OLDHAM GPs have called for “respect” and resources to deal with “mental health trauma” as Covid-19 cases spiral.

Councillor Zahid Chauhan, Oldham GP, national health campaigner and founder of the Homeless-Friendly programme, has watched fellow staff “wilt” under the pressure of the pandemic.

He said: “At the commencement of lockdown, people were rattling their pots and pans in appreciation of our NHS staff. Now some people seem to want to throw them at us.”

He added: “I have watched staff wilt under the strain and heard all about a fellow GP who felt he could no longer treat patients for mental health issues because he was so anxious and burnt-out himself.

“The courage and commitment shown by my colleagues has been nothing short of heroic. It is time government appreciated that by deploying more resources into the NHS, put in procedures to deal with mental health trauma and start treating its staff with respect.”

In the four weeks from mid-April to mid-May a record of nearly 14 million consultations were delivered by GPs who also hold a leading role in the Covid vaccination programme, with 75 per cent of vaccinations being administered in primary care.

Professor Martin Marshall, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: “General practice has made a remarkable contribution to the pandemic effort with GPs and our teams working flat out, delivering essential care to patients.”

He added: “We urgently need to see action from government to resolve the workforce pressures facing general practice including delivering on their pledge of 6,000 more GPs and thousands more members of the wider practice team by 2024/2025. There is still a long way to go.”

Dr Emily Ball, a GP in the North West, told the PA news agency: “In March, we dealt with more patients than we ever have since records began. So, the stuff we are doing is greater than ever, and unfortunately so is the amount of abuse we are taking.”

She said staff, who are working up to 15 hours a day to fit people in, are regularly sworn at by patients desperate to be seen, and the doors to her surgery were recently smashed in.

Dr Anita Sharma from the South Chadderton Health Centre added: “I would ask decision-makers and patients to remember that during this pandemic, we have lost colleagues, watched patients die and even been separated from our families to prevent the spread of the virus. Please treat the NHS with respect. Our efforts may have been super-human but we are human beings, too.”