94% of Scots docs report verbal abuse

Shortage of new recruits leads to Durnt-out and exhausted’ GPs

- VIVIENNE AITKEN

ALMOST all Scots GPs have reported being verbally abused by patients in the last year.

A staggering 94 per cent of family doctors reported abuse in a recent survey.

The survey for the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland (MDDUS) showed 12 per cent of those affected had to call the police to deal with aggresive patients.

GPs identified key triggers including lack of access to a face-to-face consultation and complaints about their quality of care as the factors which most often escalated to verbal abuse.