The Practice takes it very seriously if a member of the team is treated in an abusive or violent way.
The Practice supports the government's 'Zero Tolerance' campaign for Health Service Staff. This states that GPs and their staff have a right to care for others without fear of being attacked or abused. To successfully provide these services a mutual respect between all the staff and patients must be in place. All our staff aim to be polite, helpful, and sensitive to all patients’ individual needs and circumstances.
The staff understand that ill patients do not always act in a reasonable manner and will take this into consideration and act with tolerance.
However, aggressive behaviour, be it violent, abusive, or threatened will not be tolerated and will result in you being removed from the Practice list and, in some cases, involving the police and being prosecuted under the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018.
For the practice to maintain good relations with their patients the practice would like to ask all its patients to read and take note of the occasional types of behaviour that would be found unacceptable:
- Using bad language or swearing at practice staff
- Any physical violence or threats towards any member of the Primary Health Care Team or other patients, such as pushing or shoving
- Verbal abuse towards the staff in any form including verbally insulting the staff
- Racial abuse and sexual harassment will not be tolerated within this practice
- Persistent or unrealistic demands that cause stress to staff will not be accepted. Requests will be met wherever possible and explanations given when they cannot
- Causing damage/stealing from the Practice's premises, staff or patients
- Obtaining drugs and/or medical services fraudulently
We ask you to always treat all members of the team with respect and courtesy, as you would expect to be treated.
Removal from the practice list
A good patient-doctor relationship, based on mutual respect and trust, is the cornerstone of good patient care. The removal of patients from our list is an exceptional and rare event and is a last resort in an impaired patient-practice relationship. When trust has irretrievably broken down, it is in the patient’s interest, just as much as that of the practice, that they should find a new practice. An exception to this is on immediate removal on the grounds of violence e.g. when the Police are involved.
Removing other members of the household
In some cases, it may be necessary to terminate responsibility for other members of the family or the entire household. The prospect of visiting patients where a relative who is no longer a patient of the practice by virtue of their unacceptable behaviour resides, would breach our duty of care to our team members.
SECRETARY OF STATE FOR HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE STATES:
NHS staff dedicate their working lives to protecting and caring for us in our times of greatest need and for any one of them to be subject to aggression or violence is completely unacceptable.
No one should be abused, threatened or attacked at work ‒ especially when all they’re trying to do is help people.
Anyone who threatens or abuses NHS staff should be prosecuted under the new law - Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 - protecting health care workers.