NHS England’s director of primary care Dr Nikki Kanani has reached out in support of the GP practice which was subjected to an anti-GP graffiti attack this weekend.
GPs at the Charlotte Keel Medical Practice in Bristol returned to work on Monday morning to find offensive messaging aimed at the practice’s doctors.
Responding on Twitter to practice GP Dr Shaba Nabi, Dr Kanani said the vandalism was ‘simply unacceptable’.
Pulse understands Dr Kanani has also reached out to the practice in person to offer her support.
GPs have linked the attack to negative messages in the mainstream media about GP practices during the pandemic, calling for more ‘public support’ for general practice.
It comes as NHS England landed itself in hot water with GPs last month after it issued a press release to national newspapers suggesting GPs were not offering face-to-face appointments where necessary.
However, the ongoing advice from NHS England is that practices should remotely triage all patients whilst the Covid-19 pandemic continues.
NHS England’s press office has not returned a Pulse request for comment.
Meanwhile, the RCGP offered its support to the practice. The college commented on the ‘unacceptable abuse’ on Twitter.
And a spokesperson for NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire CCG also commented in support.
They said: ‘We’re extremely disappointed that a local GP practice has been the victim of vandalism at such a significantly challenging time for the NHS. Our GP practice colleagues have shown outstanding dedication and commitment during this extraordinary time, and we express our thanks to them.’
The spokesperson encouraged patients with concerns to contact the CCG via its customer services channels, adding: ‘Our GP practices continue to offer face-to-face appointments. We have moved to a system of telephone, video or online triage in the first instance to understand the best way for people to be treated and to protect both staff and patients from the risk of coronavirus.’
The affected GP practice has also seen an outpouring of support from GP colleagues on Twitter.
Sorry to hear about this. Totally unacceptable and criminal. We need a documentary on what GP life is like during a pandemic. From dealing with complex mental health issues due to Covid to very sick patients as the first point of contact. #notforthefainthearted.
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READERS' COMMENTS [20]
‘’I’m so sorry to see this @ShabaNabi.
No one working in the #NHS should face abuse – this is simply unacceptable.
#Generalpractice has delivered and continues to deliver an incredible amount through the pandemic, caring safely for patients across the country. ‘’
Message on Twitter.
Seriously, that is the best you can come up with ?
This incident has epitomised the intent , conscious and/or unconscious, of NHS England to use GPs as the practice targets for those who were infuriated by the way the government had been handling this pandemic .
Where is Simon Stevens on this matter ?
As in Analects from Confucius, ‘ If this can be tolerated, what can not?’ (是可忍，孰不可忍）!
Stuff this.
AMFOYOYO.
Commuting the pension and poking off turbo lickety-split.
NHS: nice while it lasted.
Ish.
can you imagine coming to work and finding that on your wall!
NHSE and its cronies should hang their heads in shame at the climate they have created for us to wirk in.
We even had PULSE articles that the letter didn’t really matter-well now we can see why it does.
who can blame the people that walk away from this job
PCNs are proving that the system will collapse without adequate numbers of GPs to lead
MAN UP—-THAT’S GENERAL PRACTICE THESE DAYS
Pulse may be careful in it’s portrayal of institutes and ‘power leaders’ that are a root cause the upset, depression and rising unrest. Twitter is a world of mere back patting, blinded followers and narcisstic narratives. The employer turns the knife in one for one more cry.
This is no different to a physical attack. Causes the same damage, leaves the same scars.
Perpetrators should be subject to similar penalties as attacks on police.
This is clearly unacceptable. It may be a one-off by a single disgruntled and deranged individual – but I am afraid that we are now facing a much wider shift in patient attitudes.
Shaba is correct that ‘the public is fed a diet of this narrative from @Telegraph and @DailyMailUK’ – but the public is also fed this from NHSE briefing the right wing media against us. There is a causal link between between anti-GP press and anti-GP feeling. Millions of patients saw the press around the recent NHSE letter; only a few thousand GP followers saw NK’s tweeted apology. I wonder if her (very public) communication of sympathy with the practice also included a recognition of her role in creating this environment?
