Essex doctor says increase in abuse is 'not surprising'
75% of GP staff receive abusive comments everyday
Last updated 25th May 2022
Doctor's practice managers are reporting that three quarters of staff are receiving abusive comments from patients everyday.
That's according to NHS Digital figures, which also suggest half of GPs have faced verbal abuse, one in five have been threatened by a patient and 67% have witnessed violence or abuse against other staff .
Dr Brian Balmer is the Chief Executive of the Essex Local Medical Committees, which represents around 1300 GPs.
He's not shocked by the stats: "Unfortunately no, it's not surprising. We've seen a significant rise in this sort of behaviour since the peak of the pandemic eased off.
"We still have a pandemic, even though some people pretend we don't, and whilst the pressure on the system has eased, the pressure in general practice has not eased. The public, not just in our industry but in many industries, seem to have a pent-up frustration about not having normality for a couple of years.
"It seems to have made all of us, as a population, just more aggressive and demanding."
Alongside these figures, the number of GPs continues to fall, leaving those left to look after more patients.
Earlier this year, we reported that doctors in Thurrock are currently having to look after over 2700 patients each.
Dr Balmer thinks this may have something to do with the levels of abuse, but says it's no excuse: "There's being annoyed and being rude, and then there's being violent or threatening - they're quite different.
"Everybody's allowed to be annoyed. The health service in a bit of trouble and there's a lot of waiting lists. GPs and their staff are facing the brunt of that, with reception staff, managers and admin people facing more verbal aggression than doctors, but it's become very, very common unfortunately...
"Minor frustration is understandable and we'll usually cope with that, but anything aggressive, threatening or violent is an absolute no no. We tell practices to call the police if anyone is doing that, and they're removed from our list and seen in a separate service."
Despite GP shortages, NHS Digital reported in March 2022 that general practices provided the highest number of appointments ever recorded (30.1million), around 20% more than before the pandemic.
Dr Balmer hopes this is a positive step, and that levels of aggression will decrease as people settle in to a 'new normal' and get used to new systems introduced over the pandemic: "Hopefully both GP staff and patients will all get used to dealing with each other in a more friendly and and positive way.
"If we keep working on it, I think we'll get back to where we were before. I don't see a steady increase in this sort of stuff, so hopefully this is just a blip."