More than half of GPs reduced their sessions due to work-related stress

Exclusive More than half of GPs have had to reduce their sessions due to the stresses of the job, a new Pulse survey has found.

The results of a Pulse survey of over 700 GPs also found that work-related stress caused lack of sleep for 70% of GPs, while 15% said it led them to take antidepressants.

More than 54% said they had to reduce sessions due to stress, with some citing being off work for months with burnout, and 75% experienced compassion fatigue.

GP leaders told Pulse that the results were ‘deeply’ concerning but not surprising as the profession is struggling to cope with ‘immense stress’ due to limited funding and support.

One GP responding to the survey said: ‘I have reduced my sessions when I burned out five years ago, and would now increase but we can’t afford for me to do so.

‘I have taken antidepressants in the past due to work, and there was a strain on my marriage and friendships as well as on my children.’

Another GP said: ‘I have Rheumatoid arthritis and find most Saturdays are wiped out having to spend them resting/sleeping in bed, I assume this is my body catching up after the long hours during the week.

‘I have an understanding partner who can see that my physical health has deteriorated in recent years and sees the long days I am doing.’

 Professor Dame Clare Gerada, a GP and ambassador for NHS Practitioner Health, the national GP mental health support service, told Pulse that GPs have ‘collectively suffered from moral injury’, brought about by systemic problems.

She also said that doctors can be ‘generally reluctant’ to take meditation so the fact that so many are on antidepressants is ‘really quite staggering’.

She said: ‘Every single consultation starts with something along the line of “it’s been so difficult to see you, I can’t get to see a GP”- when that’s happening 20 to 30 times a day, it really does begin to take its toll on one’s mental health.

‘And many consultations are about having to apologise for the rest of the system, whether that’s social care, lack of housing, waiting times or secondary care.

‘When you feel helpless, it creates a sense of real despondency and depression. So I’m not surprised about these results at all, and I think it’s partly due to GPs still being scapegoated for the problems in the NHS.’

RCGP chair Professor Kamila Hawthorne said the college was ‘sad and deeply concerned’ by these results, but ‘unfortunately not surprised’.

She said: ‘We know from our own college members how they are struggling to cope with the immense stress of trying to do their best for their patients with limited support.

‘GPs are bearing the brunt of historic underinvestment and poor workforce planning by successive governments, and this is having a serious impact on our own health and wellbeing, with many colleagues now leaving the profession because they are burnt out.

‘We cannot continue like this, and the college has long called for urgent action to address workforce pressures and bring an end to the crisis facing general practice.

‘The Government has signalled their intention to move more care from hospitals into the community, but we need support now to solve this crisis.

‘GPs go into general practice to care for patients. We deserve to be looked after and given the support we need to deliver the safe, timely and appropriate care that we are trained to, and want to, provide, without harming our own health.’

This survey was open between 31 March and 14 April 2025, collating responses using the SurveyMonkey tool. A total of 729 GPs from across the UK responded to these questions. The survey was advertised to our readers via our website and email newsletter, with a prize draw for a £200 John Lewis voucher as an incentive to complete the survey. We asked for GPs’ practice codes or practice names and postcodes, and asked them to confirm what kind of GP they were. We removed those with duplicate email addresses, and searched for duplicate IP addresses, removing obvious duplicate entries. The survey was unweighted, and we do not claim this to be scientific – only a snapshot of the GP population.