Staff shortages and long waiting times are fuelling abuse against doctors, says MPS

More than half of UK doctors who responded to a survey said they had experienced or witnessed abuse by patients or relatives in the past 12 months.The Medical Protection Society (MPS) sent a survey to 5495 doctors and received 861 responses (a 15% response rate) between 20 March and 17 April 2023. Over half of the doctors who responded (482) said they had experienced or witnessed verbal or physical abuse by patients or their relatives in the previous 12 months. Just under half (413) said that the incidents resulted from staff shortages, and a similar proportion (387) said it was prompted by long waiting times for treatment.Just under a third (267) of doctors who responded to the survey also said that they thought that abuse against healthcare professionals was not taken seriously by the police.The findings came after an investigation by The BMJ found that NHS trusts in England were…
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