Life on the ground #4: A patient is verbally abusing my front-desk staff. How do I handle this?
A patient charged for a missed appointment verbally abuses reception staff, disrupting consultations. Act and risk losing a valued family, or do nothing and appear to tolerate abuse of staff?
From the archive
First published on 8 May 2023 and kept for reference. Details may have changed since then.
Despite the NHS being a free service, patients often feel remarkably entitled when it comes to accessing resources. Complaints about patient behaviour are sadly all too common from NHS GPs and staff. While removing a patient from an NHS list is possible in theory, in practice it is often more hassle than it is worth.
In the private sector, a clinician in theory keeps complete control over who they choose to see, or not see. However, practices also have to contend with the heightened expectations of patients who, having paid for their appointments, often feel an enhanced sense of entitlement.
Recently our clinical team overheard a patient verbally abusing our staff at the front desk. The patient was frustrated, irate even, that they were being charged for an appointment they had not attended.
The anger started at a reasonably proportionate level, but grew to the point of disrupting ongoing consultations. The patient was important to the practice, but abuse of staff was not acceptable.
If the lead clinician took action against the patient, they risked losing the patient and their entire family from the practice. On the other hand, if no action was taken, the practice would be seen to tolerate abuse of its staff, which clearly isn't palatable.
Over to you
How would you deal with a situation like this?
