Buckshaw Village Surgery staff member sent home from work after being verbally abused by patient

Recalling the upsetting incident which took place last weekend, Practice Manager Aimee Mughal said: "Last Friday around 4.30pm one of the male patients waiting on a sick note became abusive to one of the receptionists, pointing out a post he had seen in the newspaper about the surgery and continued to tell all the other patients by using foul language.

"He proceeded to throw leaflets and bits of paper he had scrumpled up at the receptionist, refusing to leave.

"When we informed him we had called the police he left before they arrived."

The member of staff who was in a distressed state was sent home by Aimee who then covered her shift.

Over the past couple of week there have been a number of verbal abuse incidents recorded, followed by a more serious one in which a patient physically forced their way into a GP's room and refused to leave until they were seen to.

With the well-being and safety of staff at risk, security staff have since been employed to ensure no-one is on their own.

Aimee who has been Practice Manager since 2018 said she has never witnessed anything of this magnitude: "We have had a lot of this type of behaviour over the past week.

"There is no let up. We can't do the things we want to do as we are fire fighting.

"Covid has been difficult on everybody, but we have never stopped."

Explaining that the constant stream of hate has taken a mental toll on staff, with no-one wanting to work on reception, she added: "They (the staff) will say to me please don't put me on reception - is there anything else I can do?

"It's a Catch-22 situation. I can't have my staff upset.

"It's soul destroying."

Issuing a plea to the public she added: "Be patient with us we are trying our best".