Patients of a north-east doctors surgery have been issued with a warning over cyberbullying.
Ellon Medical Group has written to the administrators of a local Facebook page, asking them to tell their members that anyone posting abusive comments will be removed from the practice list.
The letter was sent to Kim Dingwall and Jude Scofield who run the community page called Ellon Mums, but were not involved in the incident.
The comments posted on the page relate to a member of staff at Ellon Health Centre who allegedly parked in front of a patient and blocked their way out of the facility.
Ms Dingwall said: “I was shocked after reading the letter. I think this is very drastic.
“We get a lot of messages but can’t police the page 24/7. We will remove the people who are going this.
“We take the anti-bullying policy very seriously. New measures have been put in place to moderate comments. We are very proud of the Facebook page.”
Practice Manager Anne Marie Walsh said a patient was ‘verbally abusive’ in the centre, before others made offensive comments about the member of staff online.
“The staff are very upset by this and we are classing this as cyber bullying,” said Ms Walsh.
“The person has now been issued with a final warning and we will take that person off the list if this happens again.”
A spokesman for NHS Grampian said: “NHS Grampian would not condone any comments which were distressing to individual NHS or GP practice staff.
“We have offered advice to the practice about social media activity. It is however our understanding that it is practice staff who were named in these posts so it is for the practice to resolve.”