Sheffield MP's call to criminalise abuse of public-facing workers
- Published
Veteran GP Dr Caroline Mitchell said the escalating violence was "unprecedented"
All verbal or physical abuse of public-facing workers should be made a specific criminal offence, a Labour MP has said.
Sheffield Hallam MP Olivia Blake warned of "rising levels" of abuse directed at people who work with the public.
She said: "Covid has made this growing problem even worse but it would be a mistake to think that this is the cause."
A Sheffield GP said it was "not an accident" that NHS staff are quitting.
Dr Caroline Mitchell, a GP of 31 years now at Woodhouse Medical Centre, said the escalating violence was "unprecedented" and "must be stamped out".
"It's not an accident that we're losing staff," she said.
"We've had a doctor slapped in the face in the last few months. It's unprecedented the levels of aggression and anger."
Shop worker Harry Chapman said staff were regularly threatened
Sheffield shop-worker Harry Chapman said he and his colleagues were regularly threatened by a man with a needle.
"It's rather frightening. If we get in his way he gets a needle out," he said.
"He's been arrested by police but he's let out and he just goes and does it again."
Sheffield Hallam MP Olivia Blake is lobbying for the change
Ms Blake said NHS workers have told her of being accosted by anti-vaxxers and Covid deniers.
Journalists also face "increasing harassment, abuse and even assault by far-right groups", she said.
She said she had also spoken to airline cabin crew who talk of increased abuse as they try to enforce social distancing on flights.
Elsewhere, librarians, transport and hospitality workers all face "violence and intimidation from customers" and are "spat at, threatened and physically assaulted" she said.
"We need to see a change in behaviour and a culture of how we treat front-facing workers," Ms Blake said, as she presented the Abuse of Public-Facing Workers Bill in Parliament.
The bill would see specific offences for any verbal or physical abuse of public-facing workers carrying out their duties and will have its second reading in Parliament on 28 January.
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