GP staff abuse: Staffordshire NHS workers 'leaving in droves'

Receptionists at GP surgeries in Staffordshire are "walking out in droves" due to abuse from angry patients, a health boss said.

Staff report abuse in the streets and in a recent case, a patient vaulted over a reception desk and physically attacked staff, Lynn Millar said.

She is the director of primary care for the county's clinical commissioning groups.

The NHS is trying to improve access to appointments, Ms Millar added.

County councillors heard about a "whole spectrum of abuse" from her at a scrutiny meeting this week, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reported.

They heard "the abuse is pretty widespread" and Ms Millar said a campaign has been launched to tackle the abuse.

Concerns about a lack of access to GP surgeries was raised in the meeting by Uttoxeter councillor Philip Atkins who said "people are frustrated".

Ms Millar said they were working on the issue but the volume of phone calls was a huge problem with "100,000 calls a week in our practices".

"I do recognise that people are frustrated," she added but said the abuse was leading to receptionist staff "walking out in droves, so we have got an added problem now".

"We've got even less staff than we did 12-18 months ago and people don't want to come and work in a doctors' surgery because of the levels of abuse, which I will say is daily."

The campaign against abuse includes a video featuring GP staff talking anonymously about abuse they have faced including being sworn at and threatened with violence.