Over 80% of GPs experienced verbal abuse from patients in 2024, while a quarter were subjected to physical violence, a new survey has found.
Worryingly, over a fifth of GPs also reported that they have endured thoughts of harming themselves due to work pressures.
The medical defence organisation MDDUS recently conducted a survey of 1,855 UK doctors, including almost 700 working in general practice, which found that 21% of GPs had endured ‘thoughts of self-harm or suicide’ at least once in their career.
And of those GPs, the vast majority (85%) said the ‘direct cause’ of these feelings was the ‘impact of their job’.
The survey also revealed that GPs are more likely than other doctors to experience ‘compassion fatigue’, which the MDDUS defined as a ‘state of exhaustion and dysfunction’ which comes from a response to the suffering of others, and ‘diminishes’ a doctor’s ability to ‘provide compassionate care’.
Just over 70% of GPs reported experiencing compassion fatigue, compared with 62% of all doctor respondents, and more than four of five of those GPs said it ‘made them feel overwhelmed and exhausted at work’.
The MDDUS said this is a ‘direct result’ of GPs ‘managing their heavy workloads in the UK’s under-funded, over-worked healthcare system’.
One GP responding to the survey said: ‘It is the impossibility of giving the best care I can and want to give in the time I’m paid to do it, plus filling in the gaps in service in my unpaid time.’
The medical defence organisation warned that their survey findings should be ‘of intense concern’ to health secretary Wes Streeting, particularly as two thirds of GPs (66%) said they were ‘not at all prepared’ for his ‘much vaunted’ strategic shift of care from hospitals to the community.
Other survey findings:
Compassion fatigue
- 77% of GPs experiencing compassion fatigue said it had a negative impact on their ability to communicate with their patients (compared with 64% of all doctors)
- 45% of GPs said they were concerned that compassion fatigue could have a ‘detrimental impact on their safe practice and increase their risk of facing complaints’
Workload pressure
- 38% of all GP respondents said they are now considering leaving their profession early or retiring (compared with 30% of all doctors)
- 34% of GPs said they ‘always’ undertake admin tasks in their own time, while 38% said they ‘often’ did
Abuse
- 84% of GPs said they or their team had experienced verbal abuse from patients
- 24% of GPs said they or their team had experienced physical violence from patients
- Almost four fifths (79%) put this abuse down to long waits for appointments, while 58% said it was triggered by ‘secondary care inappropriately delegating to primary care’
MDDUS chief medical officer Dr John Holden said their findings are ‘shocking’ but will ‘come as no surprise to many doctors’.
He said: ‘Compassion fatigue notoriously develops over time. If a GP isn’t aware of it or hasn’t the time to self-manage its telltale symptoms, such as emotional numbness, due to their own punishing workload, it can ultimately lead to them having to step back from their job.
‘This is ultimately a human tragedy for GPs and a very worrying position for their patients, not least as we know the number of GPs across the UK is on the decline.’
On abuse from patients, Dr Holden added: ‘Patients’ expectations are also running out of step with this reality, leading to a risk of GPs – who consistently struggle to allocate the full time they really need with patients – being unfairly on the receiving end of complaints or regulatory investigation.’
Last summer, a survey found that almost all staff working in general practice reported having been verbally abused, with the issue worsening.
A version of this story first appeared on our sister title Pulse.
