Why have so many doctors told the GMC they are considering working abroad?

Credit: Getty/Caiaimage/Sam Edwards

By Daniel Pye

The General Medical Council has published its workplace experience survey, which found that one in eight doctors are considering working abroad. Doctors.net.uk looks into what the data, gathered from nearly 4,700 doctors, reveals on work and training pressures.

This year’s workplace survey reveals that some 15% of doctors have taken “hard steps” to leave the profession, such as contacting recruiters, applying for retirement or applying for overseas roles.

One in five (19%) are considering quitting medicine in the UK, including those who want to retire, and one in eight (12%) are considering working overseas.

While over the last 2 years the percentage of doctors telling the GMC they were dissatisfied or burnt out has slightly decreased, it is still above pre-pandemic levels.

The report warns: "Many challenges persist, leaving no room for complacency."

The main reason doctors give for considering leaving medicine, other than retirement, is the impact of work on their wellbeing.

Doctors in training are the group at the highest risk of burnout (23% compared with 18% of all doctors), the report finds, with some turning down “down training opportunities in their day-to-day work because of their demanding workloads”.

Trainers also “sometimes step away from supervisory roles because of pressures” to do with lack of time to deliver training. One in 10 doctors (11%) stopped or reduced time spent as a trainer due to workload pressure and limited capacity to find time to train, the report finds.

Career progression is a key issue

While over four in five (81%) of doctors who feel they can progress their career are satisfied, only a third (33%) who do not feel this way are satisfied.

Only two out of five (39%) of doctors feel they can progress their career in the way that they want, according to the GMC.

Professor Mumtaz Patel, Royal College of Physicians (RCP) president, says: “This new report confirms what we hear every day from resident doctors: that too many feel unsupported, undervalued and overworked.

“They are dissatisfied with their training, unsure about their future and unable to progress their careers, even as they deliver essential patient care.”

“It is especially concerning, though not surprising, to see the GMC highlight that doctors under 30 are more likely to be at high risk of burnout,” she says.

Only 44% of respondents to the RCP’s 2025 next generation survey were satisfied with their clinical training, Professor Patel points out.

Dr Tom Dolphin, British Medical Association council chair, warns: “This report shows the very real impact of what happens when a service does not value and support its staff: they will continue to choose to leave.”

“We face a bizarre contradiction: we still have near record-high waiting lists and patients are desperate to be seen by doctors, but at the same time able and enthusiastic doctors are forced to consider moving abroad because they see no future in the UK.”

Dr Dolphin says the GMC’s findings “echo” BMA concerns over thousands of doctors facing employment limbo due to a shortage of training places.

In its current dispute with the government which led to strike action last month, the BMA’s resident doctors committee (RDC) says that resident doctors’ pay is still a fifth lower than it was in 2008, once inflation is considered.

NI doctors report more 'negative' experiences

Doctors in Northern Ireland report “generally” more negative workforce experiences than the UK average, the report finds. Nearly three-quarters (73%) report working beyond their rostered hours at least once a week, compared to a 62% UK average.

“The results from Northern Ireland – with higher rates of burnout, difficulties in providing patient care, and working more overtime – paint a particularly worrying picture,” Nuffield Trust senior fellow Billy Palmer says.

In response to the survey Dr Alan Stout, chair of the BMA’s Northern Ireland council says the figures are “damning”.

“This report is yet another reminder that doctors working in Northern Ireland are subjected to workloads and workplace conditions that would be deemed unacceptable elsewhere in the UK,” he said.

In July, GPs across Northern Ireland started “last resort” collective action in their dispute over funding, such as limiting patient consultations to a maximum of 25 per day and switching off medical optimisation software.

A spokesperson from the Department of Health in Northern Ireland says the report “highlights the challenges facing doctors and our entire health and social care workforce”. 

They point to a framework released last year by health minister Mike Nesbitt which “promotes health and wellbeing in the workplace and places a particular emphasis on constructing a healthy working environment for health and social care staff”.

For primary care the spokesperson says that the DoH recognises it is “under considerable, sustained pressure”, but the £9.5m in extra funding in the 2025/26 General Medical Services contract is the most it could offer due to financial challenges.

GPs struggling with workload

The survey described GPs as “the most pressured group in the workforce”. Six in 10 (61%) GPs struggle to provide sufficient care at least once a week, compared to four in 10 (40%) across all specialties.

Some 42% of GPs struggled with workload, compared to 29% across all specialties, according to the report.

The GMC has warned the government “without action, ambitions to move more patient care from hospitals to communities may well be thwarted”.

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, says that over the last year GPs and their teams have delivered over a million appointments per day “with only a handful more fully qualified full-time GPs than we did at the end of 2019”.

GPs “can’t keep doing more with less,” she says.

“Worryingly, we are seeing a substantial proportion of GPs looking to leave the profession altogether: a survey from the college found that 37% of GPs already thought it was unlikely that they would be working in general practice in the next five years,” she adds.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson says: "The findings in this report are further evidence of what we know, that after more than a decade of neglect, doctors have legitimate complaints about their conditions, including issues with training bottlenecks and career progression.

The government has recruited more GPs, is investing in general practices and seeking to improve career opportunities and working conditions, the spokesperson says.

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