The British Medical Association has launched a bizarre campaign that urges GPs to act like pandas in a bid to avoid 'extinction'.
The militant union describes family doctors as a 'critically endangered' species and claims 'over-exploitation' is leading many to quit their £120,000 a year jobs.
'Invasive competition' from other healthcare workers, 'habit loss' as a result of crumbling buildings and the 'pollution' of red tape is adding to the threat, it adds.
Patient groups today accused the BMA of being over-dramatic and said people are more likely to think of GPs as timid mice who 'scurry away whenever you try to book an appointment'.
It comes after the Government this week revealed GPs will have to offer patents same day consultations for 'urgent' medical appointments from April under the terms of a new NHS contract.
BMA leaders reacted furiously to the announcement and said it will ballot its members to gauge their support for the new terms.
If there is widespread opposition, it could lead to industrial action.
A 'bitesize briefing' published by the BMA says a smaller number of full-time equivalent GPs are responsible for a greater number of patients, with fewer doctors wanting to become GP partners who own and manage their practice.
Giant panda Xing Xing - resting at Chongqing Zoo in Chongqing, China - could inspire stressed GPs.
It adds: 'General Practice is critically endangered facing extinction.
'Government must bring it back from the brink. We can turn this round.
'The Giant Panda has recently been removed from the WWF's critically endangered list thanks to successful reproduction programmes.
'We need to secure partnerships and drive-up partner numbers as a priority to stabilise our profession in the same way.
'This campaign is not alarmist. It is precautionary. General practice remains the most cost-effective part of the NHS.'
The five-page leaflet says extinction occurs when a species can 'no longer survive or be sustained in its environment, or when its environment rapidly changes and becomes hostile'.
'It can happen gradually, or it can happen suddenly,' it continues.
Dennis Reed, director of Silver Voices, which campaigns for elderly patients, said: 'Drawing comparisons between GPs and pandas is really over-egging the pudding and rather hysterical.
Dennis Reed, director of Silver Voices, which campaigns for elderly patients, said comparisons between GPs and pandas is 'hysterical'.
Patients say they often struggle to secure a GP appointment and when they do it might be a remote consultation only.
'It's a bizarre anecdote.
'The reality is that there are GPs out there but patients struggle to find them as they are often a species in hiding.
'They are more like timid mice that scurry away whenever you try to book an appointment.
'Lots of elderly people tell me they struggle to be seen and often feel like they get put to the back of the queue because they have complex conditions that cannot be dealt with quickly.
'The government is quite right to insist that patients with urgent medical needs are seen the same day and the BMA is not going to endear themselves to the public if they continue to oppose it.'
Nearly half (48 per cent) of adults avoided or delayed contacting their GP about a health concern last year, a poll for the Health Foundation think tank revealed this week.
People cited difficulties contacting their local practice, opting to wait for the problem to go away and not expecting to be offered a suitable appointment as some of the main reasons behind their decision.
The new GP contact will also see GPs paid millions of pounds in bonuses if they prescribe fat jabs to their most obese patients and includes funding for them to increase vaccination rates among children.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting Secretary said: 'Through this government's investment and modernisation, we're fixing the front door to the NHS.
'We're giving practices the flexibility to hire more GPs, and backing them with extra funding to do so.'