Dr Fiona Willer from UQ's Centre for Community Health and Wellbeing spoke to Daily Mail UK about research which found verbal and physical abuse of medical receptionists by patients is rife, and causing lasting harm.
"'Patients should be more kind to receptionists and think how it feels being the "human shield" of the health service.
"But the main way to tackle this issue is to improve the system, so that receptionists no longer have to deal with frustration over the large gap between patients' expectations of being seen and the reality."
