DOING THE ROUNDS

Analysis of the bureaucratic unsolicited mountainous paper heap (BUMPH) that general practitioners received in 1994

BMJ 1995; 311 doi: 10.1136/bmj.311.7021.1705 (Published 23 December 1995)
Cite this as: BMJ 1995;311:1705

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  1. Damian Kenny, general practitionera
  1. a Westgate Surgery, 40 Parsonage Street, Dursley, Gloucestershire GL11 4AA

    Abstract

    Objectives: To record and analyse the bureaucratic unsolicited mountainous paper heap (BUMPH) received by general practitioners; to make some suggestions for coping with the ensuing workload.

    Design: Daily record of all BUMPH landing on the desk of a general practitioner in one year.

    Setting: Mixed practice with one full time and two job sharing principals.

    Results: 5100 pages of BUMPH arrived during the year. The most prolific source of origin was health authorities (1549 pages). Fridays, Mondays, and the day after a holiday were the days BUMPH was most frequently seen.

    Conclusions: BUMPH is a major source of workload. One way of avoiding it is not to work on the day after a day off.

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