Doctors 'not reporting attacks'

Most doctors do not report incidents of abuse

More than half of doctors who are abused by patients do not report the incident, new figures show.

A survey by the British Medical Association (BMA) found one in three doctors had experienced some form of violence in the past year.

But 52% of doctors did not report the incident.

The BMA's Dr Dean Marshall said: "It is incredibly disturbing that more than half of the violent incidents against doctors are not being reported."

Public health minister Shona Robison said any form of abuse against any NHS workers was completely unacceptable.

In the past six months a GP was beaten up in his Glasgow consulting room while another was stabbed in her surgery in the city's west end.

Sadly, this means that official statistics are only the tip of the iceberg Dr Dean Marshall

About 600 doctors responded to a BMA survey and a third revealed they had suffered some form of violence including threats and verbal abuse.

Physical attacks documented included being stabbed, kicked, punched, bitten and spat at.

Dr Marshall, a member of the BMA's Scottish Council and chair of the Scottish General Practitioners Committee, said: "Sadly, this means that official statistics are only the tip of the iceberg and do not reflect the true number of attacks against NHS workers in Scotland.

"The apparently increasing level of acceptance of such incidents by the medical profession needs to be addressed; violence should not be an accepted part of any health care professional's working life."

'Legal protection'

Dr Marshall welcomed moves by the Scottish Government to extend the Emergency Workers Act - which allows for tougher punishments for those who attack ambulance workers, doctors, nurses and midwives working in a hospital or responding to an emergency.

The public health minister said: "The Emergency Workers Act currently provides legal protection to nurses and doctors in hospitals and to ambulance staff.

"We have laid regulations in parliament to extend the act to GPs, other doctors, nurses and midwives working in the community."

Ms Robison said this would be considered by the Scottish Parliament's Justice Committee next week.