Evidence Hub

This research has been led by Dr Orla Whitehead, who is a practising GP in Darlington, County Durham. The research was funded by a NIHR In Practice Fellowship, supported by Newcastle University. The research has also been supported by the NHR ARC North East and North Cumbria.

Content warning – this research summary and associated paper discusses suicidal feelings. Support is available here

How does it feel to be burnt out as a GP?

Key points

• GP burnout can have life threatening effects on physical, mental, and spiritual health, with long term health and social consequences.
• Despite this, GPs describe resilience, tenacity, and a strong sense of ongoing vocation.
• Urgent systemic action is needed to listen to GPs with experience of burnout.

Quick-read summary

GPs (family doctors) in the UK are under huge pressure. Many feel exhausted, disconnected, and unable to cope. This is known as ‘burnout’. Our research asked GPs to explain, in their own words, what burnout felt like.

We interviewed 16 GPs who had lived through burnout. They described feeling empty, angry, ashamed, guilty, and unwell in both body and mind. Some said they thought about ending their lives. Others felt they were no longer the caring doctors they wanted to be.

Burnout deeply affected their health, their sense of identity, and their families. Despite this, many also showed strength, resilience, and a commitment to helping patients.

Our findings show that burnout is not just about being tired – it is an all‑round crisis that can be life‑threatening. Systems and organisations must listen to GPs, take their struggles seriously, and provide safe, supportive care. Looking after doctors’ wellbeing helps protect both them and their patients.

Who is this evidence useful for?

• GPs and other healthcare professionals
• NHS leaders and managers
• Policymakers and regulators
• Mental health services
• Patients and the wider public

What is the issue?

Burnout in GPs is common and dangerous. It harms doctors’ health, threatens patient safety, and can drive doctors out of the workforce. Yet the real lived experience of burnout has not often been heard.

Research summary.

• We used an in-depth interview style, this allows participants the space needed to tell their stories freely, and deeply.
• We interviewed 16 UK GPs from a variety of backgrounds.
• Each GP had lived through burnout, and were honest and open about the experience.
• We used qualitative analysis to understand themes in their stories.
• We focused on how they described the inner world experience of burnout.

What did the research find?

• Burnout feels like exhaustion, emptiness, guilt, shame, and loss of empathy.
• Some GPs experienced physical illness, mental illness, or suicidal thoughts.
• Many struggled with their identity as doctors, and felt stigma when seeking help.
• Burnout often led to crisis points where work had to stop.
• Despite this, GPs described tenacity, resilience, and a strong sense of vocation.

Why is this important?

Burnout can be life‑threatening. It affects GPs’ health, their ability to care for patients, and the wider NHS workforce. Support must go beyond telling doctors to ‘be resilient’. Instead, health systems should provide joined‑up, holistic care and remove stigma. Current systems don’t always support doctors enough. We need to change how we understand and respond to burnout by listening to doctors and NHS staff.

How were people involved in this work?

This research was prompted by patients and the public raising concerns about GP burnout and wellbeing during PPI (patient and public involvement in research) groups. Patients are worried about their GPs burning out, and losing their GPs. Patients struggle to access GPs, and want plentiful, healthy GPs to look after them. GPs with personal experience of burnout were directly interviewed. Their voices shaped the findings.

Recommendations for policy and practice

• Listen actively to GPs’ experiences of burnout.
• Provide specialist, holistic healthcare for doctors (physical, mental, social, and spiritual).
• Improve regulatory practices to reduce stigma and distress when doctors are unwell.
• Shift responsibility from the individual to the system: burnout is an occupational problem, not a personal failing.

What happens next?

We plan to share these findings with health leaders, GP organisations, and policymakers. We plan to investigate how burnout occurs in teams, and how the sense of identity, vocation, and spiritual health interplay with burnout in primary healthcare teams. Once we understand this, we will be able to develop systems based interventions to support GPs and primary care teams to prevent burnout.

Read the full research paper: ‘I just felt either I’m going to kill someone or I’m going to end up killing myself’. How does it feel to be burnt out as a practicing UK GP?

Get in touch to find out more

Email lead author Ishbel Orla Whitehead: [email protected]

Acknowledgements

This study involved researchers based at Newcastle University.

Orla Whitehead was funded via an NIHR in practice fellowship.

Barbara Hanratty and Suzanne Moffatt were supported by the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) North East and North Cumbria.