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  • The receptionists are making me want to change doctors...

    There are a few TMI things here, nothing gross, but just a bit...you know...personal...



    I've been at my current GP practice for about 10 years. I used to be reasonably happy with it, and I'm still reasonably happy with the GPs at the practice (the practice is just one suit in the large [town-name] Health Centre, I used to go to the dentist there too, but I'm private now instead of NHS). But I'm getting so fed up with how rude, unhelpful and just sometimes damn screwy the receptionists are that I'm considering trying to find another practice altogether.

    There are 3 doctors, one man and 2 women. I prefer either the man or one of the ladies, who is my usual GP, because the other one is a bit rude (I went one time to have my clicky hip examined, I told her it felt like it was popping out during sex with my boyfriend, and she didn't examine it properly but said my boyfriend must be too fat -_- *). I would rather stick with my usual female GP because she understands my phobias and that I have vaginismus, and I'm due for my first cervical screening this year, so I'd rather have her be responsible for that.

    I may have mentioned it before, but I've had a couple of ear infections over the last couple of years, and I seem to find getting a doctors appointment ridiculously hard. When I get an infection nothing short of cocodomol (codine and paracetomol combined) will do, so its not something that can wait. Now, for many of my previous visits to the doctor it was nothing big...a BP check up for my BC, examination of a clicky hip. All were things that never needed to be seen immediately, and I didn't mind waiting a week to see a GP.

    But as you can imagine, when you have a raging infection of some sort, in tears from pain and needing the strongest over-the-counter painkiller, you NEED to get in for some antibiotics ASAP.

    But at least one of the receptionists, maybe more (I seem to always get the same one) is SO rude and horrible, and she NEVER gives you a same day appointment, or even a next-day appointment, like I've begged in the past. She talks to you like dirt, honest to god. She acts like you are somehow inconveniencing her, even if you're sobbing and trying to choke back tears because YOU'RE IN F*CKING AGONY. She always gets snippy and rude.

    The same thing has happened to me and my mother- we tried calling for an appointment and told "nope, call back at 8:30 am tomorrow". Which we did in both cases, only to be told by the same bitch receptionist "NO, you call back after 12!"

    I once told her that I feared I had been suffering from German Measles (as my mum had developed a suspiciously similar rash a week and a half after me) and that while I'd had MMR as a child and that the rash lasted 3 weeks rather than 3 days, I was worried because I had been in contact with pregnant women at work. She just poo-pooed me, and talked to me like a trouble-maker who was making things up and was so rude.

    Basically, it is really fucking hard to get a timely appointment. If you want one a week away, its usually fine, but anything urgent, you're asking waaaay too much apparently.

    My mother's treatment, for me, has been the final straw. A few weeks back, she had a crippling pain in her lower abdomen, and the same receptionist refused to give her an appointment. I found my mum, shaking in the supermarket, partly with rage and partly with pain (she was using the trolley to keep walking). In fact, this was the case I mentioned where she called back at 8:30 only to be told by the bitch to call back later. I was hugely worried because I thought it sounded like a burst appendix. We were considering going to A&E.

    Well, a few days later, she finally DID get to see our GP, and called me to come get her, because she was almost passing out from the pain (the examination had been painful). I found her stumbling home, in tears (my mum does NOT cry). I let her lean on me and got her home, got her drugged up and put her to bed.

    We've since found out what the problem was- its a 12 and half centimetre long uterine fibroid. She's a tiny lady, and the GP said her womb is the size of a 3-month pregnancy. There was some concern at some point that it was a burst ovarian cyst, or even the...other...c...word...but its a fibroid, which maybe damn nasty, but at least its relatively simple to treat. But it made me even more furious about the fact the receptionist hadn't helped her out at all...it was obviously serious.

    Yesterday, my mum asked me to take a signed note into the practice, to be given to our GP, requesting a repeat prescription of the painkillers she was given. Depending on what my mum needs to do at work, she could be bending down more so she was worried about running out.

    I think I finally got to meet Bitch Receptionist face-to-face. It sounded like her. She wasn't rude, but seemed rather unconcerned, and unimpressed by my appearance (goth), and told me that their computers were down so nothing will be done for a week at least.

    When I told mum this, she was speaking to a chemist who told her that her pharmacy ought to have been told about this, but hadn't. So who knows what the truth is?

