"Unequivocally the worst receptionists."

This GP practice has lovely GPs who are helpful, patient and kind.

Unfortunately, I always dread having any interaction with this GPs office purely because of the receptionists. I have experienced and witnessed these receptionists treat patients with no dignity. Before entering this surgery I need to mentally prepare myself to bend to the unpredictable temperament of the receptionists. They are impatient, rude and talk down to anyone who has a simple or more complex query.

Some anecdotal evidence:

1) I once had severe reactions to antibiotics resulting in me being up all night in agony. I went to the doctor first thing to get an appointment (by this point i had been up all night). I went in and the first appointment the receptionist would give me was 10am, when asked if they had an earlier one they said no. Only once they saw me in tears did they 'magically' find an appointment an hour and a half earlier.

2) There was once someone who did not speak very good English in front of me at the counter. Clearly this person was vulnerable. The receptionist spoke to him in such a rude undignified way, huffing and puffing and rolling their eyes all while trying to find out what the patients medication was.

3) I called the surgery to ask a simple question to which the receptionist misunderstood and started getting quite irate on the phone (they hadn't even listened to the query and just brought up on her system a query from a few months ago). I calmly re-explained myself to which they finally gave an appropriate answer in an unnecessarily rude tone.

4) They come up with a new made up rule of how far in advance they can book appointments every time. There is no transparency. I have been told on separate occasions that they cannot book appointments 2 days/1 week/2 weeks in advance.

People who come to the GP are clearly already in a vulnerable state and should be treated with dignity and patience. I don't doubt that being a receptionist in an overstretched GP surgery must be a difficult job but if you cannot work with vulnerable people on a day to day basis and remain professional and caring then you should not be in that job.

MOST of your receptionists (with the exception of two) are completely incapable of being kind to all who walk through that door (or call up). They lack any empathy and a basic level of patience and act as if they hold keys to a magic kingdom to which you cannot get access unless they look upon you favourably.

The truth is I cannot recall all the negative encounters I have had with the receptionists because there are too many. However I can recall every good encounter because they have been few and far between. 2.