Violence Still A Reality For GPs - BMA Comments On BBC Frontline Scotland Report

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 13 Feb 2006 - 6:00 PDT

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Commenting on the last edition of Frontline Scotland on violence at work (BBC 1, Wednesday 8 February 2006), the BMA once again called for greater protection for healthcare workers in the community.

The programme highlighted the experience of Dr Mustafa Kapasi, a retired GP, who spoke of some of the most traumatic experiences of his career. Dramatic reconstructions revealed details of an attack at a patient's home where he was beaten with a piece of wood, another demonstrated how death threats against GPs had led them to close the Practice in order to protect patients and staff at the health centre.

Dr Kapasi, who has worked as a GP for 28 years, said:

"When I first entered general practice, doctors were like a member of the family. I never thought I would have to fear my patients. Unfortunately that is the situation we are in now."

The programme revealed that last year there were 23,572 violent incidents against healthcare workers in Scotland. Figures for Lothian showed that 9,000 incidents took place in primary care.

Dr Kapasi suggested that this is just the tip of the iceberg:

"These are only the cases that are reported. I would guess that if you multiplied that figure by 20 it would be more realistic. Almost every day staff in our practice report that they have received verbal abuse over the telephone. However we know that nothing will be done and accept it as the norm, just part of the job."

Dr David Love, Joint Chairman of the BMA's Scottish General Practitioners Committee, said:

"Violence at work is completely unacceptable and it is deeply concerning that doctors visiting patients at home are potentially placing their lives at risk.

"Society has changed and the programme demonstrated that workers in a range of professions are increasingly facing violence in their daily working lives. However this does not mean that we should accept it.

"Legislation now protects some health workers*, but not others. It is not fair that a GP attending to a patient in the community is not afforded the same protection as a doctor working in a hospital. Public awareness campaigns repeatedly reveal the extent of the problem, but they are clearly not the solution.

"One of the biggest problems we face is that we do not know the scale of the problem. Violence and abuse is not part of the job and health professionals must report every incident so that we can demonstrate to the Scottish Executive that this is a very real problem that requires tough action."

The programme Frontline Scotland - Violence at Work can be viewed online at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland

*In 2005 the Scottish Parliament passed the Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act. This legislation, which increases penalties on individuals who assault or are violent towards certain groups of public sector workers, covers all doctors working in hospitals and to those attending to emergency situations. The BMA has called for this legislation to be extended to protect GPs working in their practices in local communities, particularly when they are on home visits (which is not considered an emergency situation).

http://www.bma.org.uk

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