Merchiston Surgery put out an open letter to patients after a rise in the number of threats and abuse faced by its health workers.

GP practices in the region have seen a spike in activity in the space of 12 months, with 388,391 primary care appointments being carried out last month in Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and North East Somerset, an increase of 73 per cent compared to the previous year. 

A spokesperson for the surgery on Highworth Road, Stratton St Margaret told the Adver: “This is unacceptable, we have always had a zero-tolerance policy towards abuse of all kinds and pre-Covid had cause to give written warnings to some patients. 

“However, there has been a significant increase in the verbal abuse that our staff are experiencing from some patients since the beginning of lockdown easing. There have also been recent instances when patients have caused physical damage to our property.”

“Receptionists are regularly being threatened verbally by patients, which is distressing for all staff working at Merchiston Surgery. This reflects what is happening in many areas of the country.”

Those incidents have directly affected the workers’ mental health and resilience. The spokesperson said: “At a time when the NHS is experiencing unprecedented demand for appointments in primary care and our staff are delivering Covid vaccinations at Steam – often on their days off or after their usual shift – this added pressure is unfair to staff who have worked throughout the pandemic and do their absolute best every day to help patients. 

“Thank you for those patients who have sent us messages and letters of support – we appreciate them so much.”

In the letter sent to patients and published on its website, the surgery said in extreme circumstances patients abusing staff may be removed from its patient list. 

It read: “You may be aware from press and social media reports that there is increased demand for appointments nationally and at Merchiston we are currently experiencing unprecedented levels of requests for GP and nursing appointments.

“As we are still in the Covid pandemic, the NHS recommends that we triage or phone back every patient who wants advice from a nurse, doctor or other healthcare professional.”

The surgery cannot offer GP appointments to book in advance. “These appointments are for routine matters and acute problems and are bookable same day in the morning from 8am and in the afternoon from 12. Clinic days and times vary for individual GPs and may change from week to week. 

“We also have a daily triage GP available to deal with clinically urgent same day requests from patients. This GP decides what and when treatment is appropriate.”

Dr Andrew Girdher, clinical chair of Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group said: “It is very concerning to hear of this behaviour, especially given that practice staff have played such a vital role in ensuring everyday health and care was able to continue in a Covid-safe way throughout the pandemic, while at the same time being the absolute driving force behind the extensive rollout of the coronavirus vaccine.  

“My colleagues, like others in the NHS, do all they can to provide high quality care on a daily basis and, while we recognise the last year has been very difficult for everyone and that some may feel frustration at being asked to wait for an appointment as teams prioritise those most in need, threatening or abusive behaviour is never acceptable.”