Doctors say long wait times at GPs are becoming unsafe for patients and practitioners.
It comes as GenPro, a collective of 1000 GPs offices, penned an open letter to the Government calling for better funding and acknowledgement of the issue.
The letter is part of the 'save your family doctor service' campaign, which launched yesterday.
They said that 45% of patients at GenPro practices have to wait a week or longer to see a doctor - which is related directly to a lack of nurses and doctors in primary care.
GP offices have also had to cut back services due to staffing, which has many concerned.
GenPro's Dr Tim Malloy told Breakfast that doctors are feeling overrun, stressed and compromised - which is becoming dangerous.
"We are overrun with demand on our time and our expertise; the consequence is that we are a very stressed, very compromised workforce," he said.
"At the end of the day, we're feeling unsafe. Patient harm is possible because delays in care are a critical factor to outcomes."
Malloy said he's worried that patients will have to go into secondary care due to a late diagnosis.
"The consequences to patients of not being able to access care is that it increases the burden on our emergency departments, it increases the burden on our health system as a whole, and more people will end up in secondary care because of delayed diagnosis," Malloy said.
A 2020 report said that 58% of doctors planned to retire within the next 10 years, which has Malloy worried. He said that more doctors are desperately needed to replace those retiring.
He called on the Government to bring in more doctors from overseas and open medical school to more than 550 students.
Malloy also called on the Government to sit down for talks with GPs and to provide significant investment in primary care.
"I would like [them] to engage directly with us and to actually come together with solutions, both short-term and long-term, and to acknowledge that we need a significant investment in our healthcare at the frontline."
Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson said on Breakfast that he believes the Government is doing enough.
Grant Robertson says the Government is working hard to support GPs.
He said the Government recently announced a new training programme for 100 GPs. They are on a green list to get into the country quicker.
He also said that the Government had provided significant funding towards GPs.
"We've provided a significant amount of funding through Covid, particularly to support our GPs - this is a health system that overall needs a lot of money.
It comes amid decreasing services and weeks-long wait times for doctors.
"GPs play a really important role, and we'll continue to support them - our health reforms are actually about getting onto primary care and prevention; GPs play a really big role in that."
He also responded to Malloy's comments directly. He said that while he understands the pressure, he believes everyone is on the same page.
"We've increased health spending by more than 40% over the time that we've been in office; we've got a health reform programme that's dedicated to shifting more towards primary care and prevention, so I actually think we're on the same page," Robertson said.
"I understand the pressure, and I understand the frustration, but I think we're all heading in the same direction."
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