GP staff tell of death threats after hundreds of reports of abuse

Dr Loke said she was not frightened by the incident, but abuse took its toll.

“It’s stressful enough to work in a surgery because you have to cope with a lot of complex issues and you need to maintain your cool with patients who are anxious and depressed,” she said.

“And yet you have all this in the background, so it’s quite distressing.”

Most of the patients she saw were “good”, but attitudes had changed because of an “on-demand” and consumer culture.

“Patients think they are customers with rights,” she said. “They think they can just call the GP surgery and get antibiotics in the same way they go to McDonald’s and order an ice cream.”

Dr Loke said general practice was becoming a less attractive place for people to work.

She feared the issue could start to affect staffing levels and called on patients “to modify their behaviour for general practice to survive”.

Brian McGregor, who chair’s the BMA’s Yorkshire regional council, described the police figures as “disappointing and concerning”.

“Even one incident of abuse against GPs and their teams is unacceptable,” he said.

“The current pressures and lack of staff can make it harder for our patients to get the care they need, but people must not take out their frustrations with the system on GPs and their staff – people who are often doing their best in difficult circumstances.”

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