They are a trusted confident, privy to individuals most personal of secrets and maladies. They act as a saviour on daily basis as inevitable health problems develop. It is impossible to imagine life without them.

However the job for GPs in 2022 has never been more difficult. The pandemic, an aging population and issues around funding have taken a serious toll, to the point where four in five report having been stressed, anxious or depressed in the last year.

More worryingly, more than half of staff have quit the surgery they worked in during the past five years as they wrestle with what the Rebuild General Practice campaign group calls “unmanageable workloads”.

GPs are increasingly stressed by their role.

These mental health issues and feelings of burnout threatens to create an existential crisis for the NHS and therefore our very way of life.

Rebuild General Practice leader Dr Rachel Ward is now calling on the Government to do more to recruit and retain doctors in general practice.

This is no easy task.

The GP remains one of society’s most celebrated and aspired to roles. Bright children are still to this day told that they can grow up to be a doctor if they work hard, a benchmark that is seldom beaten.

The years of training required remain unchanged but the culture in which they operate is highly different from that doctors encountered during most readers youth.

The profession needs the funding and support it deserves in order to provide the care upon which we all so desperately depend.

Failure to fund surgeries and support GPs will lead to national crisis - The Yorkshire Post says