GPs are being overwhelmed with housing and benefits requests, doctors warn

The Department for Work and Pensions and housing associations are piling administrative pressure on general practices with requests for paperwork that are diverting doctors from seeing patients, GPs have told The BMJ.

In a poll of 2190 UK doctors by the Royal College of General Practitioners, 648 (30%) said they spent between 11% and 30% of their time on tasks not directly related to patient care, including requests relating to housing applications and benefits. Results of the survey, which analysed GPs’ time use between 13 May and 10 June 2024, were shared exclusively with The BMJ.

RCGP chair Kamila Hawthorne told The BMJ that GPs “always take a holistic approach” and consider social factors that might be affecting their patients’ health such as housing, disability status, and benefits. “However, with GP time so stretched, as we deliver millions more appointments with fewer full time equivalent GPs, it’s important this administrative side doesn’t impact on the time GPs can spend …