I could come in for the next available appointment, and she even went to the extent of asking if I could possibly go to one of their other surgeries because the next available appointment is there. Of course, this wasn't a problem and I agreed to it.
Then she said "That's great, we'll see you next Tuesday 3rd december at 11am". I asked her if there were no appointments before, to which I was told that it IS flu season and they ARE busy!

What???? It's urgent, need to see me immediately, there's problem on my blood results.... but I have to wait a whole week for an urgent, immediate, next available appointment.
I'm sure that they do this on purpose just for fun!!!

Basically you were called for your very first appointment after your reports result became. But as a fact you missed the call from Medical Receptionist. So your actual meeting was that but they supposed to give you time and try to fit another appointment for you and that doesn't happen,when you went there they were busy with their flu season and once again they make another appointment for you. Instead of blaming better to understand the situation that occurs.

 

[CollieBoy]

Basically you were called for your very first appointment after your reports result became. But as a fact you missed the call from receptionist. So your actual meeting was that but they supposed to give you time and try to fit another appointment for you and that doesn't happen,when you went there they were busy with their flu season and once again they make another appointment for you. Instead of blaming better to understand the situation that occurs.

@Jammi Ecronin,
What she is complaining about is appropriateness of response by the receptionist:
claiming urgency of appointment, and then having worried/ wound her up, scheduling a distinctly non urgent re-appointment.
If it were urgent, then an urgent appointment should be given but if non urgent then the urgent-mode of ontact would have been appropriate.
I had a similar occurrence with MiL. Cardiologist wanted BP checking so asked surgery to deal.
Surgery sent first class letter that she urgently needed to come to surgery (90 Y-O, housebound) she spent all day worrying and arranged relatives to take time off work to get her in for BP check to discover that BP had already been checked/recorded by surgery.

 

[luceeloo]

@Jammi Ecronin,
What she is complaining about is appropriateness of response by the receptionist:
claiming urgency of appointment, and then having worried/ wound her up, scheduling a distinctly non urgent re-appointment.
If it were urgent, then an urgent appointment should be given but if non urgent then the urgent-mode of ontact would have been appropriate.
I had a similar occurrence with MiL. Cardiologist wanted BP checking so asked surgery to deal.
Surgery sent first class letter that she urgently needed to come to surgery (90 Y-O, housebound) she spent all day worrying and arranged relatives to take time off work to get her in for BP check to discover that BP had already been checked/recorded by surgery.

Old thread, but yes... what Fergus said!

 

[anna29]

At my surgery we have a brand new young receptionist .
Only been there about 3 weeks I think ?

She hollers back at you whatever you ask or say to her .
So if its personal the whole waiting room can listen with amusement
what ever you ask or say to her :***:
Real cringe moments !

Have decided if she does this again - I am going to holler back at her or complain .
Probably be the latter ...

She needs a training course immediately on patient confidentiality and consideration
with her dreadful receptionist skills .