“If I die, it will be your fault,” is just one of the many abusive comments heard by GP reception staff throughout the UK. The survey of 571 PMs*, featured on the forum yesterday, revealed more than 75% of staff suffer daily abuse from patients.
With the majority (78%) facing threatening behaviour, racist or sexist abuse from patients, and 83% reporting having called the police for help, today the Institute of General Practice Management (IGPM) launch their campaign to end all abuse towards general practice staff.
Campaign version (2 minutes):
Full version (4 minutes):
This impactful video contains real-life examples of patient interactions from practices across the UK. These include:
- GP staff whose tyres were slashed by a patient who had not been able to get an appointment that day;
- A receptionist with Chinese heritage, who received racist abuse and was spat on in relation to the Covid-19 virus;
- Daily verbal threats including the common phrase: “If I die, it will be your fault”.
The survey of 571 GP practice managers showed that 83% have had to remove a patient from the surgery due to multiple incidents towards their team. Much abuse goes unreported and national annual data on physical assaults against NHS staff are no longer published. The ‘If I die it will be your fault’ campaign aims to raise awareness of the zero-tolerance approach to abuse and encourage all practice staff to feel confident about reporting incidents.
The campaign video can be found here, with practices up and down the country joining forces to share the message that abuse towards practice staff must stop.
*A survey on Practice Index taken this week, of a sample size of 571 practice managers (confidence level of 95%)
May 21, 2021 at 7:53 am
At last – I have been asking communication teams for some years now to support us in primary care and have a hard hitting campaign of what we have to put up with and without support . The only support offered previously has been a “poster” to put up. After 50 years in primary care I am passionate about this issue and happy to support or promote any campaign it is long overdue that we have a voice and are heard. We should not have to stand for this any longer.
May 21, 2021 at 9:33 am
Thank you Pauline!
May 21, 2021 at 8:14 am
Fabulous video. Shared on our Facebook page, Twitter, and our website. This is what our staff need!! Thank you!!!
May 21, 2021 at 9:34 am
Thank you!
May 21, 2021 at 9:35 am
Thank you for the comments! We appreciate the support
May 21, 2021 at 8:34 am
About time something was said or done as it is always the receptionists fault, never 2 sides to a story. Well done and thank you
May 21, 2021 at 9:35 am
Absolutely. They bear the brunt whilst having very little actual authority.
May 21, 2021 at 10:47 am
Would it be possible to produce versions of both without sound so we could put them on the media screen in our waiting room. Would we need your permission to broadcast them?
they are both great, thanks for doing this – long overdue
May 21, 2021 at 10:53 am
This is brilliant, well done all
May 21, 2021 at 11:04 am
Having started out as a medical receptionist 26 years ago I understand first hand how hard the receptionists work and how much abuse they receive on a daily basis which seems to have increased more and more over the years. I cried watching this video, the same comments were made to me as a receptionist 26 years ago! It is now time to make a stand so that it doesn’t continue for another 26 years …..
Thank you for putting this together I will add it to our Facebook page.
May 23, 2021 at 6:17 pm
Thank you for a really good video every comment on the video i have heard in 25 years as a gp receptionist
May 24, 2021 at 2:30 pm
Excellent video. I first heard the “If I die, it will be your fault” line shortly after taking up my first practice manager post over 20 years ago. Behaviour of this sort of patient has not improved, despite the “Zero Tolerance” posters. In fact, I believe that leaving it to GP practices to wield the “zero tolerance” defence virtually alone has not helped. Actually, it always made me uncomfortable to have those posters up – appearing to berate the majority of our patients who never gave us trouble. It needs a much bigger media campaign to educate the public about the constraints on GP resources; how much inappropriate use is made of GP services and show the public what GP staff have to put up with daily as a result. And it needs more powerful voices than those in individual GP practices to say “This must stop”.
June 29, 2021 at 4:45 pm
It is relentless, our reception staff are amazing, everyone of them cares about our patients, they do everything they can to help, in return they come to work to be abused. No other employer would allow this to happen to their staff. Even in hospitals they can call security…
As Martin Luther King Jr said “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter”.
Have we become silent?
October 9, 2023 at 5:44 pm
This is brilliant and we advertised it when it was first published – are there any plans to make an updated version? Sadly, the levels of abuse our staff are experiencing are at an all time high at the moment….