ArticleBMC family practice2015
Retaining the general practitioner workforce in England: what matters to GPs? A cross-sectional study.
Article in BMC family practice, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 64 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
64 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 111 citations in OpenAlex.
- Understanding why health professionals are leaving the UK national health service (NHS) - A systematic review and narrative synthesis.Journal of health services research & policy · 2026Pooled it
- Pooled it
- The global prevalence of turnover intention among general practitioners: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC family practice · 2020Pooled it
- Understanding why primary care doctors leave direct patient care: a systematic review of qualitative research.BMJ open · 2020Pooled it
- Addressing the crisis of GP recruitment and retention: a systematic review.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2017Pooled it
- Sustaining a career in general practice: a qualitative study of experienced GPs in South West England.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2026Article
- General practice care models and satisfaction in Australian residential aged care homes: a national survey of GPs, practice nurses, and managers.Family practice · 2026Article
- Organisational models of general practice and internal capacity for care coordination: a mixed-methods study from the Czech Republic.BMC primary care · 2026Article
- "There is never any rest, never enough time and too much to do": a qualitative study of GP work intensity in an Irish context.BMC primary care · 2026Article
- Counting general practitioners: a comparative repeat cross-sectional analysis of GPs in NHS general practice in England.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2026Article
- Analysis of the increase in the complexity of care in family medicine.BMC primary care · 2025Observational
- Article
- General practice specialty decision making: a system-level Australian qualitative study.BJGP open · 2025Article
- Trends in the shortfall of English NHS general practice doctors: repeat cross sectional study.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2025Article
- Adverse working conditions in Romanian out-of-hours primary care (OOH-PC): an interview study.Human resources for health · 2025Article
- Developing the intention to pursue a general practice career: a longitudinal survey study from medical school graduation into postgraduate medical training.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- Related factors of turnover intention among general practitioners: a cross-sectional study in 6 provinces of China.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- Practical tips to fostering positive perceptions of and interest in general practice across medical training phases.MedEdPublish (2016) · 2025Article
- Organizational culture and turnover intention among primary care providers: a multilevel study in four large cities in China.Global health action · 2024Article
- Turnover intention among healthcare workers in Shenzhen, China: the mediating effect of job satisfaction and work engagement.BMC health services research · 2024Article
4 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe general practice (GP) workforce in England is in crisis, reflected in increasing rates of early retirement and intentions to reduce hours of working. This study aimed to investigate underlying factors and how these might be mitigated.
methodsGPs in central England were invited to participate in an on-line survey exploring career plans and views and experiences of work-related pressures. Quantitative data were analysed using logistic regression analysis and principal components analysis. Qualitative data were analysed using a thematic framework approach.
resultsOf 1,192 GPs who participated, 978 (82.0 %) stated that they intend to leave general practice, take a career break and/or reduce clinical hours of work within the next five years. This included 488 (41.9 %) who intend to leave practice, and almost a quarter (279; 23.2 %) intending to take a career break. Only 67 (5.6 %) planned to increase their hours of clinical work. For participants planning to leave practice, the issues that most influenced intentions were volume and intensity of workload, time spent on "unimportant tasks", introduction of seven-day working and lack of job satisfaction. Four hundred fifty five participants responded to open questions (39128 words in total). The main themes were the cumulative impact of work-related pressures, the changing and growing nature of the workload, and the consequent stress. Reducing workload intensity, workload volume, administrative activities, with increased time for patient care, no out-of-hour commitments, more flexible working conditions and greater clinical autonomy were identified as the most important requirements to address the workforce crisis. In addition, incentive payments, increased pay and protected time for education and training were also rated as important.
conclusionsNew models of professionalism and organisational arrangements may be needed to address the issues described here. Without urgent action, the GP workforce crisis in England seems set to worsen.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.