‘Prevalence of abuse entirely unacceptable’ says College Chair

Responding in The Guardian to a study published in the BJGP on the violence and abuse towards general practice staff by patients and the public. Professor Kamila Hawthorne, Chair of the Royal College of GPs, said:

“That incidences of abuse against GPs and our teams are so widespread – and as this research shows, not just in the UK - is extremely distressing. It’s entirely unacceptable for anyone working in general practice to be at the receiving end of abuse of any kind, when they’re just trying to do their jobs.

“GP teams are working incredibly hard in in the face of intense workload and workforce pressures to ensure patients receive the safe, timely care they need – in the twelve months up to June this year, we delivered a record breaking 383 million appointments, equivalent to more than a million a day.

“We understand and share the frustrations of our patients when they struggle to access our services - but abusing GP staff must never be seen as the solution, indeed it is likely to drive more people out of the profession and make the situation worse. To this end, it’s particularly concerning that younger, less experienced team members face higher rates of abuse.

“When practices are faced with abusive or threatening patients, it’s important the team are supported to deal with this in ways they deem appropriate – and in some cases this may mean calling the police, or removing patients from their lists. More widely, this research should be a wake-up call about the pressures that GPs and our teams are working under, how this impacts on patients, and whilst it must never be used as an excuse, the actions it can drive them to.

“We need the thousands more GPs promised in the 10-Year Health Plan, and we look to the forthcoming 10-Year Workforce Plan to see how the Government plans to deliver them. As part of this, we need to see more funding for GP practices, so they can hire the GPs they need – and retention initiatives to keep qualified GPs in the profession longer.”

Further information

RCGP press office: 0203 188 7659
press@rcgp.org.uk

Notes to editors

The Royal College of General Practitioners is a network of more than 54,000 family doctors working to improve care for patients. We work to encourage and maintain the highest standards of general medical practice and act as the voice of GPs on education, training, research and clinical standards.