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Could receptionists put people off seeing their GP?

Moderator Renata

Hello everyone,

As you may have seen in the news last week many  people are putting off seeing their GP due to feeling uncomfortable with talking through symptoms with their doctors’ receptionists while a lot of others say they're “finding it difficult to get an appointment with a particular doctor”, you can read about the story on this CRUK press release.

This got me thinking, what aspects could be improved when trying to book an appointment to see your doctor?

  • Offline in reply to davek
    Hi Dave I'm so sorry about your cancer. Keep smiling and live life to the fullest. There's no cure now for me but I'm waiting to see if I can be accepted for radiotherapy treatment. If I had been sent for tests originally I would have had a chance of getting better. My anger is still with my GPs no matter what excuse that they come up with. Rules need to be changed. My main concern is my son, who is 9 years old. He knows that I'm ill but the extent of it is that he doesn't know if I'll live through it or not. Debbie
  • Offline in reply to Debbie123

    No worries, sorry about yours too :-)

  • Offline

    Hello.I cant even see my GP.I have to fill out and online form and if I am lucky the GP will call me after 2 days.Its disquisting. My question is what are the GPs doing then all day in the office?

    I have stage 4 cancer and  I dont have a pimple on my nose or broken toenail.

    Sorry.but NHS services going downhill now we have the virus and soon we will have the winter flu and winter bug.Then what?If I fall and break my leg should I stay at home and fix it by myself?Its a disgrace.

    Denise

  • Offline in reply to Ronnie17

    I agree,I only think people should have to give confidential information to a medical professional. On the other hand it also puts an inappropriate level of responsability on someone who is there simply for clerical work,which is unfair on them. If I was a man I dont think I would be happy telling a 20 year old lady about a lump on my testicle for example. Its not so bad for women,but all our receptionists are female. Also in a small town everybody knows each other! I was tempted to describe my symptoms in purely latin medical terms to wind her up,but really though its frustrating its a decision made further up the ladder. 

  • Offline in reply to davek

    But why should receptionists have this inappropriate level of responsability placed on them,making potentially life changing decisions without the knowledge required in the first place?

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