"Behaviour from senior member of staff"

I feel the behaviour I recently encountered from a senior member of staff at my GP surgery crossed all boundaries of disrespect and displayed a level of unprofessional behaviour I have not yet encountered.

I visited the practice to submit a form for the GP to sign so that I can access private health care. It is a questionnaire. The GP has 2 pages to complete.

I handed the form in, was told that there was a £75 fee to pay that had to be cash as they could not take card.

I went out to the cashpoint and got the cash.

Came back, handed the cash over and said to the members of staff on reception that I would like to take a photo of the two of them who were dealing with the paperwork, because of a previous experience of paperwork being lost and nobody having any record of me handing it in.

I took the photo on my phone. 

The member of staff on reception said they weren't sure I should have taken a photo of them, so I said I would delete it, and I did immediately.

I then started to explain why I felt the need to have some sort of evidence of leaving the paperwork in.

I asked the staff on reception if they could please write their names on the money receipt so that I would know who I had dealt with, if I found myself in a situation (again) where there was no record of me handing the paperwork in. The staff were clearly rattled by this and were saying that their names were on the form. I couldn't see the form properly and could only see their signatures - from which their names were not clear.

A senior member of staff appeared behind the receptionist, introduced theirself and asked what was going on. 

A member of staff on reception told them that I had taken a photograph of them. They asked me why- but did not stop to listen to my answer.

I cannot even remember the detail of the conversation after that, but suffice to say that they were aggressive, defensive and the manner in which they spoke and the content was a disgraceful way for any member of the NHS - or indeed for any person- to speak to another person.

After they calmed down, I was able to communicate the reason why I was so concerned about there being no record of me leaving the paperwork in:

Last year I left a request in for a printout of my medical history and was told I had to collect it in person from the surgery- it could not be posted out. 

So I went to the surgery after the advised time, and was told there was nothing for me to collect and there was no record of me ever requesting any paperwork.

So I had to go away, print off the request a second time, take it to the surgery, wait the allotted 28 days, return to the surgery to collect it by hand- only to be told again they had no record of me ever requesting anything, and there was no paperwork for me to collect.

A few months later, I was in collecting a prescription and the member of staff dealing with me said that they had seen letters for me lying there for months. They then gave me two envelopes, each contained the printout of my medical history, as requested by the letters I mentioned above.

The paperwork I was leaving in this time is more urgent because I need to see a specialist - hence the need to avail of private medicine and the need for the GP to complete and sign the health insurance questionnaire.  I cannot risk waiting the 28 days they will take to complete the two questions, only to be (possibly) told that they did not receive it, or have no record of me requesting it, if I have a repeat of what happened to me last year.

I explained that to the senior member of staff.

They just looked at me.

They did not apologise, or reassure that they would look into that to ensure that the process now works, or that they would make sure this gets through the system. They simply said something along the lines of - well we like to know about these issues when they arise. So I said- that is why I am telling you. And that was that.

No apology, no reassurance.

No sign of any understanding that they are there to serve the public.

No sign of any understanding that they are dealing with people who are unwell.

I accept that I should not have taken the photograph, but I apologised and deleted it.

The staff assured me that everything is logged on the computer- but that is not the experience I had within the past year, so how can I have faith that their system works without my own evidence that I have handed the paperwork in?

Irrespective of what I did, the tone and attitude the senior member of staff used were disgraceful and not fitting for anyone in a public-facing role. They were unable to control their anger to let me speak and explain myself, until I feel they had exposed their unprofessionalism, after which they calmed down and were quiet.

As a separate matter:

This morning, a member of staff phoned me to say the cost of the signature is £150, not £75. 

The two members of staff who checked the price previously allegedly both read the wrong price off the poster behind the reception desk.

The BMA advises that the price-list should be on the waiting-room wall. 

Other GP websites around Scotland state the cost as £35 and BUPA pays up to £50 to cover it.

I feel that the senior member of staff should have phoned me, apologised for their behaviour and informed me of the error.