YAAAARGGGH ...

[GraceK]

Can anyone tell me what a Medical Receptionist at a GP surgery is actually THERE FOR?

I was diagnosed by my GP on 8/8/12 and referred to DNS, so I made an appointment to see DNS as I was leaving. Fine. I saw DNS a week later, and she ended by saying "I'll see you again in 3 months time."

At the same time I am also seeing a Consultant at hospital for a gynae problem which has shown up pre-cancerous cells for which I was offered either a hysterectomy or hormone treatment. I chose the latter and was advised to see my GP to get my prescription.

So I have just phoned my GP surgery and asked to make an appointment with the DNS for 3 months after my last appointment. Fairly simple I would have thought, she has the computer in front of her and the diary of appointments so she can see when I came in last and when they can fit me in in 3 months time.

Nope it wasn't that simple. She said "Do you want to see the DNS or do you want to come to the Diabetic Clinic?" I said "I don't know what the difference is - I was just told "I'll see you in 3 months time" so here I am trying to make an appointment."

She reiterated "Well do you want to see the DNS or come to the Diabetic Clinic?" To which I replied "I don't know what the difference is between seeing the DNS and coming the DC, I thought it was the same thing?" She then got very frustrated and told me to hold the line and came back with an appointment date - but she didn't say if it was for DNS or for the DC and I'm still none the wiser as to what the difference is as she didn't offer an explanation.

I then told her I'd had a hospital clinic appointment for gynae last week and that I was advised to see my GP about starting treatment and I asked if they'd received a clinic letter from the hospital yet. Her response to that was to retort "I don't know, it's too early to say if you only went there last week! We probably haven't had a letter yet!" I said "Well can you check please?" She said "Why do you want to know if we've received a letter?" I said "Because I'm the patient, the letter is about me, it tells the doctor that I need treatment and I have to see the doctor to get that treatment - don't I?"

Her response to that was a very curt "Well it hasn't arrived. Ring back next week!" :crazy: :crazy: :crazy:

That's the sort of NHS attitude that absolutely STINKS TO HIGH HEAVEN as far as I'm concerned and I honestly believe if some people don't want to be in contact with patients either over the phone or in person, they should really leave their job and hand it over to someone else who really WANTS to do it and CAN do it. Because I am absolutely sick of the 'Poor me, I'm rushed off my feet and too busy to be civil to you morons" attitude from GP surgery admin staff. The excuse is wearing thin.

It's their job to be up to date with what the patients status is, it's their job to be efficient AND it's their job to BE POLITE and SENSITIVE and if they don't fit the bill why the hell are they being employed? :x

Rant over.

 

[dawnmc]

I do think they hire receptionists for their thick skin, think it has to go their CV somewhere.

 

[hanadr]

I'd ask to speak to the practice manager and then the DSN immediately after and ask for a phonecall from the doctor straight after that.
Hana

 

[susieg]

I WAS a doctor's receptionist, and if that sort of thing went on we'd be hauled over the coals, we had to make sure everything was given at the patient's request and make sure all appointments were in their best interest. I cannot believe you had this treatment, all I can say is change your surgery, or as 'handdr' said talk to the practice manager. I actually dealt with prescriptions and letters from hospitals, they were all there for all to see plain as day, so I'm not sure why you were fobbed off like that. the letters are there in date order, so she could have seen the most recent one. And what's more, these days, results only take a day or two to come through, it's all electronically processed nowadays.
As for the appointment mix up, she sounds like a right thicky to me, all appt's are usually laid out in batches, i.e. the ones for diabetic clinics are separate from all nurses appts etc... if you were unsure I would have put you into the nurses clinic with an explanation then if they thought it wasn't the right place they would phone and alter it. What a shambles your place sounds like.

Please don't tar us all with the same brush. I did try to help people as much as I could, we had soooooooo many people ringing up and exploding with rage over the phone, sometimes we think all patients are the monsters not the receptionists. sorry! :?

 

[Superchip]

beats me, there are some right little hitlers out there.
complain in a written letter to the practice manager and your gp, if you ever get to see him or her.
You don't sound like the type to let this go !

Rant away GraceK
Oh I'm a poet and didn't know it !

Superchip

 

[insanity]

It never ceases to amaze me what some receptionists are like, some are so lovely you could just hug them and then there are the others. You can't make an appointment at our GP unless you tell the receptionist the reason why you want an appointment, as if privacy and confidentiality mean nothing to them.

