Violent and Abusive Behaviour
As an employer, the Practice has a duty to care for the health and safety of its staff. The Practice also has a legal responsibility to provide a safe and secure working environment for staff. All patients are expected to behave in an acceptable manner and violent or abusive behaviour towards staff or patients may result in removal from our Practice list or even criminal proceedings. The Practice follows the NHS guidance concerning Zero Tolerance of verbal and physical violence towards GP’s, staff or other patients.
The Practice will request the removal of any patient from the Practice list who is aggressive or abusive towards a doctor, member of staff, other patient, or who damages property.
All instances of actual physical abuse on any doctor or member of staff, by a patient or their relatives will be reported to the police as an assault.
We expect all patients to be responsible and avoid attending the surgery under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs. Any alteration of prescriptions is illegal and will not be tolerated.
If you are unhappy with the quality of service you have the right to register with another practice without notifying us. Similarly, on the very rare occasions when a patient repeatedly ignores their responsibilities to the Practice, we have the right to remove the patient from our Practice list.
Examples of Unacceptable Standards of Behaviour
- Excessive noise eg. re-current loud or intrusive conversation or shouting
- Violence
- Threatening or abusive language involving swearing or offence remarks
- Derogatory racial or sexual remarks
- Malicious allegations relating to members of staff, other patients or visitors
- Offensive sexual gestures or behaviours
- Abusing alcohol or drugs on Practice premises
- Drug dealing on Practice premises
- Wilful damage to Practice property
- Threats or threatening behaviour
- Theft
Zero Tolerance
Our staff have the right to be treated with dignity and respect at all times. They should be able to do their jobs without being physically or verbally abused. Anyone found abusing staff in person or on the telephone will be asked to leave the Practice. This behaviour will not be tolerated.
Removal from the List
In exceptional circumstances, a breakdown may occur between a doctor and a patient. If the breakdown is of a serious nature eg. serious physical or verbal abuse to any member of the Practice team, the doctors may feel that the doctor/patient relationship has been compromised. Steps may be taken to remove the patient from the Practice list. Reasons for removal will be given in writing.
Reviewed: January 19
Consultation (Data Security)
The doctors and nurses at this practice use a computer system to record clinical data about our patients. This may be done during the consultation. Do let us know if your registration details (dates of birth, address, telephone numbers etc.) or any other information is incorrect so that we can your records accurate and up to date.
Security Protocol
Our practice is connected electronically to the NHS Net which is a secure network and allows protected access to the internet. Your clinical data is held separately and cannot be accessed from outside of the surgery. We have implemented a detailed security protocol and we will not send clinical data outside of this surgery by electronic or other means without your consent.