Criminal acts of violence at UK GP surgeries almost double in five years

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Criminal acts of violence at GP surgeries across the UK have almost doubled in five years, new figures reveal, as doctors’ leaders warn of a perfect storm of soaring demand and staff shortages.

Police are now recording an average of three violent incidents at general practices every day. Staff are facing unprecedented assaults, abuse and aggression by patients, with surgeries struggling to cope with “unmanageable levels of demand” after years of failure to recruit or retain sufficient numbers of family doctors.

Security measures such as CCTV, panic buttons and screens at reception are now increasingly being rolled out across GP surgeries, the Guardian has learned, with senior medics claiming ministers perpetuate a myth that services are “closed”.

In 2021-22, there were 1,068 criminal incidents of violence at health centres and surgeries, according to figures obtained under freedom of information laws by the BMJ. Doctors warned the officially recorded crimes were only “the tip of a much, much bigger iceberg” faced by health staff.

Last night, Britain’s two most senior doctors condemned the wave of violence and called for urgent action to finally resolve the workforce crisis.

“It is unacceptable that GPs and their staff are afraid and at risk of being verbally or physically abused, when they are working amid exceptional pressures and striving to do their best for patients,” said Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the British Medical Association. “GP practices are facing unmanageable levels of demand with 2,000 fewer GPs than in 2015.”

He added it was “no surprise” that patients were struggling to get appointments because of the national “lack of capacity” and “lack of historic investment in general practice”.

In 2015, Jeremy Hunt, the then health secretary, pledged to hire 5,000 more GPs within five years – but the total went down instead of up. In their 2019 manifesto, the Conservatives promised to recruit 6,000 more GPs by 2024, but Sajid Javid, the current health secretary, admitted last November that they were unlikely to hit their target.

Dr Martin Marshall, chair of the Royal College of GPs, warned the rising tide of violence could see more staff quitting. “The vast majority of patients appreciate that GPs and our teams right across the country are doing the best we can under immense pressure and treat our staff with respect,” he said. “But increased levels of abuse, as shown in this report, will be having a significant impact on the mental health, wellbeing and morale of individual doctors and practice staff.”

He added: “This, alongside the intense pressures GPs and our teams are working under, and sustained media and political scrutiny of our new ways of working since the pandemic, are undoubtedly contributing to some people evaluating whether they’re able to continue working in general practice.”

The BMJ sent freedom of information requests to the 45 police forces in the UK asking for the number of recorded crimes committed at GP surgeries and how each crime was categorised. In total, 42 forces sent responses, 32 of which were able to provide comparable data for the last five years.

The 32 forces recorded 1,068 incidents of violence at health centres and GP surgeries in 2021-22, compared to 791 in 2020-21 and 586 in 2017-18. Within these figures, there were 182 assaults resulting in injury last year, the highest for five years and almost double the 98 recorded in 2017-18.

Recorded incidents of stalking and harassment at GP surgeries have almost tripled over the past five years, with 223 instances last year compared to 85 in 2017-18. Public-order offences such as threatening behaviour also jumped by 24% last year from 438 to 541 and are up 40% on five years ago (387).

Richard Van Mellaerts, a GP in Kingston upon Thames and an executive officer for the BMA’s GP committee, said the figures matched the experiences of doctors on the frontline, including his own. “I regularly hear abuse directed at reception staff in my practice, we’ve had to call the police several times over the last year,” he said.

He added: “Some sections of the media have driven a view that general practice was closed during the pandemic, which is of course the opposite of the truth. Unfortunately, that opinion has been adopted by some people, and that’s been a driver for some of the aggression. That’s not been adequately quashed by the government, which could have taken the opportunity to be more supportive of general practice.”

Richard Vautrey, a GP in Leeds and former chair of the BMA’s GP committee, said the officially recorded crimes of violence were only “the tip of a much, much bigger iceberg” of the incidents occurring in general practice. Staff are now facing “often daily abuse”, he said.

NHS England described the violence as “despicable” and said it “will not tolerate abuse or violence towards its staff”.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Deliberate violence or abuse directed at NHS staff, who continue to work tirelessly to provide care, is unacceptable – all staff, including GPs and their teams, deserve to work in a safe and secure environment.

“The NHS violence reduction programme aims to protect the workforce and ensure offenders are punished quickly and effectively, and the government has taken action to support this – including by passing legislation to double the maximum sentence for assaults on emergency workers, including those in the NHS.”