I would write a letter of complaint to the practice manager, your having a lot of appointments and treatments so they should try to help you with your appointments and not make you feel like that! Good luck, let us know how it goes

 

[Anonymous]

that sounds like our dr receptionists at Downton surgary.so rude and unhelpful.im always writing letters of complaint.i actual get a better response writing a note to my gp and marking it private and confirdential as then the dr has to open the letter if you put they name on it. :lol: :roll: :clap: :evil:

 

[GraceK]

I WAS a doctor's receptionist, and if that sort of thing went on we'd be hauled over the coals, we had to make sure everything was given at the patient's request and make sure all appointments were in their best interest. I cannot believe you had this treatment, all I can say is change your surgery, or as 'handdr' said talk to the practice manager. I actually dealt with prescriptions and letters from hospitals, they were all there for all to see plain as day, so I'm not sure why you were fobbed off like that. the letters are there in date order, so she could have seen the most recent one. And what's more, these days, results only take a day or two to come through, it's all electronically processed nowadays.
As for the appointment mix up, she sounds like a right thicky to me, all appt's are usually laid out in batches, i.e. the ones for diabetic clinics are separate from all nurses appts etc... if you were unsure I would have put you into the nurses clinic with an explanation then if they thought it wasn't the right place they would phone and alter it. What a shambles your place sounds like.

Please don't tar us all with the same brush. I did try to help people as much as I could, we had soooooooo many people ringing up and exploding with rage over the phone, sometimes we think all patients are the monsters not the receptionists. sorry! :?

The thing is susie - I'm a hospital medical secretary myself and so I know the routine from the hospital end, the typing of the clinic letters, the time targets etc, and the consultants treatment recommendations. I also know about explosive patients and I know about the quiet ones who will just go away and try not to be a nuisance (I'm one of them believe it or not). It's a skill knowing how to liaise with different types of people on a daily basis and I'm sorry but I see a lot of people working in the public sector are sadly lacking in that skill these days and that is one of the skills they are being paid for.

I also know about patients who ring the hospital telling us that their GP has told them they haven't received a clinic letter so they haven't yet been given their medications weeks after clinic. The GP blames the hospital so I also know about having to fax the same clinic letter to a GP several times before they bother reading it and do something about it. So I advise patients to ask for copies of their clinic letters to be sent to THEMSELVES by the hospital, at least we then know that the patient knows what treatment they've been recommended and if necessary they can PROVE to the GP that the hospital have, in fact, sent the letter out so maybe they should employ people who can look into patient's files a bit harder. Believe me it happens over and over.

Once the letter has left the hospital it's up to the GP surgery to dish out the meds. If patient's don't phone their GP to check if they've received the letter they'd never hear from the GP about their meds so it's a case of having to phone them. Yet the Receptionists respond as if you're a bl***y nuisance just deliberately interrupting their busy day. I see the admin staff in hospitals and in GP surgeries becoming very disconnected from the patient as they're more engaged with computers and paperwork these days that they actually forget it's the patient they should be communicating with - not the bl***y PC monitor.

I've dealt with many patients in my time, and I've very rarely come across a rude one to be honest and neither have I ever felt the need to be rude myself. I consider it my job to be polite but firm if necessary and also to explain things to patients that they might not understand about how the system works. After all many patients are not employees of the NHS, they don't know HOW things work and nor should they be expected to know. And as far as I'm concerned CIVILITY is a must, not an afterthought where that job is concerned.

I've actually witnessed a patient with a brain tumour and short term memory problems being sent to ANOTHER HOSPITAL'S A & E by another Medical Secretary I worked with, simply to get rid of her off the phone because she couldn't spare the time to listen to her slurred speech and to repeat the instructions more than once or twice until the poor woman could write them down so she could remember them.

I then dealt with that poor woman later on in the day as she sobbed down the phone telling me she'd gone to the other hospital and no-one knew a thing about her. Her level of distress was off the scale, she was confused and agitated and I felt so sad to actually be part of an NHS system where that could happen - but it did happen. And it's disgusting.

No, we're not all tarred with the same brush, but believe me there are some people working in the NHS (and they're not temps either) who feel so secure in their jobs and really do abuse their power over patients and see their relationship as some kind of superior/inferior type thing. And it's about time they were rooted out because I'm heartily sick of them and having to work with them too.

The receptionist I spoke to today is the Senior Receptionist and should have known a lot better by now and she will know a lot better when I call in later on in the week for my prescription because I will repeat the whole thing with her again and take up even more of her precious time.

 

[Anonymous]

My ex wife was a GP receptionist - I feel your pain..

 

[lucylocket61]

I had a problem with one of the nurses in my practice. I wrote to the practice manager and she both replied to me, and dealt with it swiftly and thoroughly, and apologised to me personally. I have not had a problem with the practice since.

