Thank you for drawing attention to the important issue of burnout among GPs with the poignant and heartbreaking account from the anonymous GP who was left with no choice but to resign from their partnership to protect their wellbeing (GPs aren’t just exhausted: we are broke, 3 April).
Stories like this illustrate in painful detail the lived reality behind the surveys and headlines. Just last week, a study by the University of York found that many GPs displayed signs of psychological distress and burnout during the Covid pandemic, leading them to have a “sense of dread” at going to work. And a training survey by the General Medical Council found that the burnout risk for both trainee GPs and their trainers increased last year. When looking at GPs in comparative countries, the Health Foundation found those in the UK experience the highest stress and lowest job satisfaction.
It also could not be more timely, during Stress Awareness Month and when GPs are facing the imposition of a contract by the government and NHS England that piles on more pressure, expecting practices to do even more with less.
As the GP in your piece highlights, the impact of the unbearable strains in general practice is not just on staff, but also on the wider community, when their family doctor is driven to leave.
We’ve lost the equivalent of more than 2,000 family doctors in the last eight years. This partner represents another loss to the profession and to patients. Sadly, without real support, we will see far more going the same way.
Dr Kieran Sharrock
Acting chair, BMA England GP committee, Lincolnshire
