Patient rang surgery 230 times about jab

AN NHS worker at a Derby GP surgery has told of aggressive patients trying to jump the queue for a vaccine and behaving badly.

One called the surgery more than 200 times while another argued they should be treated as a carer because they help their child go to the toilet.

Some refuse to wear masks and take up valuable staff time asking why they have not yet had their vaccine. One even said they didn’t want a Covid-19 jab “because there’s no such thing”.

Derby GPs and staff working at surgeries have been witnessing increasingly outlandish behaviour from patients, lying about symptoms to get appointments and offering bribes for vaccinations.

Now a member of staff at a Derby GP surgery, who did not wish to be named, has shed more light on the problem patients they face.

They said one patient had rung the Derby surgery 230 times in one morning trying to talk to someone, clogging lines being used by people booking vaccine appointments and those with genuine clinical needs.

One patient had told them they wanted their file to be changed to say they were a registered carer – and as such should be prioritised for a Covid-19 vaccine – because they have to get up at night to take their five-year-old son to the bathroom.

The member of staff, who has worked in their role for 30 years, said: “The telephone rings incessantly all day with people saying ‘I know we are told not to ring the GP’s, but…’”.

They told the LDRS: “Up until this last year I have loved every minute of it. The team I work with and management, doctors and nurses, office staff are all very hardworking and stretched to the limit at the moment.

“We have a tremendous amount of really nice patients, but some of them have become very intolerant and downright rude.

“The whole team are jaded and fed up but we still go back. We don’t want any medals for what we do but we do want to be treated and spoken to in a civil manner.

“My brilliant colleagues who are working very hard under difficult circumstances with changes every single day.

“They do not deserve to be spoken to and treated in the manner that has become the norm.”

A report from 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” and had been “souldestroying” for staff.

Other comments from Derby GPs raised the need for better communication about the pressures facing the NHS, the responsibility for who is devising vaccine priority and the changes to those priority groups themselves.

They also said they needed to know about changes to the vaccine rollout before seeing it in the media and finding out from patients themselves.