Despots of the GPs’ surgeries (cont.)
Of course, many of them are magnificent. But when we asked for YOUR experiences of the haughty receptionists putting patients’ lives at risk, the stories – like tragic Lucie’s – flooded in . . .
one look at Lilly and phoned the hospital to say she needed a bed. She was kept in overnight and treated with anti-viral medication to get the infection under control.
‘I do think some receptionists have a habit of playing doctor. This woman was trying to sound like she knew what she was talking about — but with no qualifications to do so.’
But while there can never be any excuse for rudeness, however busy the surgery might be, could it be that doctors — and patients — must also shoulder some of the responsibility?
In one study, GPs said a quarter of their day is taken up by seeing people they don’t need to see.
All too often, the decisions about who needs an appointment are left in receptionists’ hands, according to the survey of 1,200 GPs. It found that one in eight practices were letting front desk staff decide who would get seen by a doctor or nurse. Yet this is far from an easy job. While many of us might assume that ‘making patients feel like a nuisance’ must be in the job description for GP receptionists, Dr Jenna Ward, senior lecturer in organisational studies at York University, says they are often trying to protect themselves from emotional burn-out.
Most receptionists are paid little more than £8-£10 an hour, and often the only training they get is how to use the computer system.
‘GP receptionists sit on the frontline of the NHS so are constantly faced with a variety of emotions from patients,’ she says.
‘One moment, you could get a new mum coming to the desk to register the birth of a baby, the next a woman telling you that their husband has died.
‘In any other service industry, such as retail, staff mirror the emotions of their customers. But if receptionists mirrored patients, it would be like a roller-coaster. Instead, they try to stay emotionally neutral, which can be interpreted as uncaring.’
Yet even with strained resources, it seems the NHS is finally waking up to the fact that training receptionists may save money further down the line, given that conditions can get more serious if they are not addressed early and that many patients end up in A&E instead.
Last year, more than 800 GP receptionists in Bradford, West Yorkshire, were sent on a course to improve their body language, facial expressions and telephone manner, as well as understanding patient anger, as part of a trial that may be rolled out nationally.
It also seems that some basic medical training would not go amiss, as receptionists are not even required to know First Aid.
According to the Stroke Association, a short course in how to spot the warning signs of stroke could save up to 3,000 lives a year and prevent many people suffering severe, lasting damage.
A recent survey by the charity found that only 27 per cent of GP receptionists could name the key symptoms of a stroke.
For Kate Stewart, who had to battle for her mother to see a GP following her stroke, a little human kindness would also go a long way.
While she has nothing but praise for her mother’s doctors, she believes some more understanding from front-line staff would have made the inevitable stresses of her mother’s stroke more bearable.
‘What worries me is what happens to other vulnerable people who don’t have an advocate and who can’t argue to get medical care. My mother had me to fight for her — but some people have no one.
‘The receptionist saw me crying to try to get a message to the doctor. A little kindness would go a long way, even if they are under pressure.’
Now that her mother has finally had GP follow-up care, she says her condition has improved substantially. Her stress levels have also gone down, helping to ease the sideeffects, such as severe nausea.
Kate says: ‘Even if resources are stretched, it would be nice to feel that receptionists were at least on your side, rather than an obstacle to get round — as I found that day.’
And while the good news is that the NHS is waking up to the need to present a more pleasant public face, the fact that there is much work to be done is summed up by this quip doing the rounds on the internet:
‘It takes seven years to produce a doctor, but seven seconds for a GP receptionist to think she is one.’