Patients ‘offered bribes and lied to get virus jab’
CITY SURGERIES’ CLAIMS OF ‘SOUL-DESTROYING’ BEHAVIOUR IN PANDEMIC AMID HUGE PRESSURE PLACED ON RECEPTION STAFF
DERBY GPs claim patients have lied to them about Covid-19 symptoms to get appointments, offered bribes for vaccinations and were increasingly aggressive.
This behaviour has been “souldestroying” for GP practice staff, it is claimed.
A report by Healthwatch Derby, a patient watchdog for the city, found that most Derby GPs felt there had been an increase in negative behaviour towards staff during the pandemic.
This, they said, was and continues to have a “detrimental effect on staff and morale”.
Much of this aggression was found to have been directed at reception staff, who have been fielding a huge number of calls, many linked to the Covid vaccination rollout, with numerous patients believing local GPs were at fault over delays, eligibility and prioritisation.
Behaviours mentioned by GPs to Healthwatch Derby included refusal to wear face masks, lying about Covid symptoms to gain a consultation and being physically aggressive towards property.
Patients are being “more demanding, less patient and behaving as if there was no pandemic”, GPs told
Healthwatch. One surgery which responded to the watchdog gave examples of comments made to its reception team. These included:
■ “The doctors aren’t working, they are just drinking tea”;
■ “It will be your fault if I die”;
■ “You always get it wrong”;
■ “You never answer the phones”;
■ “Why can’t I come in to see a doctor? The whole thing is stupid”;
■ “Can’t get through on the phones, you just ignore them.”
Other themes which GP practices have reported include patients demanding or refusing vaccines, questions over the effectiveness of the vaccines and whether patients can get their jabs at a more local site.
Surgeries said: “Fifty per cent of calls are with regards to the vaccine. This is made more difficult by the reception team trying to call out to book elderly patients in for their jab.”
“We are constantly inundated with calls about the vaccines”
“Far too many for us to be able to deal with.”
Surgeries reported they have been offered bribes, that patients have lied about being carers (which would gain a higher vaccination priority) and patients have argued to be moved into higher priority vaccination groups.
One GP practice said: “In general practice we have not only come to work throughout the pandemic but we have worked many, many additional hours including weekends and bank holidays over the months so for people to make comments about their perception that we are not here, we are not open or we are not doing anything is a little souldestroying when everyone in general practice has been working so hard to keep our patients safe for the best part of the last year.”
A GP surgery which has a largely black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) patient list, said: “The bigger concern is whether our wider community will take the vaccine. False news and anti-vax rumours are not helpful.
“So, questions that are not being asked are the main worry.”
GPs say there has been a lack of understanding as to why operations at the practices are running differently, why there is a longer wait time for referrals and fewer face-to-face consultations, with most calls made by elderly patients or their carers or their relatives.
Other comments raised the need for better communication on the pressures facing the NHS, the responsibility for who is devising vaccine priority and of the changes to those priority groups themselves.
One surgery said: “It would greatly assist practices if we get advised of changes before we hear it on the BBC News. Recently, patients have been advising us of the latest developments.”
Others said: “We are staffing the Covid vaccination programme and cannot provide the same level of service as we did whilst trying to vaccinate the priority groups.”
“Patients think it’s the practice that wants to implement these changes and support from the government or local communication would be a great help.”
■ If you work at a Derby GP practice and would like to talk about the pressures you are facing, please call Eddie Bisknell on 07500 881496 or email Eddie.Bisknell@reachplc. com.
The doctors aren’t working, they are just drinking tea. Example of a comment made to a GP practice’s reception team
DERBYSHIRE police have handed out more than 700 fines to Covid-19 rule-breakers in the past month.
Hardyal Dhindsa, Derbyshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, shared the figures in a report to the county’s police and crime panel.
Mr Dhindsa said the force issued 176 Covid fines in the most recent week alone.
Social media feeds operated by the county’s police force appear to have shown an increase in fines being handed out to people breaching Covid guidance.
This includes a man who travelled 200 miles from Ipswich to go climbing at Stanage Edge in the Peak District; a Staffordshire resident who drove to Derby to buy a takeaway; multiple households sharing vehicles to travel to Derby from Leeds and Birmingham; and travel from Mansfield to Matlock Bath to get fish and chips.
Derbyshire police said it had stepped up its enforcement activity in recent months and warned that people gathering in groups, in breach of guidance, were putting the reopening of lockdown “in jeopardy”.
Mr Dhindsa also shared that there have been 388 confirmed cases of Covid-19 among police officers and staff since the start of the pandemic, with a quarter of those coming in the past month.
A total of seven per cent of the police force are currently off work either due to contracting Covid or being a contact of a positive case.
This is down from a huge 20 per cent in March last year – one in five staff – largely caused by shielding requiremen ts for employees more at risk due to being clinically vulnerable.
The report reveals that since the start of the pandemic, the force has – up until March 2 – handed out 1,605 fines to people breaching Covid guidance in the county and city.
This was up from a total of 900 at the end of January and 300 in the first nine months of the pandemic. For comparison, Nottinghamshire police had handed out more than 1,600 fines in the four months from October to mid-January alone, totalling nearly 2,000 by mid-February.
Talking on enforcement of Covid guidance, the report, which will be discussed by the police and crime panel on Thursday, says: “The Constabulary is proud to police by consent, and as such it is important that our officers attempt to use the first three Es of the 4Es process (Engage, Explain, Encourage, Enforce) before any enforcement is considered; this is in line with guidance from the National Police Chiefs Council to all forces.
“The Constabulary and our partners with an enforcement remit have shared a clear aim throughout the past twelve months to work with our communities, ensuring that they understand the regulations which are ultimately there to help protect them and their loved ones.
“Since March 9, 2020, and until March 2, 2021, approximately 1,605 fixed-penalty notices (176 in the past week) have been issued by the Constabulary, with five of these being at the highest level of £10,000 for the most egregious breaches of the legislation – e.g. illegal raves and house parties).”
A spokesperson for Derbyshire police said: “We have increased our enforcement activity in recent months, as have most forces. The number of FPNs [fixed penalty notices] issued in Derbyshire is lower than in other counties as we continue to try and engage with the public rather than give fines.”