NHS doctors are ‘at breaking point’ with almost a fifth cutting their hours and two in five refusing to take on extra work to avoid burnout, new research has found.
A third of doctors are ‘struggling’ and unable to cope with heavy workloads, forcing them to regularly work overtime to meet demand for care, the General Medical Council (GMC) has said.
The findings paint a bleak picture of the working lives, morale and wellbeing of doctors in the UK.
The GMC, which regulates the medical profession, warned that exhausted, overworked doctors could pose a threat to patient safety. “The UK’s health service is in a critical state and those who work in it are on the brink of breaking point,” said Charlie Massey, the GMC’s chief executive.
Prof Dame Carrie MacEwen, Chair, also described the experiences of doctors in the annual report.
“To protect their well-being, doctors are taking matters into their own hands. Many are cutting their hours and refusing to work extra hours,” she said. “A worrying number are taking time off due to stress.”
The report was based on a survey of a representative sample of 4,288 of the UK’s 380,000 doctors, conducted last autumn. It found that 19% of doctors had reduced their hours compared to the previous year – the highest percentage since records began in 2019 and up one point on the year before.
Similarly, the intense workload had led to 41% refusing to take on additional tasks – a slight drop from the record high of 42% the year before.
Worryingly for an NHS already short of doctors, 47% of medics plan to reduce their contract hours in the coming year, the GMC also found. There have also been small increases in the number of people choosing to work as locums or retiring and returning to work on a less than full-time basis.
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One GP told the GMC: “I used to love my job. Now I really hate it. I feel exhausted and I dread going to work. As soon as I can afford it, I’m out of here.”
Another doctor said, “Although it is unlikely that I will retire next year, I will retire earlier than planned because of my job disillusionment.”
A third clinician said that while they were contracted to work six four-hour sessions per week, they “regularly work on my days off, working an average of 10-12 hours per day, three days per week, plus maybe another four to eight hours on my ‘days off’”.
GPs appear to be bearing the brunt of the growing need for care and the neglected state of the NHS, which the Labour government has described as “broken” after 14 years of neglect by the Conservatives.
GPs are much more likely (28%) to have reduced their hours compared to the average (19%) across the medical profession – the highest percentage across all branches. And 48% of GPs are struggling, again much higher than the 33% average for doctors as a whole.