Last updated 24 May 2010
There has been an increase in cases of violence or abuse against doctors, the Northern Irish branch of the British Medical Association (BMA) has said.
A new report, published today (May 24th), reveals that half of doctors have been verbally abused, threatened or assaulted in the past year
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Despite the threat, the majority of respondents to the association's poll insisted that they continued to treat high-risk patients.
Dr Paul Darragh, chairman of the BMA's council in Northern Ireland, said that the findings were 'very worrying'.
'The abuse is often random, with no particular motivation behind the physical violence,' said Dr Darragh, who has himself been the victim of an assault.
'The effect of threats, abuse and assaults impacts not only on doctors on the receiving end, but also the wider healthcare team and other patients.'
Violence tends to be a problem in A&E departments, but the poll suggests that over 60 per cent of incidents take place on hospital wards.
The BMA has called for warning markers to be placed on the health records of patients with a history of violence, so that staff can take the necessary precautions to ensure their own safety.
A previous report by the BMA, published in January 2008, found that the majority of doctors do not report physical or verbal attacks by patients.
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