For general practitioners running a primary care service there are additional steps that can be taken to manage patients who are abusive, discriminatory or harass staff on the basis of their protected characteristics. These include:

• formally communicating with a patient via a letter about the impact of their behaviours and the potential that action could be taken, including reporting the behaviour to the police if it is deemed to be unlawful discrimination or hate crime
• removal of patients from GP practice lists. Read our guidance on removing patients from your practice list.