The practice fully supports the NHS Zero Tolerance Policy. The aim of this policy is to tackle the increasing problem of verbal and physical abuse against staff working in the NHS and ensures that doctors and their staff have a right to care for others without fear of being attacked or abused. We understand that ill patients do not always act in a reasonable manner and always take this into consideration when trying to deal with a misunderstanding or complaint. We ask you to treat your doctors and their staff courteously and act reasonably. For this reason, we may record incoming patient calls with our reception, dispensary and admin teams in order to ensure that we are able to review both sides of any dispute.

If a patient’s behaviour has been unreasonable, this will be followed up and the patient will be sent a formal warning initially and may be removed from the practice list for repeated behaviour. However, aggressive behaviour, be it violent or verbal abusive, will not be tolerated and may result in the patient being removed from the Practice list and, in extreme cases, the Police will be contacted if an incident is taking place and the patient is posing a threat to staff or other patients.