NHS reorganisation and workload pressures causing GP retention crisis

NHS reorganisation, coupled with increased GP workload and reduced time for patient care, are combining to force many doctors to leave general practice early, according to a significant new study published today (Thursday 7 January 2016). The findings, out in the British Journal of General Practice from researchers in our Department for Health with colleagues at the Universities of Bristol and Staffordshire, also highlight how nearly half (45.5 per cent) of all GPs leaving the profession in England between 2009-14 were under 50. 'Boiling frogs'. In their study , which was commissioned by NHS England, the authors liken the situation faced by GPs as akin to 'boiling frogs' - whereby internal and external pressures, as well as a tick box and blame culture, have slowly built up, to a point where for many GPs, continuing is no longer sustainable. The researchers suggest that in order to buck the trend, and avert a further crisis in GP retention and recruitment for the NHS, the pace of administrative change must be minimised and the time spent by GPs on work that is not face-to-face patient care needs to be reduced. With the cost to UK taxpayers of the 5-years of postgraduate training for each GP stacking up to £249,261, there is a real imperative to resolve the challenges faced and to retain these highly-trained professionals within the UK primary care workforce, the authors suggest. The study, which comprised qualitative's and an online survey of 143 GPs who had left the profession early, identifies the main issue impacting the decisions of those leaving the profession early as the changing role of general practice.