Nearly a third of GPs unlikely to be working in general practice in 5 years, RCGP finds

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By Daniel Pye

Nearly a third of GPs are unlikely to be working in general practice in 5 years’ time according to a poll.

Stress was identified as the main factor forcing GPs to consider leaving the profession in the Royal College of General Practitioners annual survey of more than 2,100 active GPs and GP registrars.

It was cited by nearly half (44%) of respondents thinking about cutting their careers short, whilst 39% planned to leave to retire.

According to the RCGP’s survey, unmanageable stress is so prevalent among GPs that more than a quarter (28%) reported that at least once a week they feel so stressed that they cannot cope.

In the last year GPs and their teams delivered a record breaking 386 million appointments, equivalent to more than a million a day, but there are currently only 387 more fully qualified full-time GPs than at the end of 2019, the RCGP said.