The NHS operates a Zero Tolerance Policy with regard to violence and abuse, the practice having the right to remove violent patients from the list with immediate effect in order to safeguard staff, patients and other persons attending the surgery.
Violence in this context includes actual or threatened physical violence or verbal abuse which leads to fear for a person’s safety. In the event of an occurrence of this nature, we are obliged to notify the patient in writing of their removal from the list and record in the patient medical record the reason for the removal. The NHS Tees Valley Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is then responsible for providing further medical care for such patients.