Patient, Research, Qualitative, Questionnaires

Full list of author information is available at the end of the articleBackground In the UK, as in similar contexts, General Practice (GP) receptionists operate in the interface between patients and their doctors. They are usually the first person a patient, spouse or other witness of an event, speaks to when contacting their GP and they are instrumental in deciding on the urgency of clinical contact and when (or if) an appointment will be made [1,2]. As such they have an important gate-keeping role [3] and are influential in the facilitation of the patient journey. Despite being integral members of the Primary Care Team, GP reception staff may be minimally trained, often learning about their role from other receptionists while on-the-job [4]. This may impair the ability of reception staff to correctly identify the level of urgenc