‘General practice is unsustainable as a full-time job’
oveR the last five years i’ve noticed a constant and incessant rise in the demands placed on GPs, but we are expected simply to get on with it. no resources are put in place to help manage this extra work.
i found this incredibly stressful. i would arrive at work at 8am every day and often not leave before 7:30pm or later. i dreaded going into work. i felt like i was constantly treading water and keeping my head afloat. the more stressed i got the more detached i became from my patients. i would get more and more frustrated with patients who brought in lists of problems. i would be ratty with them. i stopped sleeping well. i often woke in the night and remembered things that i had forgotten to do. i also felt incredibly guilty. i wasn’t the doctor i wanted or aspired to be. i wasn’t the compassionate, empathetic person that i used to be. i joined a fitness class but rarely made it on time during the week and was left with only being able to attend at weekends, which decreased my ability to de-stress further.
After talking at length with colleagues and my husband, i was lucky that they agreed to support me and i decided to drop to three days a week. i feel great.
i’m taking my time with patients. i don’t mind if i run late now, i don’t mind if they need to talk. i think general practice, as it stands, has become totally unsustainable as a full-time job.