Doctors issue election warning on NHS workforce

Senior doctors have warned that workforce wellbeing in Scotland’s NHS is at crisis point and that urgent steps are required now to save services for patients.

They spoke out amid growing concern about the rising levels of stress, anxiety and burnout among doctors in Scotland, with recent data suggesting the situation is becoming increasingly difficult to manage.

The senior medics are now urging the next Scottish government to put doctors’ wellbeing at the heart of NHS workforce planning in a series of recommendations set out in Wellbeing by Design, a new independent report published today.

According to surveys conducted by the General Medical Council last year, a third of Scottish doctors were considering leaving the profession, meanwhile more than half of doctors in training were at moderate to high risk of burnout.

These findings are mirrored in new data from the medical defence organisation MDDUS, with nearly seven in ten doctors reporting they have either experienced burnout or are currently living with its effects.

The report warns that unless measures to protect doctors’ wellbeing are built into how NHS services are designed, staffed and funded, Scotland faces losing experienced clinicians and risks undermining patient safety.

Leaders from Royal Colleges, the British Medical Association and MDDUS are calling for a preventative approach to replace the current practice of intervening only once doctors are burned out or off sick.

Describing Wellbeing by Design as an urgent “call to arms”, the authors say all political parties contesting the Scottish elections must commit to policies that make protecting doctors’ mental health and wellbeing a non-negotiable requirement of NHS workforce planning.

Citing international examples of workplace policies that protect clinicians’ wellbeing, the report says that inaction by health leaders is not an option and proactive intervention is critical.

In Scotland, the BMA reported last year that two thirds of senior doctors (SAS and consultants) said that work was harming their wellbeing. In a separate study, they found that nearly half (49%) reported they were struggling to cope and that their work was having a negative impact on their physical and mental wellbeing.

Chris Kenny, Chief Executive of MDDUS, said: “We invited medical leaders to form an expert group on doctors’ wellbeing because of growing concern about the pressures facing the professionals we support.

“The politicians responsible for funding and overseeing our health service must recognise that the current system lacks the structures needed to protect staff and support safe practice.

“The wellbeing of doctors is inseparable from the wellbeing of patients. This report sets out practical changes that could begin to address a crisis that is now affecting the sustainability of care across Scotland. We’re offering politicians a blueprint for change.”

The report defines burnout as a work-related condition caused by chronic, unmanaged workplace stress, characterised by emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and a reduced sense of professional accomplishment, which erodes both doctors’ wellbeing and their ability to practise safely.

Niall Dickson CBE is the independent chair of the expert group. He was previously chief executive of the GMC. He said: “The challenge for Scotland’s leaders is to work with professionals to set out a long-term vision for a health system that restores trust, prioritises staff wellbeing and delivers safe care.

“The report is realistic. Much of what it proposes has been tried elsewhere and could be delivered without significant additional resources.

“But this requires a clear commitment to wellbeing by design rather than crisis response. Without that shift, Scotland will continue to lose experienced clinicians and patients will feel the consequences.”

Professor Lindsey Pope, a Greenock GP and medical educationalist at the University of Glasgow, said: “Patients need doctors who can practise medicine in conditions that protect their wellbeing rather than test it.

“That requires systems and workplaces built with wellbeing in mind from the outset. Any incoming government that wants to sustain patient services will need to accept that reality.”

While the report has a specific Scottish context, these are issues UK-wide and the group looks to other jurisdictions to also study and respond to it.

The report sets out five recommendations focused on system design, measurement and accountability, which the expert group say are central to creating sustainable care for patients and safe working conditions for doctors.

The report makes five recommendations:

• Commissioning a comprehensive national review of doctors’ wellbeing and its impact on patient safety, quality of care and workforce retention.
• Setting and publishing a measurable national target to improve doctor wellbeing and reduce burnout, reported annually to Parliament.
• Guaranteeing safe workloads, predictable rotas, rest spaces and protected learning time so individuals and teams can deliver sustainable care.
• Maintaining and, where necessary, enhancing funding for evidence-based wellbeing support, with investment linked to measurable outcomes.
• Publishing an annual State of Doctor Wellbeing in Scotland report, linked to performance and safety, and requiring every Health Board to do the same locally.

Read the full report: Reports and insights | MDDUS.

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