We were sorry to hear that you found a member of our team to be anything but polite and helpful. All telephone calls to and from the practice are recorded and if you would like to contact a member of our management team with more details they would be happy to look into this incident for you. Unfortunately with the information supplied we are not able to establish your identity in order to contact you directly or establish who you may have dealt with at the practice when experiencing the issues you mention above. Our receptionists have been asked by the GP’s to obtain clinical information so that the GP can best prioritise their phone calls on the basis of clinical need. The GP’s at the practice first speak to patients on the telephone so that they can make a clinical decision regarding the best course of action for each patient. We have found that the system makes the patients journey faster and more efficient as well as also they see the most appropriate clinician in the first instance. Most other local GP surgeries have also introduced very similar systems as the most appropriate way to manage the needs of their patients. All receptionists employed at the practice sign a strict confidentiality policy and are legally bound not to discuss any information they come into contact with whilst working at the practice.. So we can assure all of our patients that any information shared with a member of the reception team remains confidential. If a patient wishes not to share the reason for the call with the receptionist, the receptionist will still book a telephone consultation with the GP. However, without this important information the GP is unable to decide on the clinical significance of the call and may well need to take other calls where a reason has been supplied first. I hope this response answers the points you have raised and if you could contact the practice with more specific details we will be more than happy to investigate Many Thanks New Hayesbank Surgery