Rakaia Medical Centre patients have been warned they need to be kind and understanding to staff.
Clinical director Dr Sue Fowlie emailed a letter to all the centre’s patients last month, concerned about increasing incidents of verbally abusive behaviour.
She feared the behaviour would affect recruitment and her ability to keep the practice open.
‘‘If abusive behaviours continue, I fear I will be unable to recruit and I will have no choice but to close,’’ Fowlie said.
She said some of the abuse was of a racist nature.
‘‘I am very lucky to have the highquality staff that I do. Some are from overseas, like myself. New Zealand does not have enough trained nurses and doctors so the healthcare system in New Zealand has to increasingly rely on those trained overseas. If they have negative experiences they will not stay.’’
She said on Monday the letter had resulted in a reduction in unacceptable behaviours, and ‘‘amazing positive’’ support.
‘‘We feel it has made people think a little about how they speak to us, but also acknowledge the pressure we are under.’’
Meanwhile, Rakaia is not alone among Mid Canterbury medical centres in dealing with the issue.
A practice manager at one of Ashburton’s medical centres who did not want to be named said such behaviours had got worse after Covid.
‘‘It hasn’t eased back,’’ she said.
Some patients felt ‘‘entitled’’, and could get impatient with reception staff when asked information about what their symptoms were, or when they could not get the appointment or prescription they wanted.
‘‘We don’t make the rules, we are not trying to be difficult. It’s sad they are abusive when we are just trying to help them.’’
Three Rivers Health business manager Nicky Webb said the practice had previously dealt with a small level of abusive behaviour from a small section of patients, but there had not been a recent increase.
‘‘We see people at their worst, so we do have a level of tolerance,’’ Webb said.
‘‘Like most medical centres, we have a No Tolerance Behaviour policy in place regarding both verbal and physical abuse towards any member of our team.’’
And there was signage in the waiting area asking patients to be respectful.
In 2023, figures released to Newstalk ZB through the Official Information Act showed police callouts to health facilities such as hospitals and medical centres, had almost doubled in four years.
Callouts for harassment and threats increased from 226 in 2018 to 424 in 2022.
The nurses union said at the time it was emergency departments in particular affected.
