Practice staff are facing new pressures as they seek to respond to massive public demand for booster vaccines, it has been revealed.

Problems may worsen as health services face record levels of staff sickness as Omicron infection takes hold, senior NHS figures have warned. One senior GP spoke of “exhausted” staff, who need a break and revealed that practices are facing new levels of abuse from patients expecting ready access to vaccines. It came as the Department of Health said the number of booster and third vaccinations has now passed 25 million and is closing on half the population.

GP Dr Peter Holden, a British Medical Association council member, told his local BBC radio station in Derby: “All the Government is doing in England is keep cracking the whip that everything is business as usual – and some staff will walk. The result was a lot of wasted time by doctors and staff having to say to people we don’t know the rules, we don’t have any formal communication and because the way the vaccine is distributed, we don’t have the stock. We had to disappoint a lot of patients, who were angry with staff. Staff frankly don’t deserve people getting angry with them with something that’s outside of their control.”

Danny Mortimer, deputy chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: “One of our members in London, for example, has reported a tripling of absences in less than a week and we know that primary care, mental health, ambulance and community services are feeling this strain too. The last thing any health leader wants to see is their care for patients being disrupted and they will do everything they can to minimise this.”

NHS England continued to appeal for more volunteers and temporary staff to support the booster campaign.

Dr Emily Lawson, director of the NHS COVID-19 vaccination programme said: “The NHS has had a record-breaking week for booster jabs with 626,000 jabs delivered yesterday alone in England – this is thanks to the incredible efforts of NHS staff and volunteers who continue to do everything in their power to protect the nation.”

The UK yesterday reported another record number of infections, 88,376, but the number of daily deaths reduced to 146. Daily tracking of COVID patients in hospital showed a small increase yesterday, with numbers reaching 6,405. At the January peak of the pandemic there were more than 33,000 infected patients in hospital.