Quarter of GPs want to quit, BMA survey shows

General practice is no longer the stable, lifelong career it once was, according to a survey showing that the level of disillusionment among GPs is so widespread that a quarter want to leave the profession and many more plan to retire sooner than they had anticipated.

Results from the biggest consultation of UK GPs in a decade show that GPs (mainly from England) are more dissatisfied than ever with their working conditions. More than two thirds described their morale as either “fairly low” or “very low,” with most of them admitting it was worse than five years ago.

Only a third of the 23521 GPs who completed a questionnaire (55% of those who had been sent one from the BMA's General Practitioners Committee (GPC) a month ago) said they would recommend a career in general practice to a newly qualified doctor or a medical student.

With most …