The patient ripped a display shelf with leaflets off the wall, threw chairs around, flipped a table, and tipped over a stack of boxes containing supplies such as masks.It’s unfortunate that we are having to work in those circumstances, and I think it’s really sad.’Dr Imtiaz-Umer told Pulse that over the last 18 months ‘minimum’ there had been a ‘surge’ in threats of physical violence and verbal aggression which has ‘continued unabated’, despite the practice having returned to offering predominantly face-to-face consultations.‘The frustrations across the healthcare system obviously come across in our interactions with patients over the phone, but it seems to have now seeped into face-to-face contacts where patients feel that they can actually express their frustration against our receptionists and our clinicians.‘I’ve been a doctor for 10 years and I would say that the anti-GP vitriol and anti-GP rhetoric that has been portrayed by the media in terms of us apparently failing to do what we need to be doing fuels that frustration in patients and they think it’s appropriate to take it out on us,’ she said.We’re stuck really and we can’t do much more than we already are unless there is the political willpower to change that.’This comes as at least three unprovoked attacks took place in practices in Essex and Surrey alone before Christmas."