Zero Tolerance - Unreasonable, Violent and Abusive Patients
Whilst any act of intimidation, aggression or violence, be it verbal or physical, is not acceptable, it is acknowledged that a minority of patients may, on occasion, be abusive or violent towards staff at Burscough Family Practice.
Of note, the 2021 NHS England Staff survey of nearly 600,000 responses found that:
- There were 14.3% of NHS staff who have experienced at least one incident of physical violence from patients, service users, relatives or other members of the public in the last 12 months.
- The impact on staff is significant with violent attacks contributing to 46.8% of staff feeling unwell as a result of work-related stress in the last 12 months, with 31.1% thinking about leaving the organisation[1]
In addition, unreasonable behaviour is also unacceptable and, as such, needs to be managed appropriately and consistently. This organisation has a zero tolerance towards poor behaviour and is committed to reducing the risk to staff and other patients.
[1] NHS E - Supporting our NHS people
The definition of this includes:
Violence - Any incident in which an employee is abused, threatened or assaulted in circumstances relating to their work
Physical assault - The intentional application of force to the person of another, without lawful justification, resulting in physical injury or personal discomfort
Non-physical assault - The use of inappropriate or discriminatory words or behaviour causing distress and/or constituting harassment
Aggression - Behaviour that is hostile, destructive and/or violent
At Burscough Family Practice, it is understood that much of the aggression, violence or unacceptable behaviour is often directed towards reception staff as these staff are often the first point of contact.
It is further understood that patients or their representatives can often be frustrated with waiting times, delayed secondary care appointments as a result of the pandemic, or may simply be in pain, such behaviour is still wholly unacceptable.
Therefore, the partners and managers will:
- Support staff that are exposed to poor behaviour and act accordingly
- Take action to manage this type of behaviour and this applies to all aspects of contact, be it in person, on the telephone, or inappropriate behaviour upon social media
- Consider each case of inappropriate behaviour and whilst many cases of violence would result in an immediate removal from the practice list, certain circumstances of a less serious manner may result in a ‘first and final’ warning letter. A sample letter can be found at Annex A.
- Remove the patient from the practice list for those more serious offences where the ‘patient / doctor’ relationship may be compromised.