    I want to stick with our usual GP, as she's pretty decent (and waaaaay better than the fucktards we put up with for years before we transferred to this practice), but the receptionist is awful! I'm not sure who I can complain to either, especially without a name.

    The upside is that I was selected for an anonymous NHS survey, and in it I got to totally rip the shit out of the practice. I got to give a pretty damning verdict on the receptionists, and the shitty "therapy" I recieved last year for my anxiety. Hopefully something will come of that....

    Edit- forgot to mention, a friend of mine on Facebook said she's at the same place and couldn't get an appointment for 2 weeks!!!

    (Oh and not as much suck, as I know this isn't the practice, but rather annoying- I recieved "that letter" this week. You're not supposed to get "that letter" until you turn 25, which for me is over 2 months away. I'm not going to ignore it; all my phobias and my vaginismus aside, my mother's illness is enough for me to realise I can't ignore it, but I'm going to pretend this letter doesn't even exist until the end of May ).


    (*Maybe I should have said he was XD sorry, couldn't resist!)
    Last edited by Little Retail Rabbit; 03-25-2012, 01:33 AM.

  • #2
    Since I'm not overly familiar of the UK healthcare system, I won't get into that, but I've fired doctors in the past for poor office staff and if you can find another practice, I would kiss that place goodbye and tell your awesome docs why. I certainly wouldn't have tolerated that kind of treatment for that long. Good luck!!

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    • #3
      The last practice where my doctor was, if we had a problem with the staff we brought it up to them. The docs are the ones who were involved in the hiring and firing, plus they want to know what kind of image/first impression people get.

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      • #4
        DEFINITELY tell your Doctors- they need to know when their receptionists are alienating and causing patients to experience this kind of treatment!
        The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away.

        Comment


        • #5
          Wow. My doctor's nurse is awesome. When I call back I say my name and expect her to have to think to remember me (so many patients), but she always says, "Oh, yes," and goes right into it. I'm sorry you don't get treated like a person. If you like the doctors, don't leave right away. Ask the doctor next time you see him/her who to speak to that is in a supervisory relationship to this receptionist, and could you please speak to that person. Mention why, to a degree--that you're dissatisfied--but not all the gory detail. That's for cranky receptionist's boss.
          "Is it hot in here to you? It's very warm, isn't it?"--Nero, probably

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          • #6
            Food Lady, thats probably the best way to go about it. Not sure otherwise who to speak to, as the doctors themselves (as far as I know) are not that receptionists' bosses, like in American practices. We've never had very good luck with practices, the doctors at our last were crap, but these doctors are actually ok, if we ever get a chance to see them! I don't want to leave now right before my first smear when I have these problems...in all honesty the only reason why I'm steeling myself to actually do it and not ignore the letter is because of my mum's illness. But I absolutely cannot steel myself to do it for a strange doctor I don't know.

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            • #7
              Write a letter. Now. Address it to your doctors, the two you like or to all three. I would address it to all three. I would also consider sending it to their homes if you have their addresses, by registered mail or whatever the UK equivalent is.

              Tell the exactly what you've said here. Explain that you've had wonderful care from them, but that the office staff is so compromising the quality of care that it's endangering your and your family's health and you feel you have no choice but to go elsewhere if you encounter such problems again.

              If you send the letters to the office mark them "personal" so the office staff does not open them and make them disappear.

              My two cents. *shrug*
              Women can do anything men can.
              But we don't because lots of it's disgusting.
              Maxine

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              • #8
                Try starting here if you would like to complain NHS Complaints Page
                Final Fantasy XIV - Acorna Starfall - Ragnarok (EU Legacy)

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                • #9
                  I echo the comments about mentioning this to your doctors or their nurses.

                  When I went for my 6 month post op checkup after my back surgery, I was running late thanks to the stupid bus system where I lived. But I called and let them know I was on my way, and whoever I talked to said it was ok.

                  When I got there, however, the girl at the desk was annoyed with me because I had to update some paperwork and said "Let me check, you'll probably have to reschedule."

                  They did take me back for my appointment, and I mentioned what the desk girl had said to my doctor's nurse. She apologized and said several people had been running late, so maybe that's why she got cranky. At this point I also realized I hadn't paid my co-pay yet, so she said I could do it when I left.

                  Afterward when I went back to the desk and said "I still need to pay my co-pay" the girl who'd been short with me said "Oh no, you're set. You have a nice day."

