There has been an “extraordinary” increase in abuse aimed at GP teams, which is contributing to family doctors leaving the profession, one of England’s leading medics has suggested.
Dr Claire Fuller, primary care medical director for NHS England, said it is not acceptable to “bash” GPs, who are “exhausted” and working “flat out”.
“When you talk to GPs about why they leave, they say one is about the workload and the other one is about respect,” Dr Fuller told the PA news agency.
So if you think about practice managers, every day, will get a phone call from a patient that says, 'If I die today, it'll be your fault'
She said “from the respect point of view” the “increase in violence to members of primary care teams is extraordinary that has happened, from attacks, both physical and verbal”.
Dr Fuller added: “So if you think about practice managers, every day, will get a phone call from a patient that says, ‘If I die today, it’ll be your fault’.
“And these are people that are working part-time, on low incomes, that are receiving this level of abuse from the public.”
The comments come after a poll found more than 80% of GP teams in the UK have been verbally attacked by patients.
The Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland (MDDUS) surveyed 1,855 doctors in October 2024, with 690 GPs responding.
Of the family doctors that took part, some 84% said their team had suffered verbal abuse.
More than a quarter (28%) said they or their team had been the victim of physical violence from patients, while more than a third (35%) said they had suffered racial abuse and 15% told the poll they had been the victim of sexual abuse.
Dr John Holden, chief medical officer at the MDDUS, said: “Violence and abuse towards NHS staff can have a devastating impact on people already under intense systemic pressure, with many now having to take time off sick or deciding they have no option but to leave their profession completely.”
It does matter when you keep reading in the press what a terrible job you're doing when you're exhausted and you've worked flat out and you haven't had any lunch - people are working really hard, and something has happened that has changed in that narrative
Dr Fuller also spoke of “a constant narrative that GPs are not doing what they should be” in the media.
“Yet the evidence we’re getting is the experience is improving,” she told PA.
“So it has now become acceptable to bash GPs, and that’s not OK.
“I’m hearing that from every GP I speak to.
“And people do leave because they’ve just had enough.
“It does matter when you keep reading in the press what a terrible job you’re doing when you’re exhausted and you’ve worked flat out and you haven’t had any lunch – people are working really hard, and something has happened that has changed in that narrative.”
However, Dr Fuller said there have been improvements in general practice emerging.
“There’s variation, but actually we’re starting to see improvement around the country,” she said.
It's not perfect everywhere. We still need to make it better, but it is starting to get better
“Not only have we got more GPs, fewer GPs leaving, but we are also starting to see that patients’ experience of access is starting to improve.
“It’s not perfect everywhere.
“We still need to make it better, but it is starting to get better.”
Dr Fuller was speaking at a consultation event for the upcoming 10 Year Health Plan in Liverpool.
The blueprint will focus on shifting more care from hospital to the community, as well as preventing ill health and a greater use of data and technology.
She said that “all members of primary care” will play a “massive role” in those shifts.
It comes as new NHS figures revealed more than 316,000 pharmacy consultations for the contraceptive pill have been carried out since a scheme launched in April 2023.
Dr Fuller said: “Contraception is terribly important, as we know.
“And for many women, contraception is an incredibly important part of just our day-to-day lives, and we need to make it just as easy as possible and not over-medicalise something that it should be part of just how you live your life.
“So actually, being able to go to the community pharmacies who are open at weekends with longer opening hours, so they don’t have to take time off work to get an appointment or to phone and go by the GP, just makes it easier for people to live their lives in the way that works for them.”
Dr Fuller expects the number of women taking part in the scheme to increase in the future.
“I think it’s very much word of mouth spread through different communities, so I expect it to continue to grow,” she said.
