We should do an episode on . . . Patient expectations; have they changed?

Back in May there was a story published in Management in Practice entitled:

“Police commissioner speaks to GPs about rising abuse from patients”. 

The story detailed how Leicestershire Police and crime commissioner Rupert Matthews arranged a meeting with local GPs due to concerns about rising levels of abuse at practices, hoping to find a solution.

A Freedom of Information Act request carried out by Pulse (sister to management in practice) showed that for Leicestershire Police the number of callouts associated with violent behaviour at GP practices increased by 150% over the pandemic, jumping from 10 total callouts in 2019 to 25 in 2022.

And, over the same period, the number of recorded crimes for criminal damage and public order offenses increased by 80% and 50% respectively.

This comes on the back of a practice in the area, Oakham Medical Practice, removing its in person reception last May, because they decided the level of abuse it was experiencing was so extreme, the only safe option was to temporarily remove all reception staff from the front desk.

During a previous episode where we spoke about some of the challenges faced in community pharmacy that were leading to pharmacists leaving the sector, Leah and David Foster both used a term that I thought was interesting. "Patient expectations."

In particular, the fallout if expectations are not met. This was mainly in relation to community pharmacy, but many of the same issues exist in GP, just in a different way.

I therefore felt it would be interesting to ask two pharmacists for their thoughts on patient expectations. Luckily for us, we had two available to give their thoughts on the matter. 

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