The gatekeeper should be the doctor if the patient can't do it n themselves. By that I mean patients should realise what is urgent and make an appointment accordingly.Ā If they can't,Ā most will,Ā then I do not think the receptionist is the person to take over. Unfortunately that means that occasionally a patient with non-urgent issues get an urgent appointment. I that case I believe the doctor or nurse practitioner that they get through to then educates them on what urgent means. The filter should be us as the patient because the receptionist is unlikely to be medically trained any more than we are. I know a registered nurse with operating theatre training was filtered by a 5 GCSEs qualified receptionist. Well,Ā there was an attempt at least.Ā
Given that some will arrive at an A&E department with a non emergency issue, why would any GP practice receptionist assume that the person calling them for an urgent appointment is actually correct in their assumption ? Without being over intrusive, a couple of questions would surely not be amiss in order to prioritise. I doubt many turn up at their GP without having first made their appointment - particularly these days - so any queries would surely have taken place in the privacy of your own home when contacting the surgery by phone ? I agree that someone bawling out " Can Jo / Joan Bloggs go to Room No. 3 to discuss your STD problem " within hearing of a crowded waiting room isn't quite the thing but I can't imagine that happening in reality.
The problem could be that you might be giving medical details by phone in the privacy of your own home, the person on the other end might be repeating them out loud from behind a desk in the waiting room! Problems like that shouldnāt happen if the practice carries out proper risk assessments, and should be further checked when the practice has its CQC inspections. We use a medium sized group practice, and the staff in reception arenāt involved in taking phone calls. These are dealt with by other staff in offices inaccessible to the public, and well out of earshot. I do remember in my first job overhearing the nurse, who had been sent to the waiting room to collect the next patient, saying in a very kindly and welcoming tone, āCome on through, Mrs X, and weāll fit your lovely new dentures!ā Luckily Mrs X was gracious enough to accept a sincere apology, and the mortified nurse had learnt a valuable lesson. That was 46 years ago, today Iām sure Iād have been sued!
The problem could be that you might be giving medical details by phone in the privacy of your own home, the person on the other end might be repeating them out loud from behind a desk in the waiting room! Problems like that shouldnāt happen if the practice carries out proper risk assessments, and should be further checked when the practice has its CQC inspections.
That could happen anywhere under any circumstances when someone is answering a phone call - your bank, insurance, council, solicitor etc.Ā unless every person answering your query is in a soundproof room. Even if your name was mentioned at some point in the conversation who, sitting in a GP waiting room with their own problem, is going to take in what is being said over the phone and connect it to someone they know and subsequently use the knowledge they have gleaned ( if any ) for some nefarious purpose? Yes of course, privacy is important but people are more than happy these days to spell out their medical problems ( along with many other issues they are facing ) on Social Media where there are far more "strange" people who can pick up and put 2 and 2 together than the average GP patient.
I imagine pressure from docs wanting them to filter out the time wasters creates a bit of a feedback loop with some people, trying to be efficient and becoming officious. It can be a fine line. I remember my SIL telling me that many years ago she went to the surgery to get a prescription for high factor sunscreen. The receptionist asked if she could prove she has red hair. She said 'yes, but I'm not going to do it here in the waiting room'.Ā
And the docs don't have time to write up notes between patients, so they have little option but to be typing while you're talking.Ā
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
āIt's still magic even if you know how it's done.āĀ
I think you would be very surprised to hear some of the reasons given for seeing the doctors. Very often patients donāt realise that booking blood tests or requesting repeat prescriptions isnāt a reason. Phones are answered in a back office not on the counter and receptionists never in my experience say anything to patients when they book in.Ā
@NorthernJoe are you honestly suggesting that a GP already very busy should sit in an office answering phone calls from patients wanting appointments?Ā
Philippa, I was responding to an actual incident that Northernjoe had reported.
My experience of waiting rooms is that people are often sitting for ages, getting bored and with little to do. Listening to whatās going on at reception is often the only distraction, apart from the usual out of date magazines!Ā
The only Mrs Bloggs in the village isnāt going to be at all pleased to find that the receptionist has addressed her by name on the phone, and then confirmed that she wanted an appointment for āembarrassing complaintā, within hearing of a waiting room full of her neighbours and acquaintances. Iād certainly count providing fuel for gossip, and breach of confidentiality, as completely unacceptable.Ā
A very different situation from the even more common one, of āMrs Bloggsā finding a friend in the waiting room, and proceeding to list all her symptoms and her reason for attending, in front of the rest of the increasingly queasy feeling patients!
My GP here does appointments via the internet.Ā Ā 2 to 3 week delay.Ā Ā I have no idea if emergencies can be slotted in quickly after a phone call as I have yet to have such an emergency here.Ā So far I have non urgent annual maintenance appointments and I always take my Kindle or a gardening magazine, just in case there are delays.
In Belgium it was a multi GP practice so if one was absent for maternity leave or emergencies requiring home visits.Ā All records computerised so no probs not knowing which way was up with my various oddities.
I have never had to say why IĀ want to see the doc.
