GPs warn of mass exodus within five years

GPs are threatening a “mass exodus” with two in five saying they will be gone in five years.

Polling by the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) found widespread frustration among doctors and warned of growing risks to patients.

Three in four family doctors said safety was being compromised because they had too many cases to deal with.

It comes as many take part in industrial action, with some capping the number of appointments per day.

Doctors said that stress was the key reason they were considering leaving the profession.

In total, 42 per cent of GPs said they were unlikely to be working in general practice in five years’ time.

More than half (51 per cent) of GP respondents said finding the job too stressful was a key reason for considering leaving, ahead of the 38 per cent who said they were looking to leave in order to retire.

And one in ten GPs expected their practice to close or hand back its contract within a year.

The findings from a poll of more than 2,000 GPs shows those in the South West were least satisfied, with 47 per cent considering leaving.

The RCGP, which will hold its annual conference next month, said there were far too few GPs to go round.

It highlighted a report by the National Audit Office published earlier this year that suggests current NHS plans will see the number of GPs increase by just 4 per cent in 15 years – while the number of hospital doctors rises by 49 per cent.

Since then, Wes Streeting has vowed to divert billions of pounds from hospitals to GPs, pledging to “fix the front door to the NHS”.

The promise has not stopped GPs embarking on collective action, in protests run by the British Medical Association against funding levels which they say are inadequate.

The poll found 77 per cent of GPs said that patient safety is being compromised by their excessive workloads.

Sixty per cent said they did not have enough time to adequately assess and treat patients during appointments while 62 per cent felt they didn’t have enough time during appointments to build the relationships with patients they need to deliver quality care.

The poll found 71 per cent of GPs believed that their practices could alleviate pressure from hospitals if they had more staff and resourcing.

The RCGP highlighted NHS figures which show that in the past year, GPs and their teams have delivered an average of 30 million appointments per month – over 4 million more each month than in 2019. Meanwhile the number of fully-qualified, full-time equivalent GPs has fallen by 601 over the same period.

Earlier this month, an independent investigation of the NHS by Lord Darzi said far too much of the NHS £165 billion budget was being spent on hospitals, rather than providing care by GPs.

Heading overseas

The polling found that 13 per cent of GPs were considering working overseas.

Prof Kamila Hawthorne, the RCGP chairman, said some were likely to be enticed by the prospect of jobs in other countries with a better work life balance.

She said: “Anecdotally, we’ve also heard reports of GPs planning to leave, or at least take a break, from medicine altogether – others may leave the NHS but choose to work privately, and others may leave salaried or partner roles and become locums, which can offer more flexibility.”

She described the current situation as “dire”, saying more investment was needed to recruit and retain more GPs.

She said: “The new Government has made very clear its intention to shift more resources into the community – and the necessity for this came through loud and clear in Lord Darzi’s recent report.

“This makes absolute sense. General practice is the bedrock of the NHS – GPs and our teams make the vast majority of NHS patient contacts, for a relatively small percentage of the overall budget. In doing so, we deliver care close to home where patients want it, and we alleviate pressures in secondary care, including in A&E, where it is more expensive.

“But our service is struggling – our workforce is struggling, as our polling demonstrates all too bluntly.

“Workload in general practice has escalated, both in terms of volume and complexity, yet we have fewer qualified full-time equivalent GPs than we did five years ago. We can’t afford this mass exodus of qualified GPs because of the stress of the job leading to them burning out, we can’t afford to have practices closing because the pressures are so intense.

“We agree with the Secretary of State’s aspirations, but we will need enough of the right people in the right places in our health system to achieve these,” she said.

An NHS spokesman said: “GP teams are the bedrock of the NHS, delivering record numbers of appointments for patients which is why we are determined to give them further support and encourage them to stay in the profession, including through our retention scheme which has already retained 2,000 staff across the health sector, including primary care.

“We have committed to further growing the GP workforce and created more than an additional 1,000 GP posts from October this year, and the number of GP training places will increase by 50 per cent to 6,000 by 2031/32 under the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “We inherited a broken NHS, and general practice has been neglected for years.

“We will fix the front door to the NHS through a Ten-Year Plan to reform our health service, and shift the focus of healthcare out of the hospital and into the community, which is better for patients and the taxpayer.

“We have already started hiring an extra 1,000 GPs into the NHS and begun increasing the proportion of NHS resources going to general practice to ensure patients get the care they need, when they need it.”