Doctors feeling high levels of stress and exhaustion amid backlog, survey finds

Doctors are feeling high levels of exhaustion and have little confidence they can manage the huge backlog of missed patient care, research shows.

A survey by the British Medical Association (BMA) of more than 7,000 doctors between 16 and 18 June showed an increase in stress levels among the workforce.

Many have little confidence in the NHS’S ability to deal with the large backlog of missed, cancelled and postponed care, the union said.

Some also fear that the health service does not have the capacity to manage a second spike in coronavirus infection levels.

There has been a slight increase in the number of doctors experiencing exhaustion and burn-out compared with previous results, the BMA said, with 45 per cent saying they are feeling stressed.

Some 32 per cent of those said the pandemic had heightened their stress level while the other 13 per cent said it was not worse than before.

Asked if there had been a change in demand for noncovid patient care over the last week, 43 per cent said there had been a significant increase and another 21 per cent said it was back to the levels before March.

Half of doctors (50 per cent) surveyed said they were either not very or not at all confident in coping if there was a second spike in Covid-19 infections, while 36 per cent were slightly confident in their ability to cope.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA council chairman, said: “Doctors are fearful and exhausted. The NHS was an already beleaguered health service with record waits in A&E and hospital waiting lists before this pandemic began.

“Since then normal services have been put on hold, with resources diverted wholesale to the Covid-19 efforts at the expense of large numbers of other patients.”