This week we heard from Anya*, who got in touch following concerns about the way she had been treated by reception staff at her GP practice. Anya was at her GP practice when she saw another patient, who spoke little English, experience difficulty in communicating with the receptionist. As Anya spoke the same language as the patient, she approached the reception desk to interpret for him, but was told to re-take her seat, which she did. A few minutes later, a different patient approached the reception desk to interpret.
Later that week, Anya received a letter from her GP practice informing her that she had breached confidentiality guidelines, and that she should not repeat the behaviour. Anya was distressed by this letter and found that her blood pressure readings had spiked following the incident and since receiving the letter. Anya attributed this to the conduct of the staff at the practice. She asked our helpline adviser how she could stop the GP practice from writing to her, as the correspondence was distressing to her, and she felt it was not doing her health any good.
Our helpline adviser suggested that Anya should acknowledge the letter from her GP practice and explain that her intention was to assist the patient in communicating with the receptionist. We also advised Anya to confirm that, following the request from the practice that Anya does repeat such behaviour, that she would not do so in future. We advised Anya against asking the practice not to contact her in future, and suggested that instead she should informally raise her concerns about her blood pressure. Finally, in the event the relationship with her GP practice did not improve, our adviser provided information about how to register with another GP practice, and directed Anya to the various resources on our website.
We asked her to keep us updated with developments and to get in touch if she required any more information.
*Name has been changed
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