Patients often approach the surgery reception staff to ask why they are not answering the phones when people must be trying to get through.
The reason is simple. Incoming calls are not answered at the reception desk to protect patient confidentiality. It can be embarrassing for callers to think their most intimate details are being shared with a room full of waiting strangers.
Instead, all calls are answered either in the telephone room upstairs or behind closed doors at the back of reception where confidentiality is guaranteed.
You should be aware that Mondays are always very busy. This Monday our phone team took 522 calls. This resulted in our duty GPs speaking to 256 patients who stated that their call was medically urgent. This resulted in 72 of those patients being asked to attend the surgery for a face-to-face physical examination.
Please be assured that inbound calls are being answered as quickly as possible by our backroom staff even though you don’t see the phone ringing on the reception desk.
