A plea has been made for more friendly receptionists in Tendring's surgeries.

There used to be a booklet advising receptionists on how to treat patients but it was not widely used.

At Tendring Primary Care Trust's board meeting yesterday (Thursday) a call was made for the booklet to be brought back.

Reg Hartley, chairman of the Tendring Users and Carers Group, said: "One member raised the question of receptionists. This may seem trivial but although we are told the first contact with the Health service is the GP, we know in practice the receptionists are nearly always the first point of contact."

He added that a receptionists' handbook was produced but when he later checked on its progress he found that only two people in 11 practices had heard of it.

Mr Hartley said: "My group are rather concerned that the attitude of some receptionists is not beneficial."

David Rex, chairman, said: "Clearly we all want to ensure the National Health Service is caring, friendly and all those sorts of things.

"The GPs are not staff of the Trust, they are their own employers. It does seem this is a training matter we ought to take on if we can."

Mini Mishra said an education programme had been set up to look at subjects such as risk management and dealing with aggression.

She said the Primary Care Trust would set up a programme to deal with each issue and while free, some practices were reluctant to release staff from work.

Tom Stewart added that if anyone was unhappy it was usually best to deal with it from where the initial complaint came from and it was "better than using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut".

Chief executive Paul Unsworth said the Trust would look at the handbook again and if it was valid it may encourage people to use it.

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