The largest-ever survey of GPs, entitled The Future of General Practice, has revealed that more than a third are considering retiring from the profession within the next five years, while many want to go part-time.

More than a quarter of those polled said they were considering moving from working full-time to reducing their hours to part-time and 20 per cent of trainees said they were considering leaving the UK to work overseas within the next five years, which could seriously affect retention within the profession.

The survey, commissioned by the British Medical Association (BMA), also revealed that fewer than half of GPs would recommend general practice as a career, with many talking of the ‘significant and unmanageable’ levels of stress they face.

Apart from these, the other key findings of the survey were that, when asked what impacts most negatively on their commitment to the profession, 71 per cent said excessive workload, while more than half of those polled were concerned about un-resourced work being moved into general practice and over 40 per cent were unhappy at not being able to spend enough time with patients.

Commenting on the survey results, the General Practitioners’ Committee (GPC) blamed the ‘incredible pressures’ on GP services for the crisis in the workforce, with a spokesman saying that GPs are overworked and intensely frustrated that they don’t have enough time to spend with their patients. He added that he found the statistics “tragic”.

As he pointed out, given that it takes five to eight years to train a GP, it is very worrying that so many GPs are talking of leaving the profession through retirement and that so many young doctors are considering going to work abroad.