‘GPs need protection too’: New calls for laws on violent patients to extend to all doctors and their staff
It is 17 years since Melbourne GP Dr Khulod Hassan was killed in her practice, but doctors still need better protection
There are renewed called for laws to better protect GPs and other private practice doctors from “alarming levels” of violence, as governments demand improved access to after-hours care.
Under amendments introduced in NSW last year, aggressive patients face up to 14 years jail for assaulting a hospital-based frontline healthcare worker or emergency worker.
Ever since, the AMA has been lobbying for the laws to be extended to cover GPs and other private practice doctors and their staff.
The urgency for reform is increasing, with GPs needing protection in place by the time the Federal Government’s Strengthening Medicare policies come into effect later this year, says its NSW president Dr Michael Bonning.
