That's part of the problem though, receptionists shouldn't be doing triage. You may as well show your rash to the postman to see if thinks it's serious.
Where Medical Receptionists do Triage they're trained in it. (or at least should be)
Problem with receptionist triage is that it's effectively a magic word system, that just filters out those who don't know you have to say 'urgent' (and that it isn't the same thing as 'serious', because that gets you sent to A&E).
So is any that involves only words and doesn't involve some level of physical examination (Which you're only going to get at A&E or MIU reception')
Patient: "Hello Doctors, yeah I need an appointment"
Doctor/Nurse/Receptionist/GeneralPlebe on Triage: "Why?"
Patient: "My arms hinging aff"
Doctor/Nurse/Receptionist/GeneralPlebe on Triage: "Erm MIU for that, bugger off"
What may be different is the judgement differences between the receptionist and practitioners.
What also probably doesn't help is the patients who just want to see a doctor for the sake of seeing a doctor, have probably figured out how to tell Triage something that lets them see the doctor for anything.
Like:
That's the problem with receptionist triage, effectively if you're someone like me, who knows enough medicine to be annoyingly assertive*, you can break through the receptionist barricades and storm the castle (I also call all my doctors by their first names to annoy them, we still have a curiously deferential relationship to medical care which I think isn't helpful in involving people in their care). Little old ladies who don't want to bother that nice GP with their gangrenous leg will get forever trumped by shouty mothers demanding Jaxxon's sore throat be attended to NOW!
Triage should be clinically informed by people who know to triage. And it's not really triage if it gets passed back to the GP to make the decision.
*recent phone consultation with consultant ended with him saying 'I don't know why we're bothering with this' to which my only response was 'well, I don't have access to an MRI machine and you do.' He was forced to acknowledge my wisdom on this matter.
At my previous practice all the doctors started introducing themselves with their first names after the previous partners (Who I remember jsut starting (it was thier Dad's practice)) retired.
I've not met or even spoken to my new doctors yet, think I'm going to need to about this bloody ankle though, I've been ignoring it for 15 years because I believed "there's nothing can be done about a buggered ankle once it's buggered" from otherwise reliable sources.
Although I might possible need to speak to a physio first, it doesn't appear on the pharmacy first list and... My new GPs is basically closed because they're all down with Covid.
