Zero Tolerance to Abuse

Posted on June 1st, 2022

Over the last few months, our staff (clinical and non-clinical) are receiving an increasing amount of abuse from patients. This is mainly verbal, and includes shouting, swearing, and aggressive behaviour on the phone and in person. Several members of staff have also been racially abused.

Our staff come to work to care for others, and it is important for all members of the public and our staff to be treated with respect. We aim to treat our patients courteously at all times and expect our patients to treat our staff in a similarly respectful way. We take seriously any threatening, abusive or violent behaviour against any of our staff or patients. Not getting an appointment at a convenient time for you, should not result in abuse against our staff.

ANY FORM OF ABUSE TO NHS STAFF WILL NOT BE TOLERATED AT BACON LANE SURGERY.

If a patient is violent or abusive, they will be asked to stop being so. If they persist, we may exercise our right to take action to have them removed, immediately if necessary, from our list of patients.

In line with the rest of the NHS, and to ensure this is fully observed we have a Zero Tolerance policy, whereby aggressive or violent behaviour towards our staff will not be tolerated under any circumstances. Anyone giving verbal abuse to members of staff will be sent a letter from the Practice stating that this behaviour will not be tolerated and may result in removal from the Practice patient list. There will be no appeal process. Any incident of threatening, abusive or violent behaviour may be reported to the local Police Service as part of the NHS Zero Tolerance campaign. We hope that you will understand and welcome this Policy which is in place for the best interests of our hard working staff as well as all the patients we serve. Please note that any non-observance will not be accepted.