I think you would be very surprised to hear some of the reasons given for seeing the doctors. Very often patients donāt realise that booking blood tests or requesting repeat prescriptions isnāt a reason. Phones are answered in a back office not on the counter and receptionists never in my experience say anything to patients when they book in.Ā
@NorthernJoe are you honestly suggesting that a GP already very busy should sit in an office answering phone calls from patients wanting appointments?Ā
Where did I say anything about GPs answering the phone? I just said that appointment screening should not be done by receptionist in a public spot. Indeed at all.Ā
All the surgeries near me have receptions in corridors or waiting rooms or lobbies where there's no privacy. They also answer phonecalls from patients. I've heard results of tests given,Ā I've heard reasons for appointments and I've heard jumped up receptionist bullying a patient over the phone. It's possibly why I do not like the idea of a receptionist vetting the reasons for an appointment.Ā
My view is the urgency decision is down to the patient not a non medically trained admin clerk. If the patient makes that decision and they're wrong about the urgency they get a doctors appointment earlier than they should but that's better than the receptionist filtering out someone who should have had an urgent appointment. Whatever the case the doctor is really the only one truly qualified to diagnose and determine urgency with any degree of confidence. They're too busy and useful to make appointments obviously so screening needs to be the patient's job.
Look if you have relatives doing the receptionist role and call screening you probably don't see them as doing things wrong . In their practise things are probably set up right but that's not the case everywhere. All the small practise I've used receptions are in public places and calls are potentially taken within earshot of members of the general public. In some surgeries reception is in the open plan waiting area. IME giving your medical information over the phone to a receptionist is potentially like having your appointment with the door open.
Before I moved I used to bump into the practise receptionist in the area. A very nice lady who asked me once that question then never again. In my son's practise there's a receptionist who's not nice,Ā not discrete and not a people person. Potentially people are vulnerable when they're making an appointment and I do not think receptionist is trained for screening role.
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I doubt many turn up at their GP without having first made their appointment - particularly these days - so any queries would surely have taken place in the privacy of your own home when contacting the surgery by phone ?
I agree that someone bawling out " Can Jo / Joan Bloggs go to Room No. 3 to discuss your STD problem " within hearing of a crowded waiting room isn't quite the thing but I can't imagine that happening in reality.
Problems like that shouldnāt happen if the practice carries out proper risk assessments, and should be further checked when the practice has its CQC inspections.
We use a medium sized group practice, and the staff in reception arenāt involved in taking phone calls. These are dealt with by other staff in offices inaccessible to the public, and well out of earshot.
I do remember in my first job overhearing the nurse, who had been sent to the waiting room to collect the next patient, saying in a very kindly and welcoming tone, āCome on through, Mrs X, and weāll fit your lovely new dentures!ā Luckily Mrs X was gracious enough to accept a sincere apology, and the mortified nurse had learnt a valuable lesson. That was 46 years ago, today Iām sure Iād have been sued!
Even if your name was mentioned at some point in the conversation who, sitting in a GP waiting room with their own problem, is going to take in what is being said over the phone and connect it to someone they know and subsequently use the knowledge they have gleaned ( if any ) for some nefarious purpose?
Yes of course, privacy is important but people are more than happy these days to spell out their medical problems ( along with many other issues they are facing ) on Social Media where there are far more "strange" people who can pick up and put 2 and 2 together than the average GP patient.
And the docs don't have time to write up notes between patients, so they have little option but to be typing while you're talking.Ā
āIt's still magic even if you know how it's done.āĀ
My experience of waiting rooms is that people are often sitting for ages, getting bored and with little to do. Listening to whatās going on at reception is often the only distraction, apart from the usual out of date magazines!Ā
The only Mrs Bloggs in the village isnāt going to be at all pleased to find that the receptionist has addressed her by name on the phone, and then confirmed that she wanted an appointment for āembarrassing complaintā, within hearing of a waiting room full of her neighbours and acquaintances. Iād certainly count providing fuel for gossip, and breach of confidentiality, as completely unacceptable.Ā
A very different situation from the even more common one, of āMrs Bloggsā finding a friend in the waiting room, and proceeding to list all her symptoms and her reason for attending, in front of the rest of the increasingly queasy feeling patients!
In Belgium it was a multi GP practice so if one was absent for maternity leave or emergencies requiring home visits.Ā All records computerised so no probs not knowing which way was up with my various oddities.
I have never had to say why IĀ want to see the doc.
All the surgeries near me have receptions in corridors or waiting rooms or lobbies where there's no privacy. They also answer phonecalls from patients. I've heard results of tests given,Ā I've heard reasons for appointments and I've heard jumped up receptionist bullying a patient over the phone. It's possibly why I do not like the idea of a receptionist vetting the reasons for an appointment.Ā
My view is the urgency decision is down to the patient not a non medically trained admin clerk. If the patient makes that decision and they're wrong about the urgency they get a doctors appointment earlier than they should but that's better than the receptionist filtering out someone who should have had an urgent appointment. Whatever the case the doctor is really the only one truly qualified to diagnose and determine urgency with any degree of confidence. They're too busy and useful to make appointments obviously so screening needs to be the patient's job.
Look if you have relatives doing the receptionist role and call screening you probably don't see them as doing things wrong . In their practise things are probably set up right but that's not the case everywhere. All the small practise I've used receptions are in public places and calls are potentially taken within earshot of members of the general public. In some surgeries reception is in the open plan waiting area. IME giving your medical information over the phone to a receptionist is potentially like having your appointment with the door open.