Aggression and violent behaviour in general practice: population based survey in the north of England

Abstract

During May to September 1997 we sent a brief questionnaire to all 419 general practice principals in the area administered by Leeds Health Authority. Principals were asked to recall their experiences of aggression directed at themselves at work over the previous year in four categories: verbal abuse, specific threats, physical action without injury, and serious incidents (including threats with a weapon or attacks leading to physical injury). We obtained the Jarman index 4 for each electoral ward. This showed the percentage of patients attracting deprivation payments on that practice's list. The score was used to classify practices as high or low deprivation according to whether the percentage was above or below the median for the sample.