Doctors cutting back hours to protect wellbeing, says regulator

Doctors are at “breaking point” and many are cutting back their hours to protect their wellbeing, the medical regulator has warned.

The General Medical Council (GMC) said doctors are “taking matters into their own hands” by reducing hours and declining additional work.

The news could come as a blow to ministers after Labour pledged to ramp up evening and weekend work to try to reduce the backlog of care in the NHS.

The GMC also found a “concerning” number of doctors are taking time off work due to stress.

It warned that UK health services are “in a critical state and those who work in them are at breaking point”.

The regulator said “workloads are high and professional satisfaction is low”.

A third of doctors (33%) are struggling and feel unable to cope, according to the GMC survey of more than 4,000 doctors across the UK.

And 23% said they had been forced to take time off due to stress over the last year.

Some 41% polled by the GMC last year said they had refused to take on additional work – up from 23% in 2021.

And 19% said they had reduced their hours due to “pressure on workload and capacity”  – up from 8% in 2021.

Such steps further reduce the capacity of the health service

“For individual doctors, this is often the only responsible way they can deliver safe care, but such steps further reduce the capacity of the health service,” according to the GMC report.

In 2023, 53% of doctors reported being satisfied with their day-to-day work – a sharp fall from 70% in 2021.

Particular concerns have been raised about doctors in training who are “more likely to be at high risk of burnout compared to any other group”.

They are also the group most likely to be considering leaving the UK for work aboard, according to an annual GMC report into the workplace experiences of doctors in the UK.

Among all doctor groups, 16% of medics said they had taken “hard steps” to leave UK practice, compared with 7% in 2021.

The GMC said it is “imperative” that action is taken to support doctors.

In the foreword to the report, GMC chief executive and registrar Charlie Massey and GMC chairwoman Professor Dame Carrie MacEwen wrote: “UK health services are in a critical state and those who work within them are at breaking point.

“Workloads are high and professional satisfaction is low.

“A third of doctors are struggling and feel unable to cope, 41% report having seen patient safety compromised.

“Seeking to protect their wellbeing, doctors are taking matters into their own hands. Many are reducing their hours and declining additional work. A concerning proportion are taking timeoff due to stress. This further constrains capacity, increasing the pressure on those who remain.”

We must be clear that doctors protecting their wellbeing is essential, but they shouldn’t feel their only option is to reduce their working hours. This presents challenges in capacity planning, adding further pressure to services that are already stretched

Mr Massey said: “We know that when doctors are overworked and under-supported there is a risk not only to doctors themselves, but also to patient care.

“These data show that more doctors are now taking matters into their own hands, not just to protect their own health and wellbeing, but that of their patients as well. For many, this will often be the only responsible course to deliver safe care. But this action comes with risks.

“We must be clear that doctors protecting their wellbeing is essential, but they shouldn’t feel their only option is to reduce their working hours. This presents challenges in capacity planning, adding further pressure to services that are already stretched.

“ Employers and healthcare bodies must listen to the needs of their workforce and respond urgently.

“If the UK’s health services are to retain more doctors, which will be vital to tackling waiting lists, then it is critical to reverse these extremely concerning trends. We need better, stronger, and more resilient healthcare services for the future.”

Commenting on the report, Saffron Cordery, deputy chief executive, NHS Providers , said: “The GMC survey exposes the enormous strain on overstretched NHS staff.

“Leaders of NHS trusts work hard to support the wellbeing of staff and improve working conditions but to nurture the thriving workforce that an NHS fit for the future needs, it’s important that the long term workforce plan is implemented fully and backed by full funding.”

Dr Latifa Patel, workforce lead at the British Medical Association, said: “Reducing hours will be a last resort for many doctors who want to be working, looking after patients and supporting their colleagues. But, ultimately, a burnt-out doctor is not a safe doctor.

“Losing doctors from an already-short workforce will mean remaining capacity is stretched even more thinly – piling additional pressure on doctors and longer waits for patients.

“At a time when the Government is promising an extra 40,000 appointments a year at evenings and weekends, not only do we have more than four in 10 doctors declining to take on extra work, but one in five reducing their regular hours.”

An NHS England spokesperson said: “We have been working to improve the training and working lives of doctors and we know there is more work needed, particularly recognising the risk of burnout.

“As part of the NHS long term workforce plan, we are taking action to further improve working conditions, including increasing choice and flexibility in training and reducing duplicative inductions so clinicians can spend less time on admin and more time treating patients.

“We are also strengthening occupational health services and reviewing our mental health and treatment offer for staff, to ensure everyone working in the NHS has the right support.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “The NHS is broken and the Secretary of State has been clear that he wants to work with doctors to get it back on its feet so it works for patients and staff.

“NHS England is working to address training bottlenecks so the health service has enough staff for the future and we will recruit over 1,000 newly-qualified GPs by the end of the year to reduce the burden on general practice.”