"Incredibly rude, sarcastic and insensitive…"

My son was given a scheduled GP appointment at the Lewes Victoria Hospital. He was very anxious and embarrassed about his complaint, which was testicle-related. On arrival, the hospital appeared to be closed (it was 6.30pm on Easter Monday, 1st April 2024) so we pressed the buzzer on the door to the emergency surgery. There was no answer, so we waited a while and then tried the buzzer again. Still nothing. After a few minutes we tried again and a very angry-sounding voice came through the intercom telling us the door was open. I apologised for the confusion immediately upon entering and rather than accepting my apology, the receptionist said very sarcastically 'yes, that is a door, and yes, doors do generally open'. It's not clear why she didn't just use the intercom to tell me the door was unlocked when I buzzed the first time.

I then left my son to check in. There was a crowded waiting room all well within earshot. She asked him his name and what he was there for, and despite him confirming his name and the fact that he had a scheduled appointment, she then asked the nature of his health problem, which meant he had to explain this in front of around a dozen people. This was clearly unnecessary as we had provided the nature of his complaint when booking the appointment via the GP. He had to explain that he thought he had a varicocele, but she didn't know what that was so she then made him spell it out to the crowded room. She then continued to quiz him, asking him how long he'd had it ('6 months') to which she then asked him why he was only coming in now about it.

Needless to say, this was very distressing and humiliating for my son, who was already anxious, upset and very nervous having never been to a medical appointment like this before.

He then also made a minor error on his signing-in form, accidentally confusing the date that day with his date of birth, to which she then made another very sarcastic comment. By this point he was on the brink of just walking out, he was so humiliated.

Surely the primary role of reception staff in this sort of situation is to put anxious, distressed patients at ease. This receptionist did the exact opposite of this and seemed to take real pleasure in humiliating him in front of a room full of people. We'd like her to understand how upsetting this was for him, in the hope that she might be more sensitive towards other patients in the future.