Receptionists provide an important link for patients with the practice and are your initial contact point for general enquiries. They can provide basic information on services and results and direct you to the right person depending on your health issue or query. Receptionists arrange most of the patient appointments with the GPs and nurses. They also perform other important tasks such as issuing repeat prescriptions and dealing with prescription enquiries, dealing with financial claims and dealing with patient records. They have a very difficult job dealing with telephone calls and enquiries from every direction, trying to please patients, GP's, nurses and other team members whilst remaining calm, courteous, efficient, sympathetic and professional, so please be respectful and polite to them. A new campaign video, launched by the Institute of General Practice Management (IGPM) aims to help end all abuse towards general practice staff. The video includes real-life examples of patient interactions from practices across the UK When telephoning for an appointment, advice or home visit the receptionist will ask you for some details. They have been trained to make these enquiries on our behalf so we may help you in the most appropriate and efficient way. |