More Than Half Of The UK’s GP’s Have Been Verbally Abused In The Past Month – But What Is Happening In Dentistry?
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- Published: Thursday, 12 August 2021 07:48
- Written by Chris Tapper
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A shocking survey shows that more than half of general medical practitioners have faced verbal abuse from patients, or those accompanying them, in the past month.
The study, carried out by the British Medical Association, also showed that one in five GP’s has been threatened, and raises questions about the levels of abuse faced by dental staff.
“The survey of more than 2,400 doctors in England, Wales and Northern Ireland reveals extraordinary levels of abuse aimed at doctors and their colleagues and suggests the situation has deteriorated in the last year,” Pulse reported.
There have been many anecdotal reports of a rise in verbal abuse against dental staff since the start of the pandemic.
GDPUK has spoken to one corporate practice manager this week about the abuse dental staff have experienced at her site. She wished to remain anonymous.
We asked if there had been an increase in the verbal abuse of staff since the start of the pandemic.
The practice manager told us “Patients become hostile because we don’t have readily available appointments. This happens on a regular basis.”
“A lot of patients complain about the wait for appointments.”
She added that “A lot of patients get ‘shouty.’”
“One patient just shouted b******s at a receptionist the other day, and walked out.”
The manager said that she hasn’t yet had to have an abusive patient ejected, but she does have to be firm.
She told GDPUK “The abusive patients usually go off in a strop when I tell them we have a zero abuse policy, and point out that they can be removed from our books for this behaviour.”
But it isn’t just reception staff who are subject to verbal abuse.
She said that during a face-to-face verbal attack on one associate dentist, a patient called her dentist colleague “A c***.”
The Pulse article said “More than a third (37%) of all respondents said they had experienced verbal abuse first-hand in the most recent month including 51% of GPs and 30% of hospital doctors.”
“One in five (20%) GPs responding to the survey reported being threatened and more than two thirds (67%) had witnessed violence or abuse against other staff members.”
“And 96% of GPs who reported the abuse of colleagues said it was directed at reception staff.”
In February of this year, GDPUK reported on an assault on Dr Chris Ayer, a general dental practitioner in Hull.
Dr Ayer posted a photograph of his black eye on Twitter, saying in his reply to Health Minister Jo Churchill, “I believe that both incidents would not have occurred prior to the new targets imposed last month.”
GDPUK also spoke to a practising GDP earlier in 2021 about his experiences with disgruntled patients during the pandemic.
Also wishing to remain anonymous, he said “Reception have had the worst of it. We’ve had patients on the phone screaming and swearing because they couldn’t have an appointment. One guy said he was going to find my practice manager and rip her head off when he was told to find a new practice after failing to attend three appointments.”
He went on “A woman told my nurse that she knew where she lived and was going to put her windows out after being told she would need to wait for a non-emergency appointment.”
“A guy told me he was going to wait for me after work and kick my teeth out because he had a dry socket after a difficult extraction.”
“The weird thing is that our practice is not in a ‘rough’ area. ****** is not really an area of social deprivation. I’ve worked in some places where there were awful socio-economic problems and I’ve never experienced this level of aggression before.”
The dentist also spoke about a patient who tried to kick the door in because it was locked and he didn’t want to have to ring to get an appointment, “I had to have a word then we banned him.”
But he did find some comfort “We do have lots of wonderful patients who have been really understanding and have had cards and presents which goes a long way to restoring your faith in humanity.”
A British Dental Association survey in 2020 looked at violence and abuse in general dental practice over a three-year period.
The British Dental Journal said “This covered a total of 3078 practice staff and found that overall, 80 per cent of practice personnel (dentist or auxiliary) had experienced some type of aggression at work.”
“Auxiliary personnel appeared twice as likely to experience verbal assaults as dentists. There were also 25 incidents of physical assault by a patient or the relative of a patient recorded, with dentists twice as likely as auxiliary staff to experience actual physical violence.”
Last week, BDA News reported that BDA Northern Ireland had produced new resources to support practices in dealing with abusive patients and tough access conversations.
BDA News said “We know that this has been an unprecedently stressful time for patients, as well as practitioners. However, some dental teams have been experiencing abuse from those they are seeking to help and treat.”
“Abuse of any kind towards dental staff cannot be tolerated and ensuring that all dental staff remain safe is vital.”
The Belfast Telegraph reported this week that staff at dental surgeries are being left in tears at the growing abuse directed at them by aggressive and threatening patients.
"In one distressing incident a 16-year-old who was newly registered with a practice became verbally aggressive and called the dentist a “stupid b****."
"Abuse has become so commonplace that some reception staff are now refusing to answer the telephones, while newly graduated dentists are leaving the profession."
In October 2020, Healthday News reported that a study of 98 New York City metro area dentists found that like their medical colleagues, they also experienced high numbers of both physical and verbal aggression.
“The study, published in the October issue of the Journal of the American Dental Association, found that nearly 1 in 4 dentists have experienced physical aggression and more than half have endured verbal assaults. Attacks on their reputations, including through lawsuits and social media, were also common.”
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