Man who assaulted GP practice staff ordered to pay £1,700 in compensation

A man who assaulted a staff member and smashed a plastic screen at a GP practice in Hampshire has been given a community order and must pay compensation.

Stephen Palmer, 62, pleaded guilty to assault by beating of an emergency worker and criminal damage after a staff member was assaulted and injured at Fleet Medical Centre in January. 

Palmer was given a community order at Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court and ordered to complete 250 hours of unpaid work. He was also ordered to pay £1,500 compensation to the staff member and £200 to the GP practice. 

A Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary spokesperson told Pulse: ‘A man has been sentenced after he smashed a plastic screen and assaulted a staff member at Fleet Medical Centre.

‘It comes after officers were called to a report that a man had entered the centre on Church Road and behaved in a threatening way on Monday 19 January. A female staff member was injured and taken to hospital after a plastic screen was damaged.

‘Stephen Palmer, 62, of Kerry Close, Fleet, pleaded guilty to assault by beating of an emergency worker and criminal damage to property. 

‘He was given a community order at Basingstoke Magistrates Court earlier this month and must now carry out a total of 250 hours of unpaid work.

‘Palmer was also given a rehabilitation order, and he must also pay £1,500 compensation to the staff member, as well as £200 to the surgery.’

Pulse has reported extensively on the issue of violence at GP surgeries, including a major investigation looking at the consequences for GPs and staff. 

At this year’s UK LMC conference, GP leaders passed a motion to expand protections for GPs from abusive patients.  

This included asking for the violent patients scheme to be expanded to include ‘persistently abusive’ patients, and to drop the requirement that patients can only access these schemes if the GP practice has made a police report.