                  I'm 99 percent certain the nurse told her to waive my co-pay.
                  "If you pray very hard, you can become a cat person." -Angela, "The Office"

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                  • #10
                    Quoth DeltaSierra View Post
                    DEFINITELY tell your Doctors- they need to know when their receptionists are alienating and causing patients to experience this kind of treatment!
                    Totally second this, and anyone else that also worded it far better than me. It's possible (hell, probable) that they're losing other patients the same way, and don't know why. Receptionists they can replace - customers, not so easily.
                    Ne auderis delere orbem rigidum meum! - Don't you dare erase my hard disk!

                    This is Tech Support, not Customer Service.
                    What's the difference?
                    We're allowed to tell you "no".

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Thank you Bardmaiden! I will do that!

                      Sorry to everyone else, not ignoring anyone, but NHS surgeries don't run like American ones, the doctors don't actually employ the receptionists themselves.

                      In other news, mum sees the consultant next week to decide what will happen to "Bob" XD

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                      • #12
                        I feel your pain!

                        My doctor's RN handles all of the bookings and takes the calls.

                        I cannot stand the woman.

                        That's one of the reasons I go so long between visits.

                        He actually has 2 RN's, but one is only part time. Now that nurse is great! If I could be sure I got her whenever I call or go in, I would certainly go a lot more often than I do, and not ignore health issues because of the hassle of dealing with this other nurse.

                        She is very loud, and there have been times where I have been in the waiting room and have been able to hear her on the phone talking to other patients, or other doctors or clinics regarding a patient.
                        She discusses a lot of personal stuff and it's really not appropriate that people can overhear things like that.

                        When I do go for my appointment, she comes in to do all the initial workup with blood pressure and chart notations.
                        She doesn't even close the damn door!

                        I'm sorry, but there is someone sitting in the office right beside us, and their door is also open.
                        My health problems are none of their business. Not only that, but sometimes, if I am wearing a shirt with close fitting sleeves that I can't roll up to have my BP taken, I have to partially remove my shirt, and I sure as hell don't want anyone going by in the hallway, or the other office to get a view.

                        On one visit, it came up that I didn't have my driver's license. On every visit after that, she would ask if I ever got my license, and then proceed to nag me about it when I would tell her I didn't have it.

                        I do have high blood pressure normally, but I swear, having to deal with this nurse raises it several points higher than it actually is.

                        A couple of times, my doctor has asked me what's going on in my life that's raising my pressure. I always feel like telling him that it was dealing with her that caused it!

                        I know I should speak up, but I do know other people have complained to my doctor about her, and the woman is still there after close to 20 years.

                        The real kicker was my first visit to the doctor a week after my husband died. I needed a doctor's note to take stress leave. She did say that she was sorry for my loss, but then followed it up with, "Isn't it a shame you never did get your driver's license?"

                        On another followup visit a week later, I got the other nurse. The first thing she did was give me a big hug and tell me how sorry she was for my loss, and from there, she was nothing but professional.

                        It's easy for me to tell you to speak up, but I don't have the guts to do it for myself.

                        I can't change doctors, because there is a shortage in my area, and nobody is taking new patients.
                        Too tired of living and too tired to end it. What a conundrum.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Quoth Little Retail Rabbit View Post
                          Thank you Bardmaiden! I will do that!

                          Sorry to everyone else, not ignoring anyone, but NHS surgeries don't run like American ones, the doctors don't actually employ the receptionists themselves.

                          In other news, mum sees the consultant next week to decide what will happen to "Bob" XD
                          Your welcome, having dealt with the NHS in some form or other (family or myself) for most of my 34 years I can find info pretty quick
                          Final Fantasy XIV - Acorna Starfall - Ragnarok (EU Legacy)

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            It's the Practice Manager you want to talk to - GP's are essentially self employed and aren't going to be able to change anything about the reception staff.
                            If this doesn't help then you want to go above them to your local PCT (this is where you would want to send a formal complaint too if the practice can't handle it effectively themselves).

                            Practices have targets to meet around availability of same day appointments, availability of being able to speak to a doctor on the phone etc (although unfortunately not a target that their receptionists have to be friendly!!) and the PCT want practices to meet these targets to avoid costs of fed up patients going to A+E instead. They will be able to either work with the practice to change their processes or help you find a new practice that meets your needs eg has a female doctor with experience dealing with nervous patients, or give you details of walk-in GP practices in your area.

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