 

[GraceK]

I had a problem with one of the nurses in my practice. I wrote to the practice manager and she both replied to me, and dealt with it swiftly and thoroughly, and apologised to me personally. I have not had a problem with the practice since.

Good idea, I think I might do that. Thanks.

 

[GraceK]

I went over to the surgery today to collect my prescription and to ask again, if they've received the clinic letter from the hospital so that I can get the medication I need for the gynae problem. The youngest receptionist was on duty today and she is the most helpful and polite of them all. As she handed me the prescription and I was about to leave, the Practice Manager dashed out of the office and asked me if I was interested in joining the Patient Participation meetings which are held every 3 months. So I said I was very interested in doing so. Next one is in November so I'll be going to that one and I'm looking forward to it.

Any change I get to mention LCHF diet for Diabetics ... I will do so ... :lol:

 

[Defren]

It seems many of you not only have problems with your GP's DNS's but also receptionists. Many of you will know, I have a super GP and although I have only had minor interaction with the practice DSN, she too was great. Having read all your tale's of woe, I just feel I have to speak up for good receptionists. Maybe I am just highly fortunate, but the receptionists at my surgery are also really nice, friendly and very helpful. They will go out of their way to help in anyway they can. Squeezing an appointment if you say you really need to see a GP, helping with information on any issue, giving test results efficiently and reassuringly, and arranging all appointments you may need there are then.

Only once have I ever had a problem, and it was a very minor one, and it was with the secretary to the GP's, so never really see her anyway now.

So, I am going to raise a glass (of sparking water) to all the team at my surgery, they are all fab, and treat people as people, and quite often afraid or elderly patients (I have been in the waiting room more than once when older people have come in, and the reception girls couldn't do enough for them). They also play decent music in the waiting room. :lol:

I can't be the only person to have an all round super surgery - can I?

[edit to add] I get all my tests done as I should, and things like retinopathy and podiatry tests are done at the hospital of my choosing, and at the same time, to save patients having to keep attending.

 

[DickM]

Contacted my Nurse Practioner who deals with all my diabetes reviews and asked her to leave a blood test form with reception, she emailed me (3/10)and said she would do that for me. On 5/10 I popped in to the reception and asked for the form, receptionist looked but told me that there was not one and that my NP had probably not done it yet. Rang today for an appointment to have the blood test done and asked if they could ask the NP to make sure that the form was left for me by then, the receptionist wouldnt do that and insisted that I had to speak to the NP myself and arranged a call back from her. Well she rung me and said that she had left it down in reception the day after she emailed me and couldn't understand why they failed to find it but promised she would make sure that it was there on the day of the test.
45 misn later I got a call from the reception to say that they had now found the form, following a visit from the NP, plus they also have a sample pot for me to include a sample. Great as I am away until the Sunday evening and therefore have got to go and buy a sample pot of hope my bladder holds out until I get there as it has to be the first one of the day.
Just a normal day at the doctor's reception.

 

[GraceK]

It seems many of you not only have problems with your GP's DNS's but also receptionists. Many of you will know, I have a super GP and although I have only had minor interaction with the practice DSN, she too was great. Having read all your tale's of woe, I just feel I have to speak up for good receptionists. Maybe I am just highly fortunate, but the receptionists at my surgery are also really nice, friendly and very helpful.

I can't be the only person to have an all round super surgery - can I?

[edit to add] I get all my tests done as I should, and things like retinopathy and podiatry tests are done at the hospital of my choosing, and at the same time, to save patients having to keep attending.

Awwww that's really nice Defren ... I agree, we should also give credit where credit's due. The Practice Manager I saw this afternoon was very nice and easy to speak with and the young receptionist is a really helpful person but unfortunately she's not always on the front desk. And a smile really does make all the difference when on reception or on the telephone, there's nothing worse than being made to feel you're being a nuisance simply because you need to ask a question. I know it's a busy world these days but dealing face to face or on telephone with members of the public IS a major part of the job. I used to teach office skills to young people and adults and having the right personality is so important when dealing face to face or via telephone, with the public. In industry, it could make all the difference between a sale or a contract being clinched, but in the NHS sometimes the attitude is simply ... "well they're only patients and I have other things to do."

Up to now, with two receptionists in particular I've been rushed off the phone before I've finished my query and another one gave me a brusque answer to a query and then turned her back and walked into the back office before I'd finished my query at the desk. It's almost as if they're only trained to deal with ONE query at a time and can't handle it if you ask TWO questions or more. There is no eye contact and the general body language says "Hurry up and go away." That tells me they're not actually suited to that kind of work. I'm certainly not interested in having a long chat with the receptionist, but if I'm asking a couple of questions I certainly expect them to have the attention span to be able to deal with it.