Doctors appointments

One of my immediate neighbours answers the phone at our surgery. I would not like to tell her if I had an embarrassing problem.
I think the information could be requested but that it should not be compulsory to give it.

Perhaps I am naïve but I was under the impression that the information would be available to any official member of staff. They would sort and file records, have access to the computer records (that's how are doctors communicate at our surgery - hence when I go in for a blood test the nurse just calls up the info on the screen, as does the dispenser and receptionist when they have had to contact me about repeat tests etc.)
Thus if you gave a bit more information as to the reason for your appointment would that not just help them? Not sure you'd have to go into huge detail - I find the word 'gynaecological' in hushed tones stops most enquiries - and results in an appointment with the specialist GP!

What annoys me is that they say that failure to give the info may result in a delay in your treatment. I think that is very wrong. They may be at liberty to request you provide them with a reason, but they can never be within their rights,surely, to suggest your treatment could be delayed.
I transferred to this surgery a few months ago after being with my previous one for many years (it moved several miles away) and I never heard of this all the years I was with them.

Hilda W - I just don't like the 'your treatment may be delayed ' suggestion.
A receptionist is not medically trained to the degree that she can make,that decision.

I would not really want to give information to a receptionist if I felt s/he would use that to decide whether or not my health issue "deserved" an appointment.
I really would not like to leave a message on an answerphone though. At our surgery the receptionist will often suggest that you could get the triage nurse to ring you back to discuss whatever.

There may perhaps be an element of perception depending on ones state of mind. If I was feeling particularly down (not at all unknown) a 'it may delay your treatment' could sound like a threat - on another day its just about being helpful. The acid test would be when something really worries you and yet they do not offer you a prompt appointment - then I'd start to worry and probably report to A & E!

If there are only a few appoinments available it is important to make sure that someone needing to see a doctor urgently isn't being told to come back another day when another patient is getting an appointment to have, say, an ingrowing toenail looked at. Any breach of confidentiality by reception staff results in instant dismissal. If it's a dispensing practice the staff will be aware of patients medication and medical history. However, it is within a patients rights to state that, in their opinion their condition is a medical emergency and they need to see a doctor asap. If there's anything in your medical history that you prefer people not to know you can request for it to be made confidential, in which case only the GP will be able to access it.

Interesting, Tegan. How are we supposed to know that information can be requested to be kept confidential? Where is it supposed to tell us?

I always ask for a non-urgent appointment when I ring if that's all I need. The receptionists seem to find that sufficient. On one occasion, in the early afternoon, I rang asking for a fairly urgent appointment for my daughter. GP saw her the same afternoon.

When we book a telephone appointment, the receptionist usually asks what it's about. You can fudge it with something like "it's about my medication" (actually, it often is) if you don't want to be more specific.

It doesn't sound right to me. Vaguely bossy and threatening. GP practices are trying out all sorts of ideas to increase efficiency and appropriate use of appts. Maybe this is a trial? Alternatively you can complain. This stuff about breaches of confidentiality always sounds like wishful thinking. If you have to tell your next door neighbour,a non medically trained receptionist, personal info that's a bridge too far for me. Tell the GP that -not the practice manager.

You don't have to give detailed information. And, as has been said there are a lot of alternatives to seeing a doctor; triage with the practice nurse; tel appt with the doctor.In some cases the patient is told to phone an ambulance immediately. Doctors time has to be taken up with seeing and talking to patients, not deciding who needs to be seen.Mind you, I am out of touch these days; not sure how online booking works, for example. Things have moved on since I was working.

As I can ring up for the results of blood tests and am given this information by a receptionist, I see no problem in giving a sketchy answer if she asks why I want to see a doctor. However, in our case, she will get a triage nurse or doctor to call me back to decide on the urgency of the case.

In our surgery the receptionist is required by the Doctors to ask why the patient needs an appointment. It is not the receptionist who decides who the patient sees it is the Doctors and Nurses. If the patient says they have a sore throat then that is something the minor illness nusrse can deal with. If the patient says they have a bad pain in their stomach then they may well see the Doctor.

