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A Doncaster GP has said she is under “huge pressure” as the NHS faces a winter crisis.

Hospitals have been at full capacity in recent weeks and patients have endured lengthy waits for ambulances and have spent time waiting hours both inside and and outside A&E departments as health chiefs struggle to cope.

Now a Doncaster GP has said the crisis is also impacting on local surgeries, with hundreds of patients scrambling for appointments and struggling to be seen by doctors.

Winter illness, an ageing and sicker population, and packed hospitals mean they need to provide more emergency care for their patients.

Doncaster GP Karen Forshaw says the city's doctors are facing huge pressures this winter.

In an interview with the BBC, a Doncaster GP has lifted the lid on the pressures facing doctors this winter.

Dr Karen Forshaw, a GP at Don Valley Healthcare, said: "We're here early, we finish late, we see as many patients as we can.”

"The pressure is huge all the way through the system at the moment and that's no different in general practice," she said.

"We have patients constantly ringing throughout the day. And as GPs our days are quite decision focused, so there's lots of decisions to be made and some of those are really important.

"And that can be quite draining actually so the pressure is huge definitely.

"It feels like there's more demand actually, but we don't have any more patients."

With extra demand following the Christmas and New Year break, phone lines are constantly busy – with 140 calls answered by midday.

On reception, Sue Rushby, a care navigator, said: "There's no two ways about it, you've just got to deal with people that are coming in, they need us. And I just do it.”

"It's non-stop but keep your cool, be nice, talk to them nice, that's my motto, that's how I work."

NHS England has acknowledged there are multiple factors contributing to pressures including 18% more people coming into A&E in the last six weeks compared to the same period last year, and there are nearly 10,000 NHS staff absent at the moment due to Covid while there are nearly 10,000 people in UK hospitals with Covid, a massive rise on recent weeks.

NHS in crisis: "Pressure is huge," says under strain Doncaster GP as calls rocket