One-Third of Doctors Attacked By Patients Many of the Incidents of Violence Go Unreported
By HELEN PUTTICK and JAMIE BORTHWICK
ONE in three doctors was verbally or physically attacked last year, a survey reveals today.
More than half of those victimised decided not to report the incident, according to the research published by the British Medical Association.
The findings follow two violent assaults last year on GPs based in the west of Scotland.
Dr Helen Jackson, who had worked in general practice for 28 years, was stabbed in her surgery in the west end of Glasgow last summer and Dr Arun Rai, a GP in Clydebank, was taken to the Western Infirmary after he was beaten up in his surgery in November.
Dr Dean Marshall, a member of the BMA’s Scottish Council and chairman of the Scottish General Practitioners Committee, said it was “incredibly disturbing” that so many violent incidents experienced by doctors were not reported.
He said: “Sadly, this means that official statistics are only the tip of the iceberg and do not reflect the true number of attacks against NHS workers in Scotland.
“The increasing level of acceptance of such incidents by the medical profession needs to be addressed. Violence should not be an accepted part of a health care professional’s working life.”
Nearly 600 doctors working across Britain were questioned for the research last autumn, of which 13% were based in Scotland.
The violence experienced ranged from a water bomb being thrown to being shot at with a gun. Doctors also described being kicked, bitten, punched and knifed.
Dissatisfaction with the health service, including frustration about waiting times and refusals to prescribe medication, were the most frequent triggers of aggression. This has doubled as a cause of violence since 2003, when the BMA last conducted the survey.
The Scottish Government has taken steps to extend the Emergency Workers Act . . . which allows for tougher punishments for those who attack ambulance workers, doctors, nurses and midwives working in a hospital or responding to an emergency.
New legislation extending this protection to GPs, other doctors, nurses or midwives working in the community was laid before the Scottish Parliament last month.
Dr Marshall said it was “encouraging” that ministers had taken action.
“The extension of this legislation sends out a powerful message that violence will not be tolerated and will not go unpunished, ” he said.
“While it will not eliminate this violence altogether, it adds an additional layer of protection which is to be welcomed.
“However, more must also be done to reduce the number of violent incidents against health workers.”
Dr Marshall said training on how to manage potentially violent situations should be available across the NHS.
He stressed that patients should be made aware of what is acceptable behaviour, and added: “When incidents are reported they must be followed up by the appropriate action and counselling.”
Liberal Democrat health spokesman Ross Finnie said: “It is particularly worrying that so many doctors do not report incidences of violence. Work must be done to uncover why doctors are shying away from reporting these incidences.”
History of aggression
December 2007 Frank McDade, 45, is arrested in connection with an alleged assault on GP Dr Arun Rai at Clydebank Health Centre in West Dunbartonshire.
August 2007 Dr Helen Jackson is stabbed in her Hyndland surgery, suffering serious stomach wounds. Ian MacGregor, 62, is charged with the attack.
October 2006 John McKay is jailed for two years for waiting with a knife and a loaded air rifle in Lightburn Medical Centre, Glasgow, for Dr Alan McKenzie. McKay believed the GP had insulted his girlfriend.
July 2006 Police set up a security base inside Victoria Infirmary in Glasgow after three separate assaults on doctors in the space of a few days.
April 2006 A 20-year-old man is arrested after an assault on a doctor outside Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.
March 2005 Craig McClelland, 27, is jailed for headbutting and racially abusing Dr Dunsta Nathan at South Beach Surgery in Ardrossan. The GP had disagreed with a request to be signed off work sick.
October 2002 Nurse Roseann Stenhouse has her nose broken when Stephen Brown,18, headbutts her in Vale of Leven Hospital.
November 2000 Cheryl Folan, 23, attacks and pulls out a chunk of Staff Nurse Nicola Harkness’s hair in Glasgow Western Infirmary.
October 1994 Andrew Wylie murders 56year-old Dr Donald MacKay in a frenzied attack at Bank House Medical Centre, Airdrie. Wylie blamed Dr MacKay for the wrong diagnosis of his sister.
Originally published by Newsquest Media Group.
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