This practice considers aggressive behaviour to be any personal comments, abusive and/or aggressive comments, cursing and/or swearing, physical contact and aggressive gestures.

No abuse of staff is acceptable whether verbal or physical. All abuse will be reported to the practice manager who will keep a log of all incidents.

All physical abuse from any of our patients is reported to the police. The patient will then be removed immediately from our list. If the police are not informed, the health authority will inform the patient of the need to register with a new doctor.

Any incident of verbal abuse whether in person or on the telephone should be reported immediately to the practice manager. Staff will warn patients to refrain from using abusive language and will terminate the call if abusive language continues.

If appropriate, the practice manager a formal letter will be sent to the patient. A copy will be kept in a separate file.

All incidents will be reported to the practice manager or to a GP (in the absence of the practice manager) who will take appropriate further action.