"The morale is the lowest I've seen in 30 years of being a GP"
General Practice staff are facing abuse every day from patients and are urging people to be patient over appointments
Doctors in Harrogate and North Yorkshire say they don't understand why there is so much hate being directed towards GPs.
It's as the NHS is currently experiencing some of the most severe pressures in its 70-year history, with GP surgeries experiencing significant and growing strain.
It's due to rising demand, practices struggling to recruit staff and patients waiting longer for appointments.
Because of this, surgeries have come under attack from politicians, patients and some sections of the press.
Dr Brian McGregor, chair of Yorkshire Regional Council BMA and Medical Secretary of YOR Local Medical Committee Ltd in Harrogate, has warned the abuse staff are facing is leading to some leaving the profession and discouraging medical students from specialising in general practice.
"There is an anxiety and a fear that it is going to escalate when a patient becomes disruptive. They can be intimidating and in your face and your only defence is to just speak calmly to them," Dr McGregor, said.
"The morale is at the lowest I've seen in 30 years of being a GP. We are training lots of doctors and they're not choosing to come into general practice.
"If it really was so well paid, such light work and so easy to do, then why are these intelligent people choosing to do something else?
"Exactly why there is this campaign of hate, which is promoted by some of our politicians, I don't know."
Dr McGregor speaking previously about COVID-19 and the growing pressure on GP practices
In February 2020 the Government announced a drive to recruit an additional 6000 GPs by 2024. That would equate to between 1200-1500 extra doctors in general practice per financial year by the end of 2024.
Despite the promise there are actually now 1,803 fewer fully qualified FTE GPs today than there were in 2015 and between September 2020 and August 2021 the number of GP partners reduced by 918 doctors.
Alongside these long-term trends, GP practices have been at the forefront of the NHS’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak whilst maintaining non-COVID care for patients throughout.
One of the myths that GPs are keen to debunk is that the job is a 9-5 role.
Dr McGregor, who is also a GP at Bramham Surgery near Wetherby, said it's "frustrating" that people think they're not working hard enough.
He said: "Doctors are doing a million appointments a day and we've only got 30,000 GPs. You can see that they're seeing 30 to 40 patients a day each so how can you claim that GPs are closed and they're not seeing patients and how can people claim that they're being lazy.
"If a doctor spends 15 minutes with each patient, that's eight hours a day but then you have to add on the time checking notes, filling in details, actually having a break.
"If you want to actually support your GP practice just recognise the pressures they're facing and say thank you. You'd be surprised just how much one patient saying thanks will support the whole practice."