"Unhelpful receptionist attitude"

Ordinarily the service here has been good, although generally I only need prescriptions repeated for management of my disability and associated pain, so I rarely have to deal with reception staff. The dispensary staff are first class however and I must point out that I only have the highest of praise for the tremendous people working there.

Today, I telephoned on behalf of my daughter, who tried to no avail to get an appointment with her doctor in order to - among other things - ensure continuity of the medicines she had been prescribed at her last appointment. The earliest she can see her doctor is March. Her medications will run out in 2 days, although at the time of phoning the practice it was my understanding that she had enough for 3 days. 

My daughter is 16 and studying hard for her GCSE exams she'll be taking this year. Due to her age, her appointments and Rx requests etc which I used to manage via the online app are no longer available to me and now fall to her to take care of. However, when she phoned to address the issue of the meds running out, the automated service informed her that repeat prescriptions can only be requested between 10am and midday, which as any parent knows is during normal school hours and therefore completely inappropriate for any school age patient. One would think the practice would have considered this fact when selecting the arbitrary period of just two hours per day that a patient can phone to request a repeat prescription. 

Having encountered this roadblock and needing to return to her studies, my daughter asked me to pursue matters on her behalf.

I phoned the reception desk and explained the situation only to be told that she'll have to phone between 10 and 12 tomorrow, the receptionist seemingly oblivious to or ignorant of difficulty this presents to anyone of school age. The only alternative suggested was for me, her disabled father, to drive the 12 miles or so to make the request in person. On another day I might have done so, however being in the midst of a 3 day pain spike I'm not up to that on this occasion. Had any enquiry been made regarding our identities perhaps a conscientious receptionist might have gleaned from on screen information that a more helpful and supportive approach were needed. More on that point in a moment. 

I asked to be transferred to the dispensary so that they might help out, which I am certain they would have because as previously mentioned I have only ever received the best of service from them, with clearly displayed enthusiasm to put the patient first and a wholly evident can do attitude. Sadly the person I was speaking to displayed none of those qualities, refusing flat out to put me through or to even pass a message. It begs the question, what is the point of a reception service which only books appointments and refuses to be of any assistance when it matters? I explained how unhelpful this response had been, but as they remained indifferent I can only surmise that being helpful is not one of their career goals. I then asked if they would be happy with the handling of the situation were our positions reversed; this staff member became evasive and failed to provide an answer, no doubt because the only answer that could have been honestly provided would have been that they would not have been happy with such poor service. Instead they just repeated the same useless guidance for my school aged daughter to phone during school hours tomorrow, which of course she cannot do. 

This member of staff did not at any time enquire as to my or daughter's identity nor the medication she required, which is to my mind highly irresponsible, as a 16 year old girl might be on anything, for example from asthma drugs to anxiety meds to contraceptives, all of which could have profound consequences if continuity is interrupted. I'm appalled that such a reckless attitude and unhelpful behaviour are tolerated among practice staff. As a parent I am shocked that  the welfare of my child means less to the first point of contact at the practice than it does to stubbornly and repeatedly refuse to help, particularly as in far less time than it actually took to bring the conversation to such an unhelpful conclusion, my request to be transferred or to leave a message could have been met three times over. Such a "jobsworth" approach is something I thought rightly abandoned many years ago; how wrong I was. The situation was clearly one requiring an element of discretionary decision making however that discretion was fettered by an unreasonably rigid adherence to a clearly flawed and badly thought out 'rule', the response being neither appropriate nor commensurate with the problem at hand. 

I would have asked to be put through to one of the partners, however I fully expected that request to be refused also. Instead I informed that I would make my feelings known on here, which was met with a response as glib and dismissive as all of the previous responses. 

Given that repeat prescriptions require two days to complete, and considering that I cannot make the request until 10am tomorrow, my daughter's meds will most likely be interrupted thanks to one receptionist displaying the "I'm basically God around here" attitude all too familiar in health centre reception and long overdue eradication. 

The sad part is the dispensary staff would have sorted the problem in moments, had they been given an opportunity to do so, but their exemplary standards have been thwarted by the couldn't care less attitude of one individual. 

It is experiences like these which make patients lose faith in those good people who have chosen to work in this area to provide a quality service for the purpose of helping people, because of the inconsiderate actions of the few to whom it's clearly just a wage. 

People deserve better, especially when the person who's in the wrong knows full well that their service is unsatisfactory. That's why I've chosen to make my thoughts known here, because it's public.