GPs worry about unsafe workloads as they face 11-hour days, poll finds

HALF OF GPs are concerned that their current workloads are “unsafe”, according to a new poll.

Research carried out by GP publication Pulse also found family doctors are on average working 11 hours a day and dealing with 37 patients in a day.

Leading medics said GPs face “intense pressures” and this is affecting their health and wellbeing and “potentially patient safety”.

The survey of 1,400 family doctors found:

■ GPs said the maximum daily number of patients should be 28 to enable them to provide “safe” care but on average they are having 37 consultations each day.

■ Seventy per cent of GPs said their workload is higher than before the pandemic.

In order to limit the spread of Covid-19, a significant proportion of GP appointments are being offered remotely instead of in person.

Doctors participating in the poll expressed concern that telephone and online consultations take longer as they involve multi-tasking.

And they worry about missing vital clues from patients’ body language.

Leading GP Dr Richard

Vautrey, inset, a Leeds GP and chairman of the British Medical Association’s GP Committee, said remote appointments are often more difficult and time-consuming. He said: “While more and more appointments are now taking place via telephone or online, there is a misconception that remote working is somehow ‘easier’ for GPs and other practice clinicians, or takes less time than face-to-face consultations.

“This is not the case and the opposite is often true,” Dr Vautrey added.