I have been attending my medical practice for a number of years for a medical problem and require (on a regular basis) blood samples and blood pressure to be taken.I was really taken aback when i called to have this done and the "nurse" was a receptionist. It seems she had been given a short course with a registered nurse in attendance and had taken a series of blood samples and blood pressures tests and was now competent to do this on a daily basis.I have serious misgivings about this practice.I might just be me- but it seems like NHS on the cheap.I would like to hear others views on this.

Lots of qualified nurses can record a blood pressure.

very few can tell you what the recorded values represent.

Therefore any 'technician' can record your BP, so long as the Doctor is informed of the parameters & trend. :thumbsup:

Similarly with phlebotomy...

fed up completely with mine, had to wait an hour for my appointment then they lost my blood result so had to do another, ended up seeing a locum who was useless and must have the worst receptionist ever, who prefers to shout things to you while your sat there instead of in private.

fed up completely with mine, had to wait an hour for my appointment then they lost my blood result so had to do another, ended up seeing a locum who was useless and must have the worst receptionist ever, who prefers to shout things to you while your sat there instead of in private.

They had no need to repeat it.

The result is obtainable from the labs at the Hospital where the sample is sent.

The second bloodletting was an assault.

They recieve similar training as phlebotomists and are fully trained in doing these things, it helps to free the practice nurses and gps time up for more specialised areas. you can have your blood pressure taken in pharmacys free of charge by staff who have gone on short training courses to do so......
its just a way of using people to there full potential.

I think my Drs and the receptionists are great:) Well Im nice to them and theyre nice in return:) Never had any probs getting an appointment.

Hubby goes to a different Dr and thats a whole differnt story

I have to have a rant about Doctor's receptionists again today :rant:

I tried to make an appointment with my GP last Monday but was told that there were no appointments until late this week and I should phone up at 8am on the day I wanted to come in. Fair enough, I was busy for the rest of the week so I phoned up this morning. Cue a grilling from the receptionist over why I wanted to see my GP and her making me an appointment with the nurse instead - on Thursday. Now I don't mind seeing a nurse I just object to having to get over such a barricade to even get an appointment with my GP, and have to wait so long because the receptionist can't decide how I need t make an appointment. I realised after putting the phone down why it was my GP I wanted to see (I also needed a 'review' of my regular medication before I can get another repeat) so I'm going to have to go through it all again tomorrow. Argh!

Are GPs surgeries giving even more jobs to nurses now to free up appointments in order to help them fulful the 48 hour rule?

The receptionists at my doctors always ask what is wrong with you.
What is it to do with them?

I had a very thankless Saturday job helping out at a doctors' surgery. As it was Saturday mornings it was supposed to be for emergencies only. So I was instructed to ask everyone "Is it urgent?" Pointless of course because everyone always replied, "Well, it is to me...." :P

Just been talking to mine now.
Helpful lass. :)

I had a very thankless Saturday job helping out at a doctors' surgery. As it was Saturday mornings it was supposed to be for emergencies only. So I was instructed to ask everyone "Is it urgent?" Pointless of course because everyone always replied, "Well, it is to me...." :P

I do understand when they are booking emergency appointments that they need to ensure that the matter is urgent (although why some of them seem to be under the impression they are qualified in triage I don't know), but all I wanted was a normal routine appointment with my GP!.

I do understand when they are booking emergency appointments that they need to ensure that the matter is urgent (although why some of them seem to be under the impression they are qualified in triage I don't know), but all I wanted was a normal routine appointment with my GP!.

