back to article Doctors sick of anonymous-coward NHS feedback commentards

A leading GP has declared that the general public are too rude about doctors on the internet in a complaint that may amuse those of us more familiar with the culture of "Internet feedback". In an interview with eHealthInsider, Dr Chaand Nagpaul, of the British Medical Association's GP Committee said that patient comments about …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.

Page:

  1. Eponymous Cowherd
    Joke

    True Story.....

    And an illustration of the general humourlessness of medical receptionists.

    Called my Doctor ( a group practice) to make an appointment. A rather severe sounding voice answered (after the requisite 50 attempts to get through):

    Receptionist: Surgery.

    Me Hello. Is this the correct num........

    Receptionist: This is the appointments line. Do you want to make an appointment?

    Me Errr, yes pl......

    Receptionist:Which Doctor?

    MeWell, I'd prefer a medical one.

    Receptionist:What?

    Me A medical doctor, as opposed to a Witch Doctor........

    CLICK.....

    Me Hello? Hello?......

    1. Silverburn

      I tried something similar

      ...and ever since that day, I get dumped with the doc with the bedside manner of Hannibal lecter, and a penchant for prescribing paracetamol 30 seconds into your diagnosis even if you weren't actually finished telling him what's wrong.

      That paracetamol cleared up my ingrown toenail a treat, right enough. And I don't know what medical school he went to, 40'c is not within normal temperature range for a 2 year old. Funnily enough, this was another case for paracetamol too. Pity he 'forgot' about the intravenous anti-biotics she needed 24hrs later in A&E.

    2. NomNomNom

      Haha hillarious. Did you try again asking for Doctor Who?

      There's definitely an opening for someone like you on the NHS Choices website

    3. The Head says

      Not unreasonable

      The thing you failed to recognise is that the receptionist is the gateway to the NHS. Without her (and it's almost always a "her") you don't get care and you'll die. The question is whether the post attracts humourless, impatient diktators or creates them out of ordinary people.

      1. Eponymous Cowherd
        Holmes

        Frankly, I don't give a.........

        "The question is whether the post attracts humourless, impatient diktators or creates them out of ordinary people."

        Frankly, I don't really care. Politeness and civility costs nothing. If you can't put on a polite and civil demeanour when dealing with members of the public, particularly sick and worried members of the public, then perhaps a career change is in order.

        Oh, and congratulations. You being a bona fide psychic, and all that. I mean, how else could you realise that I had no idea what role a medical receptionist performs. Adding it to my notebook right now:

        Note To Self: A Medical receptionist is the gateway to the NHS. Be nice to her, no matter how awkward, rud and obstructive she is or ye will certainly DIE

        1. The Head says

          @EC

          "You being a bona fide psychic, and all that"

          I knew you wre going to say that

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    no smoke without fire

    Do they really think people post this sort of thing for fun? i've had one doctor at the practice give me the whole " theres nothing wrong with you go away" after the most breif examination/questioning despite it possibly being multiple things (one of which it was)and two others at the SAME practice send me for tests (which have identified area's for concern), give me all the answers to my questions, give me any medical results i want etc.

    sure i could go and go " Dr x is crap this surgery sucks" or you know what? try a diffrent doctor. there is no way i'd go see the aforementioned doc (who would probably tell me it was nothing anyway) and will wait to see the others (anything that can't wait is usually A&E time).

    so why do they think people are posting when they must have some reason to? sure a lot of them might be "Dr Y won't give me morphine for my headache" but when comments are about general rudeness or percieved lack of concern would it not be better to stop bitching and look to why?

  3. Cunningly Linguistic

    Looks like the doctors are having difficulty adapting to their new pedestals which seem to be a lot lower than they ever used to be.

  4. Captain Scarlet Silver badge
    Mushroom

    General public are too rude about doctors

    The doctors have never heard their receptionist's on the phone then?

  5. jongaze

    100% Satisfaction... only in the public sector!

    It seems if you make a complaint you're struck off the patient list http://bit.ly/yUuwvv and http://bit.ly/zjpLqD etc.

    If you make an anonymous comment to avoid that fate it seems your opinion is discarded.

    That's a superb way to get 100% satisfaction rating.

  6. NomNomNom

    It's all very typical for these so-called elitist "scientists" and "doctors" to arrogantly sit within their ivory towers casting down mainstream "wisdom" as if they are better than us.

    But we don't need them any more. Most of this medicine and science stuff you can figure out yourselves and then write a blog to tell everyone else, or even tweet the bottom line.

    1. Stuart Castle Silver badge

      Then die of the cancer you misdiagnosed as a headache. Excellent advice. Your advice is exactly the reason that Tuberculosis (a disease previously thought extinct) is on the rise.

