News & Insights

Practical insights from private GPs, checked and kept up to date, plus dated posts from our archive. New writing goes out first in The Beat.

On the ground posts

On the ground
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?
8 May 2023
On the ground
Life on the ground #3: Why are we seeing this patient?
A patient arrives 25 minutes late, refuses other slots and abuses staff. An off-duty clinician steps in, until the patient overhears an administrator's insult. What more could the practice have done?
1 May 2023
On the ground
Life on the ground #2: Why are we seeing this patient?
A real story from private general practice: a late, abusive patient, an off-duty clinician who steps in, and a remark overheard from the back office. What would you do?
8 September 2022
On the ground
Life on the ground #1: Who pays for vomit damage?
A patient vomits in a shared area of the building before a non-urgent appointment. The practice pays for professional cleaning and asks the patient to cover it. The patient refuses and complains. What should happen?
8 September 2022