Scots GP warns patients' lives at risk as overworked doctors are ‘burning out’

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A Scots GP has told how patients’ lives are being put at risk because doctors are so overworked their mental heath is being affected.Dr Amy Small, a locum GP in Midlothian, is part of the Rebuild GP Campaign which says that a shortage of GPs and a massive increase in demand for services has led to “burn-out” among doctors - putting patients at risk.A poll carried out last month by the campaign - co-run by BMA Scotland and the General Practice Defence Fund - found 86 per cent of Scotland’s GPs who responded said they have felt anxiety, stress, or depression in last year.Now calls have been made for the Scottish Government to recruit hundreds of new GPs to ease the crisis in Scotland’s local health centres.Revealing the shock results of the mental health survey among GPs, Dr Small said: “We have hit a point now where things are so tight in general practice that we have this perfect storm where issues of retention and recruitment are now actually causing issues of patient safety.“GPs have been calling for some time for more recruitment.

The Scottish Government had promised 800 GPs by 2027 but we have yet to see evidence of that.“GPs are retiring early because of pension changes that are harshly penalising them and GPs are burning out because workload is just overwhelming.“And that combined with the media campaign targeting general practice has really dropped morale.”Dr Small continued: “It is getting completely overwhelming at the moment.“I have seen friends who I thought were unshakeable people.

People I thought would go on forever as full-time partners now resigning completely from their partnerships."People who I never thought in a million years would be affected and are now having to seek mental health support and are