      1. NomNomNom

        No, Tuberculosis is caused by chemtrails. If you need more in depth medical info I can give you the link

        1. Stuart Castle Silver badge

          Why not post it publically if it's accurate? Or is this just another Conspiracy theory?

          1. Darryl

            Wait, I thought tuberculosis was caused by Phobos Grunt

            Or do I have my conspiracies mixed up again?

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    People will be people...

    Most complaints aren't helpful. They are vague, angry and poorly worded.

    That does not mean they aren't valid, just that they don't help solve the problem.

    GP's are told they have to see a patient within 3 days of that patient requesting an appointment. That doesn't allow for the volume of people asking for an appointment, so some practices are exceedingly busy. GP's are being given more and more responsibilities, further reducing the time they have. So they rush things and make mistakes, and generate complaints which take time to review and try to fix leaving them less time to see patients and then they get hoax complaints and time wasters and random inspections and they have to keep up on what illnesses are around at that time and updates on treatments and drug trials and improved procedures and new symptoms to watch for and warnings of potential outbreaks and the odd game of golf to get away from it all and perhaps even a conference or two and...

    This is no different to any other public service out there. The emergency services get just as much grief, and hospitals... well, let's just say some people can't tell the difference between reality and TV... and each and every complaint has to be taken seriously, even if the consultant the complain was against didn't really exist...

    And another Anon, just because...

  8. Crisp

    @NomNomNom

    Scientists and Doctors used to occupy a privileged rung on societies ladder.

    Today though, they are just skilled knowledge workers.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's not the killing off anonymous going to fix the problem. Such a move is at the "reaction stage" in the problem reaction solution game. Implemented as a final solution, it leads to an abusive health care system with no checks and balances or public input.

    Who would want to put their real name on anything at that point?

    The failure here is at the website moderating and rules of the website level. Doctors aren't webmasters and webmasters aren't doctors.

  10. Danny 5
    Trollface

    they'll learn

    Just like we did :D

    spot the troll!

  11. Keep Refrigerated
    IT Angle

    Internet Explorer

    I clicked on 'Communities' page and spotted this gem in the sidebar:

    "If you're using Internet Explorer (versions 8 or 9), you may find you can't log in properly and post a blog or a comment. This is a long-standing (and very irritating) problem which we've discussed at great length with Microsoft but have not yet been able to get them to fix. So, if you want to contribute to any of the communities please use other browsers, such as Google Chrome, Firefox or Safari."

    Quite refreshing to see something so rare, honest and plain-speaking. It almost harkens back to another era before everything said from inside an organisation strained through the PR filter.

    I'd prefer not to see GP tax money being spent on PR agencies so I'd prefer the raw response from GPs over PR doublespeak - let them duke it out in the forums, I say!

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @The Head says

    "The thing you failed to recognise is that the receptionist is the gateway to the NHS. Without her (and it's almost always a "her") you don't get care and you'll die. The question is whether the post attracts humourless, impatient diktators or creates them out of ordinary people"

    Or, the question is, what criminal charges should be brought against that person if they refuse care and someone actually does die?

    On a broader note: How are people held to account, if any complaint can be dismissed simply because patients fear to give their name (knowing that if they do the 'diktator' will have reason to 'de-prioritise' their access to care)? In a silly way it's a bit like train services, where train not running on time = Not our Fault, but complaint from customer about train not running on time = abusing our staff.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Glad I'm not in the UK

    First, the doctors need to get with the program and hire a PR agency like everyone else does to counter the negativity with positive comments. Apple has a good blueprint for this.

    Next, I'm just laughing at everyone's experiences with their doctors. From not having actually physically seen one in years, to only getting a few minutes of time and quickly ushered it of the office.

    You guys have this so backasswards it's not even funny. Get your government out of the business of playing doctor. Then start paying the docs directly, out of your own pocket. I guarantee two things will happen. First they will actually answer the phone and set a reasonable appointment. Second your overall level of service will go up exponentially.

    I pay cash for my healthcare. I have regular insurance for the big stuff, but when it comes time to see about a little cough or sniffles or whatever, I pay cash and let them know when setting the appointment, which I usually do online. You know what: they are always smiles and spend whatever time I require. Because I am the one paying the bill, not some nebulous government or commercial entity that is just going to argue over whether they should have spent 5 or 6 minutes in diagnosis.

    For the guy who asked about "bribing" the doc. I think you have the wrong perspective. It's called a tip, and it works wonders.

  14. Cunningly Linguistic
    FAIL

    People don't seem to realise that 50% of all doctors were in the bottom half of their classes, and of that 50% most end up as a GP.

    A Jack of all medical trades, but a master of none.

Page:

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like