NHS workers have published a video revealing the abuse they have received from patients, including slurs, swearing, racial abuse and threats of legal action. 

The 90-second video by NHS Lanarkshire begins with a montage showing people clapping in March 2020, before the words “August 2021” appear on the screen, with staff recounting abuse they have received in the months between. 

The explicit video features front-line staff such as Sharon Ghani, of Burnbrae Medical Practice in Shotts. 

She received racist abuse because of her surname and someone told her: “You should be ashamed to call yourself a nurse, youse just don’t give a f*** – it’s the nurses running the asylum in there, youse are nothing but a bunch of [redacted].”

Consultant Eugene Wong told of a time a patient said that they could speak to the doctor “however I want” before getting up close and saying “I’m going to f****** smash your face in.”

Andrea McIlroy, part of the health board’s coronavirus vaccination team, recounted an incident in which somebody said: “F*** yourself, it’s your fault if I die because of this vaccine … I’ll take your name and I’ll get my family to sue you whenever I die after this vaccine.”

Heather Knox, chief executive of NHS Lanarkshire, Ross McGuffie, chief officer of Health and Social Care North Lanarkshire and Marianne Hayward, interim chief officer of South Lanarkshire Health and Social Care Partnership united in a statement against the abuse, praising the bravery of staff who spoke out. 

The video was shared as a review of the Scottish government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic concluded that “constant changing guidance” caused significant stress and confusion for front-line workers.

The report, based on feedback from government officials, NHS Scotland staff and health board representatives, raised concerns around the supply chain and purchasing of personal protective equipment.

Scotland’s Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “The findings provide valuable insight from the first six months of the pandemic, but the situation has moved on significantly over the past 11 months since that time.

“We acted to support the safety and wellbeing of staff and residents through a number of avenues including regular testing, the vaccine programme and additional resources for pandemic related roles and expenditure.”

RCN Scotland board chair Julie Lamberth, said: “This video is hard to watch particularly after everything nursing teams have done during the past 18 months.

"Our members are under huge pressure due to staff shortages and they simply should not have to put up with physical or verbal assaults from those they are caring for or their families.

"One assault on a nurse or any other health care worker is one too many, yet in our recent member survey, nearly a third of those who responded said they had experienced physical abuse.

“NHS Lanarkshire should be praised for raising this issue. Health Boards have a duty of care to protect their staff and should make clear to patients and their families that that they have a zero-tolerance approach to any harassment or violence.”