Zero Tolerance Policy

Our clinicians will always work with you and use a process of ‘shared decision-making’ in order to achieve the best possible outcomes for your health. Nevertheless, it is natural there will occasionally be disagreements between a clinician and a patient over the treatment plan. In these situations, the best way to address this is for you to inform the clinician what it is you were hoping to achieve from the consultation (e.g. a referral, a stronger painkiller etc), rather than not speaking up about it at the time and feeling disappointed about the consultation later on.

Your GP/nurse/pharmacist/advanced nurse practitioner would like to know sooner rather than later if you are unhappy with what has been suggested.

However, we would ask that any disagreements are raised in a polite manner. In keeping with the NHS-wide ‘Zero Tolerance Policy’, we take abuse of our staff (physical or verbal) very seriously.

You would not expect your healthcare provider to shout at, swear, or hit you – and we do not expect this from our patients.

In the event of abuse, we will record this as a ‘warning’ in your records and inform you of this when it occurs. We will always make reasonable adjustments to account for the frustration that people might have regarding the very sensitive nature of their health. However, depending on the severity of the abuse, it may be viewed as a potential breakdown in the doctor-patient relationship and could result in you being removed from our practice list.