Shropshire doctor reveals high workload and daily pressures at GP surgeries

Dr Jamie Malcolm, a GP partner at Market Drayton Medical Practice, said he is making between 110 and 135 patient contacts a day.

"There comes a time when the number of patients per day that a GP deals with becomes dangerous, and it has a negative effect on our own well-being," said Dr Malcolm, who has been a GP since 1999.

At a recent meeting of the Shawbury and Mid Shropshire Rotary Club he told members about the daily pressures and increasing workload of being a GP.

He added: "Some symptoms can be managed without a face to face GP appointment at the surgery, and we have strategies to try to deal with the insatiable patient demand.

"But with patients living longer, patients' increased health awareness, traditional hospital based care being devolved to GP surgeries, a huge increase in the number of investigations and treatments available, and all the government targets, the competition for GP appointment time is fierce."

Dr Malcolm said a typical morning surgery would see 16 booked appointments at 10 minute intervals.

He added there were also home visits and telephone consultations, along with clinical and business meetings at lunchtime.

After a similar length of afternoon surgery, he said he would often do paperwork until 7.30pm, and on a few nights per week would continue paperwork at home until midnight.

A morning on-call at the practice would generally require Dr Malcolm to phone back 30-45 patients with urgent clinical need.

"The on-call workload is intense – on average one phone-call every 4.5 minutes, and this includes typing notes, so please excuse me for being brief on the phone to you," he added.

Recent surveys on GP workloads show consultation rates per patient rose by 41 per cent between 1995 and 2009.

Dr Malcolm said his work also included an array of medical reports to complete, and more recently, onerous mandatory revalidation requirements of life-long learning, audit and feedback.