NHS Lanarkshire staff reduced to tears by unprecedented verbal abuse

Medical staff in one of Scotland's largest health boards have warned the levels of abuse directed at them is worse than ever before.

NHS Lanarkshire said frontline health workers had been reduced to tears by aggressive verbal attacks.

Managers believe it is fuelled by the rising number of patients on hospital waiting lists since the start of the Covid pandemic two years ago.

Staff are now being given special training to handle such behaviour.

A social media campaign, urging patients to be respectful, has also been launched to highlight the issue.

• More than half a million on Scottish hospital waiting lists

• Covid in Scotland: 'Harsh reality' of abuse faced by NHS staff

Eddie Docherty said a problem previously associated with A&E wards at the weekend is now a daily occurrence across the health and social care sector.

Mr Docherty, NHS Lanarkshire's executive director of nursing and midwifery, told BBC Scotland: "We are getting more and more concerns expressed by our staff and it is starting to feel quite personal in some of the abuse that they are facing.

"A number of the nursing staff, HPs [health professionals], everyone, are saying the abuse they are facing is something they have never experienced in their career before."

Eddie Docherty said staff are facing increasing levels of verbal abuse at work

Last month it emerged 538,000 people are on a hospital waiting list in Scotland.

And about one in 10 of those has been waiting - for routine care such as knee and hip surgery - for more than a year.

The frustration of managing their pain now frequently results in heated confrontations with NHS staff.

Mr Docherty said: "We are seeing a level of verbal aggression that you would have historically seen in a Friday night in A&E. Now we are seeing it continually, across the piece."

He added that it is "upsetting and concerning" how deeply the problem has escalated.

Mr Docherty said that the level of public support his staff received during the pandemic was immense but as restrictions ease the attitudes of some patients on waiting lists had changed.

And the health board has been forced to take action to combat the problem.

He said: "We are actually now having to take staff out of busy jobs to train them in dealing with that level of aggression at a time when I need them most at the front line.

"While we absolutely give respect to our patients and clients what we would always hope is that respect is given straight back to us and we are starting to lose some of that."

Laura Hamilton said members of her team had been reduced to tears after dealing with irate patients

Laura Hamilton, business support manager for trauma and orthopaedics, said the morale of her staff was very low due to the volume of abuse they have to deal with.

Her team have to inform patients that their operations have been cancelled, sometimes at short notice.

She said: "One of the main themes I have had over the last couple of months is staff being called 'useless', which is very demoralising for them.

"They are absolutely not useless. Our staff have been phenomenal throughout this pandemic."

The toll the abuse has taken has made some consider their future in the NHS.

She added: "I've had staff phone or turn up at the door in tears about conversations that they have had with patients.

"I've had staff say 'I don't know how much longer I can do this job'."

'Incredible pain'

Ms Hamilton said some callers told staff they face losing their job and being unable to pay their mortgage as their wait for surgery goes on.

She added: "We are here to help but we need the public's help as well to just be kind to our staff and remember that we are human."

Linzi Munro, who features in the new social media campaign, empathises with the patients who call looking for updates on their procedures.

Ms Munro said: "I often put myself in their position or a family member in their position having to wait and it's sad. They are in incredible pain and it's difficult to deal with."

Asked if she often bears the brunt of their anger, she said: "Definitely. The frustration brings the anger and they can be unpleasant calls at times."

Linzi Munro is among several NHS Lanarkshire staff who feature in the new campaign

Ms Munro, care home liaison nurse team leader, said staff worked long hours and made many sacrifices during the pandemic.

Over the past couple of years she thinks the abuse is getting worse.

She added: "It's really difficult when you are being shouted at, sworn at and you feel that you have absolutely give 110% and have used everything you possibly can for your patients."

Ms Munro hopes the new video will have a positive impact.

She said: "It doesn't take much to be kind and courteous.

"We are all human. There is a person beneath the uniform."