There is a lot of press regarding the strain the GP practices are under and it is true. The information given when booking an appointment can help the clinical staff decide the most efficient way of dealing with patients who need to be seen.

As someone who has been on both sides of the receptionist desk I can assure you I never had the inclination or desire to know about the health of my neighbours or friends, quite the opposite in fact. I doubt if the receptionists at your surgery have the time to even think about your problems in relation to you as a person. When you have spent the morning trying to find appointments or a solution for over 100 people you are unlikely to remember who was seeing who and what for.

Receptionist have the 'dragon' status perhaps rightly so in some cases but those I have worked with (30+) care about people and will do their best to help. If they appear difficult and unhelpful it is more likely that they are struggling with a very small number of available appointment and a huge number of people to try and help. Our surgery offers hundreds of appointments a week more than they did 10 years ago but it is still not enough. The GPs are leaving in droves as they cannot cope with the stress and and they cannot recruit more staff because no one wants to work a GP anymore as the pressure is too great. Our surgery is open Saturday's and two nights a week - over 25% of the patients who have an appointment in these extra hours do not turn up!

I always book on line where you are asked for a reason for the app but you don't have to complete it.

I always book online because it's quicker and I am scared of some of the receptionists

I can't imagine you being scared of anyone, GrannyTwice!

Ana - you haven't met two of the receptionists!

As with a lot of things it's always a good idea to ask for the name of whoever you speak to. especially if you think they're being unhelpful or unpleasant. I nearly got into trouble once when I worked with a receptionist that was being particularly horrid to someone; thankfully the staff knew that there were two people on duty that day and they knew me well enough to know it wasn't me. Patients imo never complained enough to the practice manager if they felt they'd been badly treated. And only two patients ever told a doctor how helpful I'd been, even though they thanked me personally.

My main point - I think - when I started this thread was this: Are receptionists (acting on doctors instructions ) really within their rights to suggest that a patient's treatment 'may be delayed' if they do not divulge the reason they have requested an appointment.

It's unacceptable - follow Tegan's advice and complain to the Practice Manager.

I think it's more a case of treatment perhaps being delayed if you have something that would have been deemed urgent had you disclosed it, but has been deemed not urgent because you haven't disclosed it, if that makes sense. I would have no problem at all telling the receptionist what my problem was. They have a responsible job bound by rules of confidentiality and are there to ensure the appointment system runs efficiently.

I wish my surgery had this policy. When I rang for an appointment recently I was just given the next available, 12 days hence . It wasn't urgent and if it had been I'd certainly have insisted on being seen earlier. A less bolshie confident patient might have just accepted it even if they needed urgent attention, and suffered for it.

I agree with Maggiemaybe. It's not a case of delaying treatment. More likely to be.....if it is really urgent we'll try and squeeze you in sooner. Or perhaps a few appointments are held over daily for urgent appointments.

It is not the receptionist who decides who the patient sees it is the Doctors and Nurses. If the patient says they have a sore throat then that is something the minor illness nusrse can deal with. If the patient says they have a bad pain in their stomach then they may well see the Doctor.

But it is the receptionist you are talking to - in my experience they don't then turn to someone who is medically qualified to get guidance about who to make the appointment with. They make the appointment. So surely it is they who are making that judgement call?

I get where louisamay is coming from.
I will tell my story again. I had been seen by a doctor who said that the wart thing on my face would have to be paid for privately if I wanted it removed. And I was to come back again to find out prices and times etc. After 3 months, I decided to go down this route.
If I had had to speak to a receptionist first, maybe I would have been seen by a nurse at some point, and got an appointment for removal at some point? Or even had it removed by a nurse?

Instead what happened was that I was seen by a second doctor, who was so concerned that I might have localised secondary cancer, that I was urged to follow up my consultant appointment, if the apointment had not come though in 3 working days.
I was seen by a consultant and had it removed, all within two weeks of the second doctor's appointment. The sample was sent to the lab, and all was ok.

A patient often has trouble telling a doctor symptoms, let alone a receptionist. And a patient and receptionist cannot diagnose well as regards urgency. Even doctors themselves can get that wrong on occasion.