Graffiti, yawn. Probably another customer expressing their enthusiasm for E-consult.
The queasy moment here is Kanani threatening to visit.
Good job it wasn’t a complaint, if it was you’d need to prove it wasn’t true first before you could remove it.
1. Must ask them for a Friends and Family feedback.
2. Put it in your appraisal.
3. Maintain duty of candour, tell CQC.
4. Ensure you hold a PPG, face to face.
5. Write it up saliently and repeat in 1 month, when NHSE slays us all once again.
I’m glad the perpetuator left their name at the start. Useful when you need to call them in for a meeting with the PM.
Again vandalism is a matter to report to police.
In all likelihood, they will not have the manpower to invstigate etc which I understand and am accepting off. It is not however up to the practice to manage this as a complaint. This is a deliberate act to demean / damage. If a doctor did this to a patients business what would happen?
In all honesty I would either leave for all to see or ask some proper local graffiti artists for a radical new positive look to the building.
PROBABLY TRIED THE PRACTICE MANAGER FIRST, AND GOT A REPLY FULL OF FLANNEL
John Graham Munro – Totally unhelpful comment. PM’s shield GP’s from the vast majority of complaints every single day.
MARK LEONARD—THEN THERE’S SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOUR GPs IF ITS THAT OFTEN—–THE PRACTICE NEEDS TO CAST ASIDE ITS INDIGNATION AND SADNESS.—–LEAVE THE GRAFFITI UP UNTIL THE C.Q.C VISIT
what would be good is all partners agreeing to hand back their contract simultaneously and let the “commisioners” sort out the mess that ensues.
after all – they have had a part in encouraging this sort of action by their lack of support for practices who are working very hard while the “proper doctors” (i.e. those working in hospitals) can hide behind closed doors.
the partners can come to locumland – where you can take back control of your working environment, and you are not controlled by these muppets so much.
when the 15000 odd patients really are affected, perhaps those “at the top”, including the media, will realise the damage they are doing.
“YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU’VE GOT TILL IT’S GONE” – joni mitchell
“NOTHING AIN’T WORTH NOTHIN’ IF IT’S FREE” – gordon lightfoot
Although we do need to be careful about over reacting to a ‘single’ episode of vandalism we also wouldn’t expect racist, sexist etc vandalism to be ignored as it is often a subtle sign of shifts in attitudes towards certain groups.
As GP continuity and established relationships fall by the wayside due to political decisions about healthcare services we may see more of this and it will take its toll on morale, recruitment etc in the end.
John Graham Munro
Seems to me that because you lack awareness of writing etiquette and the use of capitals unnecessarily, you also don’t have an awareness of what happens in General Practice and the workload of Practice managers. If by chance you are a GP, then you are out of touch with reality.
We deal with complaints covering all manner of things; often trivial and not requiring the input from the GP. This doesn’t mean the Practice us not performing well; patient expectations often exceed the service we are able to provide, especially given the constraints of keeping both staff and patients safe from Covid-19.
MARK LEONARD—– NOT GOING TO GET INTO A SLANGING MATCH—–JUST FOR THE RECORD—I’VE BEEN A LOCUM GP SINCE 1982 WHEN I RETURNED FROM AUSTRALIA——I’.VE WORKED THE LENGTH AND BREADTH OF THE U.K. SINCE—–I KNOW ALL ABOUT PRACTICE MANAGERS
Perhaps working as a locum over such a long period has meant you have never sufficiently invested in one practice for any length of time. You might not therefore feel the same outrage that the efforts of your team are being so denigrated in the face of hard work and dedication. Telling anyone to man up in this situation shows a spectacular lack of insight and empathy. A bit of solidarity with your own profession would be good. Might make you feel better and stop shouting in capitals too
PILAR MURPHY—Perhaps a drink down the pub might help you off your high horse, along with any one else who feels the practice in question is entirely blameless