It’s their job to ask why you are calling, our surgery doors are NOT closed, and they have lots of tasks to do when not answering phones (coding, hospital letters, loading prescriptions etc) as well as dealing with obnoxious patients.
Maybe try a day in their shoes to see how you’d cope.
My wife comes home from her job as receptionist in a North London surgery and tells me about the abuse they get over the phone, how they have been overworked since the Covid outbreak because receptionist staff have been sent home to be shielded or to self isolate. Plus having to get to grips with new ways of working and new processes. I could go on....
Our receptionists are lovely and our GP practice is not closed to anybody. It is fully functional. Admittedly more phone appointments, but it's not hard to get to see a doctor face to face if necessary. I have no complaints whatsoever.
Organising, paperwork, calls etc. We deal with a lot of doctor's receptionists with work, and like any other job, they can be very varied. We are polite and professional, and they nearly always are too. There is always the odd one though, who either speaks to you as though you are stupid, or is just a bit awkward for no real reason.
You can complain to the surgery if they are exceptionally bad.
Unfortunately many small towns and villages surrounding the. in rural areas only have one practice and there is no opportunity to move to another practice. I live in such as area, so it's just as well it's a great medical centre
They are still dealing with the days phone appointments, referrals, appointments, queries and blood tests. The waiting room might be empty now but the phones are red hot.