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.
Pulse October survey
Take our July 2025 survey to potentially win £1.000 worth of tokens
The two things GPs have not worked hard enough on is their image and income for practices in general.
Yes a small few take massive salaries for running huge impersonal and low-quality services, but they are really few.
The majority have been too busy trying to keep income sufficient to actually notice what is happening to GP image and provision of services nationally with erosion of resources and reputation by th erecent governments.
To quote CJ Cregg: “Outraged? I’m barely surprised.”
The public will miss us when we are gone! #carefulwhatyouwishfor
My non medical husband has just seen this survey and sent me a text with the message ‘time to leave’ as he is home alone (yet again) whilst I have just started wading throught the days results after having been duty GP all morning, business meeting whilst eating, followed by pm surgery. Just as well it’s the longest day as I might just get home in the light.
Very disheartening for all those very dedicated GPs who go way beyond the call of duty every day. Unfortunately there are a small number of GPs who let the side down and are more interested in local power and lining their pockets than caring for patients. We also live in a populist environment where the Sun and Daily Mail are read much more widely than the Guardian
18th APRIL PULSE – 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.
Who cares about public opinion. Do the best you can in a broken system with almost evwrything out yod your control. Don’t apologise for what is not in your control. Not your fault so why should this matter. People will eventually get exactly what they deserve.
I could not give two hoots what the general public thinks.
Just keep doing the job in a very broken system, show some kindness wherever you can, do the right thing( not necessarily what is instructed by local policymakers) and enjoy your life outside of medicine.
We get paid relatively well for our efforts, and it’s never boring, so those are two good things about the job.
PS Pulse, could we get a different ” broken GP” picture – I’ve seen this poor chap too many times now!
In a poll of one (me) – most patients don’t work hard enough – if at all.
Hi Rebecca,
For many of the Public you have already gone.
Best wishes
Anyone not know a Practice where the Partners are elsewhere being paid to sit in meetings and munch biscuits at the Network, Deanery, or similar? Where 3 1/2 day’s a week is full time for the Partners, and the only people who see patients beyond Receptionists are the largely clueless PAs, Nurses or Pharmacists? Where a 3 minute telephone fob- off counts as an appointment?
The empty waiting rooms, – I think they give a false impression, and do it loudly.
And this is entirely our fault. For every abuse which we receive, we vow to work a little bit harder to win back the love of our patients.
The public are making it very clear exactly what they want. Perhaps what they need is a little dose of reality? I suspect that attitudes will then rapidly change…
I would be curious to know if any of above 14 commentators, who are partners (with declared responsibility etc) declare that if they have earned less than £200,000 k in last year? I expect massive silence here which would be self explanatory.
Dave Haddock- is it not scandal that 3.5 days work is considered as full time partner now with £200,000 k salary?
Mohammad Adnan20 June, 2025 10:42 pm
18th APRIL PULSE – 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. — Yeah..as a partner, I feel stressed so I reduced my session to 3 days full time and recruited some more nurses PAs and salaried. same number of appointments with tick boxes done.
RCGP has continued to allow GPs and general practice to be misrepresented over a prolonged period despite significant funding failing in almost every respect other than trips to the Palace for titles/ accolades for those leading this travesty. What a waste of RCGP subscriptions over decades.
Hi Peter
Empty waiting rooms give a.very accurate picture locally; “working from home”, hohohoho.
I fully appreciate that many people feel frustrated with the healthcare system, and as GPs we do not take that sentiment lightly. However, I believe it is important to put things into perspective. Public dissatisfaction is, unfortunately, a wider societal trend—we see similar sentiments expressed about schools, airlines, delivery services, even political leadership.
In general practice, we are doing our very best under immense pressure. In the UK, the average cost of providing unlimited GP care is around £100 per patient per year—less than many people spend annually on entertainment or mobile phone contracts. For that, we offer comprehensive, high-quality, and compassionate care, often with continuity and community understanding that is unmatched anywhere in the world.
We acknowledge the system isn’t perfect, but many of us in primary care work tirelessly to meet the needs of our patients, often going above and beyond. I’m proud to be part of a profession that remains committed to public service despite increasing demands and limited resources.
Constructive feedback is always welcome, but I hope that as a society we can also recognise the dedication and value that general practice continues to provide. 🙂
This is problem of perception as highlighted by comments from @Dave Haddock et al.
I am a GP partner, and I certainly earned less than half the £200k/year figure he so feely quoted. None of the other GPs I know earned that either.
Nonetheless, I do work 3 days a week in my practice. My non working days are often spent catching up on admin work so that it is “less” of a nightmare on days when I am working. Like most GPs, the time spent consulting with patients is about half the total time I spend on NHS work. All the HR duties, team meetings (which are important for group learning), safeguarding, clinical governance and routine admin are not included in GP working hours.
I don’t know any other profession that does as much unpaid work as GPs. Secondary care colleagues have dedicated time for admin work. Dave Haddock et al seem to only value the face-to face consulting work, so I don’t feel we should continue to do this work for free.
Bupa and other providers are happily waiting in the wings to charge patients for private consultations- about £80 for 15 minutes and one problem only. A lot of patients seem happy to pay these charges for easy access whilst denigrating an NHS service that exists on a fraction of that funding.
If the public wishes to pay a market rate for a service that provides the level of access it wants then we should all move to that model.
Am I bovvered? To be honest I couldn’t less of a sh1t about this. Im not here to be their best friend – and if they don’t like it – they can register somewhere else. I see 25-30 complicated patients face to face a day, complete lord only knows how many other queries etc etc. If any of them think this isn’t enough – its more a reflection on their own ignorance than my work ethic. What I would say is that there are a few doctors that are always the first to get onto committees – the PCN is a fabulous way to develop that portfolio career – which is essentially code for avoiding seeing patients.
Most GPs think people are stupid.
Most GPs think people aren’t intelligent enough.
Pay us per consult and see what happens
Most doctors think patients are pretty thick. Touche.
Lots of members of the public work full time ie 5 days a week. They dont see us doing that Trainees for 80% or less, partners working 2 or 3 days. Now I get that all the work-life balance zealots say they work FT hours over 3 days but GP was never a 40hrs a week FT job. The usual medical couple earring in excess of £200k between means they dont have to work. The public see this and think we’re lazy and clearly paid way too much because we can live on 2 or 3 days work. It’s time we had more GPs from working class families with non medical spouses to bring a reality check into the job. If you say “I couldn’t possible work 5 days because I’d burnt out” then maybe you should do something other than medicine – you’re destroying our reputation and good pay for the rest of us