GP receptionists are apparently quitting en masse because of worsening abuse from patients, including one case where a man threatened to blow up the clinic should his parents experience adverse events from a COVID-19 vaccine.

The pressure on practices is becoming an increasingly serious issue, with doctors already warning of burnout and stresses on family relationships as a result of the pandemic.

New data from more than 5000 practices and a million monthly bookings suggest that GP wait times have increased by almost 70% over the past two years — from an average of 2.3 days before the pandemic to 3.8 days now.

Drawn from the booking site HealthEngine, the data are limited to patients who eventually secured a booking and exclude those who went elsewhere.