The Violent Society: GPs resort to bodyguards and fake guns for protection: The changing times: Call-outs are now hazardous, writes Steve Boggan
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Your support makes all the difference.TWENTY YEARS ago, Dr David Beresford needed no panic button in his surgery, no bodyguard on home visits and no replica gun to ward off assailants. Today, these are all measures some of his colleagues have used in the face of growing violence.
Dr Beresford was a GP for 20 years in Warwickshire and Berkshire before becoming a medico- legal adviser for the Medical Defence Union, a post that keeps him in touch with the worst problems facing doctors.
'A lot of doctors have panic buttons in their consulting rooms wired to their reception; others take dogs on jobs with them or use drivers so they're not alone,' he said. 'A doctor has a contractual obligation to attend a patient who he believes could be ill, even if he thinks he could be in danger. In circumstances like that, some GPs ask the police for an escort.'
There are many reasons why doctors become a target for violent patients. The assailant may want drugs, may disagree with the doctor's diagnosis, may be demanding immediate treatment for a relative, or may simply be drunk. These circumstances are not new, but the violence that increasingly accompanies them is new.
'When I was a GP, I was not in an inner-city surgery, but you simply didn't hear of doctors being attacked,' Dr Beresford said. 'It was very uncommon but it is a growing trend. We are getting more and more letters at the Medical Defence Union relating to incidents of violence, but it is very difficult to know what to do.
'The British Medical Association and the Government are talking about the problem and some people have already mooted the idea of emergency treatment centres at night. But many are wary of that. They still want their doctor to visit despite the risk,' he said.
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