Rosalind Adam, an Aberdeen GP, and her colleagues are dealing with more people than ever reporting extreme tiredness, even taking into account their increased workload. “The thing is, we are seeing so many patients a day now,” she says.
Research suggests that 5-7% of people seeing their family doctor complain about fatigue, says Adam – already an enormous number given the 300m GP appointments in Britain each year – “but I think we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg,” she adds, given many patients will focus on other complaints first. And that doesn’t count those soldiering on at home – or the ever busier GPs having to deal with ever more patients.
