Third of UK doctors report burnout

A new survey looking into excessive workloads in the NHS has found that almost a third of UK doctors may be suffering from burnout, stress and ‘compassion fatigue’.

Based on responses from 1,651 doctors who filled in a survey distributed by medical royal colleges last autumn, the findings indicate that A&E doctors and GPs are the most likely to feel burnt out, with respondents in those job roles returning the highest levels of exhaustion and stress.

Published in the BMJ Open journal, the research claims that hospital doctors were more resilient than family doctors, and consultants were more resilient than recently qualified doctors. In fact, 31 per cent had high levels of burnout, the same proportion had compassion fatigue, and one in four said they were under a lot of stress. Medics in A&E units were much more burned out and stressed than those in other areas of care. GPs, meanwhile, had the lowest scores for compassion satisfaction.

The British Medical Association has previously warned that as many as eight in 10 doctors were at significant risk of burnout and nearly three in ten had previously been diagnosed with a mental health condition.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the British Medical Association, said: “Years of systemic underfunding and serious workforce shortages mean NHS doctors are working longer hours in highly pressured, understaffed environments, and their wellbeing is suffering as a result.”

Martin Marshall, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: "Doctors across the NHS work hard for their patients, but GPs and our teams are at the front line of delivering patient care and demand for our services is escalating, so it isn't surprising that this research has found that we, alongside our colleagues in Emergency Departments, are most at risk of burn out.

"Workload in general practice is rapidly increasing in terms of volume and complexity, yet the resources we have to deal with this are inadequate and the numbers of fully-qualified, full-time equivalent GPs working in the NHS is falling. This situation is leading to many GPs burning out and leaving the profession earlier than planned. We also lack the time we need with our patients to provide the holistic care that GPs excel at delivering.

"We need to see effective retention strategies being implemented nationwide to keep GPs in the profession longer – and reducing what has become an 'undoable' workload is key to ensuring that more experienced GPs can have sustainable careers in the NHS, both delivering safe patient care, and mentoring the next generation of GPs."