"Reception?"

The doctors at this surgery are marvellous - once you can get past the forbidding, unwelcoming, frosty, non-sympathetic, non-empathetic, tetchy reception staff. I truly appreciate that the NHS is under severe strain for various political reasons and that the frontline staff face untold pressures from all sides, but you get the very distinct impression from the moment you walk into the surgery that you, the patient, are an inconvenience and that you are somehow interrupting the much-put-upon receptionist. A smile and a simple and geuine "I'm sorry" would go a very long way to mitigating the disappointment of perhaps not being able to get an appointment or to see your doctor of choice - but perhaps these basic concepts of good customer/patient service have escaped the reception staff at this surgery?