Junior doctor burnout rising with one in four struggling with workload, NHS training survey reveals

‘Shocking’ findings show large number of doctors working on-call night shifts without access to rest facilities or catering

Junior doctors’ conditions have been under the spotlight since the Department of Health and Social Care sought to cut payments for weekend and evening work (Getty Images)

The number of junior doctors reporting their role leaves them feeling burnt out has continued to rise, according to a damning annual report on the state of medical training in the UK.

A quarter of doctors in training said that their job leaves them burnt out to a high or very high degree – up from 23.9 per cent in 2018, the General Medical Council’s (GMC) national training survey found.

Despite some improvements in training, the stark findings from more than 75,000 doctors in training and their trainers show how much work is still to do to address the pressures on junior medical staff.

More than a third said their daily workload was heavy and just 44 per cent said they had access to free rest facilities when working on call out at nights.

Junior doctors’ conditions have been under the spotlight since the Department of Health and Social Care – then led by prime ministerial hopeful Jeremy Hunt – caused England-wide strikes by enforcing a contract that sought to cut payments for weekend and evening work.

Previous research has shown high levels of exhaustion on the wards, which could pose a risk to patients, and recent deaths of junior doctors travelling back form night shifts have also fuelled calls for change.

More than a quarter of respondents said they don’t feel safe travelling to or from work after long hours or night shifts, where public transport may not be running.

Nearly two-thirds said they did not have access to catering or a mess room while working out of hours.

Even seemingly simple commitments to make the health service a better place to work, by providing details of their new roles with enough time to plan, are still not happening.

More than half of doctors said they got their rota with less than six weeks’ notice, meaning they may have to cancel family events or scramble to find accommodation in another part of the country.

The Royal College of Physicians said it was “appalling” that there had been no improvement in the advance notice of new positions, and said trusts could easily resolve this with better systems.

“It is shocking that doctors still report being unable to find adequate spaces to rest, and that over half have difficulty accessing suitable catering when working out-of-hours,” RCP trainee committee co-chairs Dr Michael Fitzpatrick and Dr Matthew Roycroft added.

“These problems are further exacerbated by the fact that many trainee doctors are unsure about who within their organisation they should approach with concerns about their health and wellbeing.

“These issues must be addressed urgently, so doctors can continue to provide safe and effective care.”

However, there has been a reduction in the number of staff who say they work beyond their rostered hours on a daily basis, down from 18 per cent to around 9 percent.

“Doctors work long hours in highly pressured environments, and they need support,” said GMC chief executive Charlie Massey.

“We are concerned about how work pressures impact on the mental health and wellbeing of doctors, which could ultimately impact patient care.”

A spokesperson for NHS England said: “It is vital that doctors know that there is help available to them when they need it, which is why the NHS is introducing the most comprehensive national mental health support offer to doctors of any health system in the world.”