GPs in Barnet are at risk because there are no secure facilities in the borough where they can treat violent patients safely.

Under Government guidelines, health authorities were supposed to implement a zero tolerance policy recording violent instances against GPs and providing secure facilities for violent patients, by April last year.

But according to a British Medical Association [BMA] survey carried out by the General Practitioners Committee [GPC], Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Health Authority was among 29 health authorities which have failed to do so.

Philippa Curran, vice-chairwoman of Barnet's local medical committee, said: "I think it's true GPs and their staff are vulnerable to patients who are sometimes aggressive both verbally and who can occasionally threaten physical violence. Many of us have experienced that kind of situation."

Mrs Curran said the more worried patients became the more violent they could potentially become. She added: "GPs will train their staff to cope with aggression but that does not always resolve areas of concern."

Roger Chapman, chairman of Barnet Community Health Council, said: "We should be calling on the health authority to urgently review this so one can look at the earliest priority for the implementation of secure facilities."

Dr Simon Fradd, joint deputy chairman of the GPC, said: "We need to ensure GPs have access to secure facilities so that known or possible violent patients can receive the medical treatment they need without endangering the staff in the practice."

A health authority spokeswoman said: "A number of avenues are being actively progressed and this topic is high on the agenda with discussions between local medical committees and the health authority."