VIOLENCE and abuse against GPs and their staff is increasing, a new poll has revealed, with professionals warning that decades of underfunding from the government are the main cause.

Research by Pulse, a specialist magazine and news website for general practitioners, found that 45 per cent of general practice staff were physically abused over a 12-month period.

Nearly three-quarters of doctors reported that they or their staff experienced verbal abuse on a weekly basis, and almost 40 per cent said they were verbally abused daily.

The survey involved 1,000 GPs.

One GP said: “Last week a patient, without any mitigating circumstances, was desperately abusive to one of my receptionists bemoaning the fact it wasn’t the US where she could buy a gun and ‘sort us all out’.”

The findings come as complaints from patients about problems getting access to their GPs are increasing.

The Royal College of GPs (RCGPs) said the findings were “deeply disturbing” and blamed government underfunding and staffing problems for the high levels of abuse.

RCGP chairwoman Professor Kamila Hawthorne, who is a GP in south Wales, said abuse was now a common experience for GPs and practice staff and that “the reports of physical abuse are particularly distressing.

“Ultimately, decades of underfunding and inadequate workforce planning have left general practice struggling at a time when patient needs are growing in complexity and volume,” she said.

“As a result, more GPs are leaving the profession than are entering it.”

Professor Hawthorne said the government should “rapidly deliver a new recruitment and retention strategy” and restore GP funding to 11 per cent of the NHS budget.

Dr Kieran Sharrock, acting chairman of the British Medical Association’s England GP committee, said: “The pressures in the NHS are not the fault of patients or staff, but years of underfunding and a failure to properly support its workforce.

“If we want a health service that can provide timely care, from doctors who feel valued, then the government must give the NHS the investment it desperately needs.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said more doctors were being trained and “additional security measures” provided in general practice.