Most people think GPs ‘do not work hard enough’, ‘disheartening’ survey finds

Most people think GPs do not work hard enough, a nationally representative poll of attitudes towards general practice has revealed.

In the survey commissioned by a specialist accountancy firm, which involved 2,000 people, only 23% said they believed GPs work hard enough.

It also found just 31% of respondents think GPs should receive more support from the Government.

Just over half of respondents (54%) said they thought that GPs were an essential part of the NHS.

Medical accountancy firm Ramsay Brown LLP, who commissioned the research, said the results revealed the public’s frustration with the NHS, with the blame seeming to be laid directly at GPs’ door.

They said their poll showed ‘worrying misconceptions’ and suggested that Government policy decisions had ‘tarnished’ public perception.

The survey found that 34% of people struggle to get a GP appointment when they need one.

And only 27% said people underestimate how hard a GPs job is. A quarter of those surveyed agreed with the statement GPs are expected to do too much with too few resources.

Katie Collin, partner at Ramsay Brown, said: ‘We’ve seen the damaging impact Government policy has had on family doctors over the past few years and wanted to understand how this has translated into public opinion.

‘The data suggests that poor policy decisions have soured GPs’ reputations, with the public placing some of the blame at their door. The truth is we’re seeing worrying misconceptions that, in reality, don’t hold water.’

She said GPs across the country were doing a remarkable amount of work in extremely challenging conditions.

‘Time and time again, the Government delivers funding that’s tied up in complex structures and attached to complicated conditions and targets, ramping up GPs’ workloads. Despite this year’s funding boost, the reality is that GPs will still be overworked and under-resourced – not the opposite.

‘While over half of the public rightly see GPs as an essential part of the NHS, even then, the results leave much to be desired. The fact remains that damaging decisions have unfairly tarnished the public’s perception of general practice, undermining the difficulties GPs face daily.’

RCGP chair Professor Kamila Hawthorne said: ‘The results of this survey are disheartening when we know for a fact that GPs are working incredibly hard, under enormous pressures, to deliver the care that patients need.’

She stressed that ‘working days for GPs are long, often starting at 7.30am and finishing at 8pm – then there’s the paperwork, which is frequently done at home late into the evenings or at weekends’.

Highlighting statistics that show that for the first quarter of 2025, GPs and their teams delivered 94 million appointments – over a million appointments per day, Professor Hawthorne pointed out that workload has ‘risen exponentially since 2019’ with workforce numbers not having ‘risen in line with this’.

Professor Hawthorne said: ‘We recognise that there is a proportion of the public who are not satisfied with GP services – usually around access – but the results of a number of surveys suggests this is improving, and in the main, what we tend to find is that patients are understanding of our workloads – and we’re grateful to them for that. What we need is thousands more GPs working in practices, providing the continuity of care both patients and GPs want to see.

‘There needs to be recognition of the hard work that GPs and our teams are doing day in day out from the Government – in the form of urgent support to address the workload and workforce crises in general practice. The forthcoming 10-year Health Plan and review of the NHS Long-Term Workforce Plan are opportunities to turn things around, we need to see greater funding for general practice, alongside investment in recruitment and retention initiatives.’

The Government has announced that ‘thousands more GPs’ will be trained’ as part of a £29 billion funding boost for the NHS.

After the spending review, the BMA said that NHS budget allocations to be made in the coming weeks ‘will make or break general practice’.

The health secretary also said GPs ‘should be able to run local hospitals’ as part of a radical reform of the NHS.

Pulse has asked DHSC for comment.