Patient safety fears causing excess worry for GPs

The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) has warned that overworked GPs are losing sleep because they are so anxious that they have put patients’ safety at risk.

Writing in The Guardian, Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the RCGP, said that the situation for GPs has deteriorated, and, like many professions, GPs are increasingly being unable to leave their work behind when they go home. Because they are ‘up against it’ and ‘working in ways that don’t feel safe’, family doctors are having sleepless nights worrying about their patients.

Figures show that workloads for GPs have grown by an estimated 16 per cent over the past seven years at the same time that investment in GP services had fallen.

Rising demand for consultations and increasing correspondence from hospitals about the patient means that ‘it is possible to overlook a changed prescription request, or not update a patient’s record as comprehensively as would be ideal’. This means that it can ‘impact on patients’ health further down the line’.

Stokes-Lampard was keen to stress that ‘actual errors were rare’, but once ‘the seed of doubt has been planted, it’s hard to get it out of your head’ - which presents an unhealthy situation for staff.