A GP surgery has given its staff self-defence training because they are concerned about a rise in violence from patients.
Keighley Road Surgery in Halifax, West Yorkshire, has taught staff how to protect themselves in case they are attacked.
The announcement came after NHS figures revealed more than 3,000 people had to be banned from seeing their doctor in 2018 because of their abusive behaviour.
And health service staff say they witnessed rising levels of physical and verbal abuse among the approximately 300million GP appointments last year.
Keighley Road Surgery in Halifax, West Yorkshire (pictured) paid for its staff to have self-defence training amid concerns about rising levels of abuse from patients
NHS figures reported by the BBC revealed thousands of people were so badly behaved they were added to the health service’s register of violent or abusive patients, the Special Allocation Scheme, in 2018.
Will Menzies, the business manager at Halifax’s Keighley Road Surgery, said the practice decided to teach staff self-defence after a patient threatened to kill him.
He told the BBC: ‘Two years ago, a patient rang the surgery wanting some medicine and he became increasingly aggressive.
‘The call was put through to me and the man said “prepare yourself, I’m coming to the surgery to kill you”.’
Staff working at the surgery recently asked for training on how to defend themselves in the event of an attack, Mr Menzies said – he called the abuse a ‘growing issue’.
In another surgery, in Leeds, a practice nurse said patients are getting increasingly angry when they don’t get what they want.
The woman, known under the pseudonym Lucy, told the BBC: ‘I know one nurse who’s been assaulted in the surgery, and I’ve been left scared dealing with verbally abusive patients.
‘There was an appointment where a patient became so aggressive towards me that I had to make sure I could get to the door, because I thought he was going to hit me.’
Freedom of Information figures released by the NHS showed 3,024 people were added to the register of abusive patients in 2018.
Birmingham and Solihull’s local NHS group was the worst affected, with more than 100 patients put on the list.