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Less doctors and incompetent reception staff

Story from nhs.uk

"Less doctors and incompetent reception staff"

About: Penshurst Gardens Surgery

Whenever I call the surgery I hear a message about always being polite to the staff. However some receptionists are blatantly rude and tend to offer their medical opinion on condition they know nothing about.

I had called the surgery complaining of heartburn and chest pain caused due to that and the receptionist was not ready to listen and said I should call 111. I was literally in tears and begged her to give me a doctors appointment so that I can discuss my condition. I told her that my main problem is heart burn but she refused to listen. After lot of pleading she gave me an appointment. What qualifications or authority does she have to triage the patients like this? I am feeling extremely depressed and disappointed with the service.

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Responses

Response from Penshurst Gardens Surgery 2 years ago
Penshurst Gardens Surgery

Submitted on 26/09/2021 at 16:48
Published on nhs.uk on 27/09/2021 at 19:38

Dear Patient,

We are very sorry to hear about your recent experience with the service. It is important in all cases of chest pain (including indigestion) to exclude a serious cause such as a heart attack. As receptionists are not medically trained, they should not be expected to diagnose over the phone for patient safety reasons or act beyond their competence but rather to sign-post you to the appropriate service for acute chest pain in the first instance. We appreciate your anonymous feedback and would like to listen to the telephone recording of your receptionist encounter to investigate further. Please can you contact our Practice Manager with your details and time of the phone call. Apologies for any inconvenience, Penshurst Management Team.

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