The most common professional challenge reported by GPs is ensuring fair remuneration for skills and services provided (71%), followed by managing fatigue and burnout (58%), understanding and adhering to regulatory and policy changes (55%), and maintaining work–life balance (55%).
She said: 'Some may feel over-burdened by the responsibility of a partnership, some may find it difficult to balance caring responsibilities with practice, and we know that many GPs leave before they had planned to because of burn out caused by unsustainable workload and workforce pressures.
The pandemic has also had an impact on GP burnout worldwide. Burnout and job dissatisfaction have been identified as key reasons for British GPs leaving the NHS. In one survey, three-quarters of British GPs reported their workload to be unmanageable or unsustainable.
And nearly nine out of 10 reported that their workload was excessive and either prevents or significantly prevents the provision of quality and safe care. The survey also revealed that, using mean average figures, GPs are working more than 130 per cent of their contracted hours in their primary roles.
GPs are now regularly seeing at least 60 patients a day in a “new normal” for primary care as some doctors are forced to drive people to hospital themselves due to extreme ambulance delays.
GP practices are paid on the basis of the number of patients on their list.
Based on a widely accepted formula of 72 appointments per 1,000 patients each week and an average list size of 1,600 patients (per GP), the report, Safe Working in General Practice, proposes that GPs should be offering 115 appointments a week – an average of 23 a day over five days.
Some 71% of UK GPs said that they found their job “extremely” or “very stressful,” the highest of the 10 countries surveyed and similar to Germany (68%). Stress among UK GPs was up 11 percentage points since 2019.
There are many reasons, not least the pressures imposed by Covid and lockdowns on the post-pandemic world and, perhaps most importantly, the shortage of medical staff.
GP practices are open but are working differently in order to protect patients and staff. In order to protect the most clinically vulnerable people who are in contact with our health services, some physical distancing requirements remain in place. How are practices working now?
The most common professional challenge reported by GPs is ensuring fair remuneration for skills and services provided (71%), followed by managing fatigue and burnout (58%), understanding and adhering to regulatory and policy changes (55%), and maintaining work–life balance (55%).
Australia has many GPs
But at a national level, almost all the indicators suggest GP supply is stronger than ever. As our report shows, Australia has more GPs per person than ever before, more GPs than most wealthy countries, and record numbers of GPs in training.
As Australia's health system faces a crisis, amid a growing shortage of GPs and mounting pressure on both primary and secondary care services, the RACGP is calling on the Federal Government to support international medical graduates (IMGs).
According to ScienceAlert, researchers have developed a new and improved technology that could eventually replace GPS in some scenarios. Called SuperGPS, it's accurate to within 10 centimetres (or 3.9 inches) and doesn't rely on navigation satellite systems.
This network produces extremely accurate navigation capabilities. As such, GPS units are not obsolete. In fact, they're far from it. As of right now, there are no plans to replace the GPS navigation system as there are simply no viable options to do so.
One in five GPs under 30 quit the profession last year, Pulse reports. Data analysed by the Institute for Government (IfG) found that 21.6% fully-qualified GPs under 30 left in the 12 months to December 2022. Since 2016, the total number of fully-qualified GPs has fallen by 7%.
Some felt that in general practice they would not be able to use their specialist skills and feared becoming deskilled in clinical areas such as the interpretation of x-rays. Others were concerned about the relative isolation in terms of medical responsibility, compared to working in teams in hospital.
One in 10 GP partners have been forced to reduce time with patients and nearly a quarter have stopped recruiting surgery staff due to the cost-of-living crisis. The GP system is on the brink of collapse after hundreds of docs confessed they are cutting hours because they can't afford to heat their surgery.
Longer waiting times mean that fewer patients will be seen and - for those that do get an appointment - severe constraints on the time that a GP can devote to each appointment. So what is driving these pressures? One obvious reason is that patient demand has increased substantially.
As a salaried GP, you will have less control on the direction of the practice or the services offered. You may also have less flexibility in terms of how much leave you have or when you take it, compared to working as a locum or a partner.
the restriction of day case surgery to experienced senior staff; little opportunity for junior staff to practise. extra work for the general practitioner in the postoperative period; patients often ring them for advice or treatment.
Working in general practice is often 'lonely' and the unsustainable workload pressures facing GPs is harming relationships with patients, according to a major independent review commissioned by the GMC.
The number of doctors and nurses compared to the size of the Australian population has increased in the ten years to 2011. Since 2001, the per capita rate of GPs to population increased from 170.5 to 201.9 GPs per 100,000 persons.
In total, 23 per cent of qualified permanent GPs worked at least 37.5 hours a week in June 2022, down from 32 per cent in June 2017.
National trends in England. In October 2022, the number of patients per doctor (whether a trainee or fully-qualified GP) at GP practices was 1,700 in England. This varied considerably, with some GP practices having several thousands of patients per doctor, and some having hundreds.