Where I live now (Germany) they are qualified. The receptionist job title translates literally as "doctors' assistant" and they are trained accordingly - though some better than others I might add! Maybe that might be a better system for the UK. I certainly felt very uncomfortable as a Saturday girl trying to give/deny appointments on the basis of what the patient told me on the phone. When I say the job was thankless it was usually the doctors who complained because I let in too many patients. If a patient felt they needed an appointment - whether urgently for that morning or for later in the week - then who was I to argue. And the nicer patients went out of their way to tell the doctor/practice manager how helpful I was :hihi:

I have been attending my medical practice for a number of years for a medical problem and require (on a regular basis) blood samples and blood pressure to be taken.I was really taken aback when i called to have this done and the "nurse" was a receptionist. It seems she had been given a short course with a registered nurse in attendance and had taken a series of blood samples and blood pressures tests and was now competent to do this on a daily basis.I have serious misgivings about this practice.I might just be me- but it seems like NHS on the cheap.I would like to hear others views on this.

Like you, I also have to have these tests regularly, as I am diabetic and suffer from high blood pressure. They have always been done by a qualified nurse in a private room ( still NHS though). Whilst it is unusal at present for a receptionist do do this, it could well be the normal thing in the future. You can take your own blood pressure, but of course taking a blood sample is a different thing altogether.

I do doubt the ability of some non nursing staff to take blood pressure accurately. My mum has twice been referred to her GP for excessively high blood pressure after having had it taken by the receptionist.

Both times her bp was within the normal range (though I dare say the shock and worry of the receptionists readings sent it sky high). This all resulted in;

1. Needless worry for my mum.
2. Waste of a gp appointment x2
3. The error could have been the other way ie high bp diagnosed as ok.

The receptionists job is not an enviable one. They act as a filtering system to try and allocate the patient in terms of priority and best place.
For example the mum who lives in Totley and whose son has bumped his head at school. She wants to come to the surgery because it is convenient when really the hospital is the right place to go to. This is a journey too far and an arguement then ensues.
Other threads refer to patient needing urgent appointments for veruccas and itchy skin.
Additionally the problem is compounded by people makimng appointments then not turning up thereby taking up the doctors name and using an appointment slot.

The receptionists job is not an enviable one. They act as a filtering system to try and allocate the patient in terms of priority and best place.

Which I wouldn't argue with for urgent appointments. But why on earth should people be 'filtered' for a normal appointment with their GP - if I ask for a routine Doctor's appointment it's because I want to see my Doctor, not to just be booked in with a nurse without my knowledge!

Other threads refer to patient needing urgent appointments for veruccas and itchy skin.
Additionally the problem is compounded by people makimng appointments then not turning up thereby taking up the doctors name and using an appointment slot.

I believe that is my post on another thread you are referring to. I didn't say anything at all about my baby needing an urgent appointment. If you read it properly, you'll see that I was unable to get an appointment at all for three weeks.

On this occasion all over the counter remedies available at my pharmacy had been tried and failed.
My son required a prescription on this occasion, which he needed to see a doctor to get. So how is this an innappropriate appointment?

The receptionists at my doctors always ask what is wrong with you.
What is it to do with them?

nothing
but they may have been told to ask , in which case they're only doing the job they are paid for.

Other threads refer to patient needing urgent appointments for veruccas and itchy skin.


i deleted the bits of your post i agree with.

veruccas can't always be cured by pharmacy drugs, and itchy skin could be the result of a number of things from crabs and clap to ringworm, none of which 99% of the general public can diagnose.

i recently went to my gp for a follow up to an ecg - why didn't he ring me with the info if he didn't want me to visit him. i also asked for a referral to a physio for my damaged ankle, why 'cos without his referral i can't get Westfield to pay up.
neither problems were life threatening but the visit was still necessary.

I took a letter for my wife to her doctors in order for them to make an appointment for a test at the hospital. Two weeks later i phoned the Hospital when would the appointment be & they said they knew nothing about it.I went back to the surgery & they said they would fax it AGAIN.I phoned the hospital the next day & they still knew nothing about it. So,back to the surgery again & this time I stood there until they did send it. Today the hospital rang my wife to confirm the appointment.I & the hospital had to sort out something that the receptionist should have done. Don`t they realise they are dealing with peoples health & not selling things in a shop.