Zero Tolerance

Introduction

Guildowns Group Practice Practice operates a zero tolerance policy to any abuse or bad behaviour towards its staff, doctors or other patients. This could be direct or indirect and includes physical, verbal or online abuse.

GPs and staff have a right to care for others without fear of being attacked, abused or treated badly in any way. Mutual respect between our staff and patients has to be in is necessary in order to successfully provide our services. All our staff aim to be polite, helpful, and sensitive to all patients’ individual needs and circumstances. We would respectfully remind patients that very often staff could be confronted with a multitude of varying and sometimes difficult tasks and situations, all at the same time. Similarly, our staff do understand that ill patients do not always act in a reasonable manner and will take this into consideration when trying to deal with a misunderstanding or complaint. However, aggressive behaviour, be it physical, verbal or online, will not be tolerated; such behaviour may result in you being removed from the surgery list and, in extreme cases, the Police being contacted.

In order for the surgery to maintain good relationships with our patients we would like to ask all our patients to read and take note of the occasional types of behaviour we see that are unacceptable:

• Verbal abuse, personal insults, bad language, shouting or raising of voices at or about practice staff or other patients
• Any violence, threats of violence (direct or indirect) towards any member of staff, or to other patients
• Stalking or trolling online including via social media
• Racial, discriminatory or offensive language
• Persistent or unrealistic demands that cause stress to staff
• Bullying or manipulating a staff member
• Damaging property, of threatening to damage property
• Theft
• Obtaining medication, products, treatment or services fraudulently.

Removal from the surgery list

The removal of patients from our list is an exceptional and rare event and is a last resort in an impaired patient-surgery relationship. We value and respect good patient-doctor relationships based on mutual respect and trust. When trust has irretrievably broken down, the surgery will consider all factors before removing a patient from their list, and communicate to them that it is in the patient’s best interest that they should find a new surgery. An exception to this is in the case of immediate removal on the grounds of violence e.g. when the Police are involved.

Removing other members of the household

Because of the possible need to visit patients at home, it may be necessary to terminate responsibility for other members of the family or the entire household to ensure the safety of surgery staff.

The prospect of visiting patients that is the residence of a relative who is no longer a patient of the surgery, or the risk of being regularly confronted by the removed patient, may make it difficult for the surgery to continue to look after the whole family. This is more likely where the removed patient has been violent or displayed threatening behaviour, and keeping the other family members could put doctors or their staff at risk.