MDU Survey: Doctors And Dentists Poised To Leave In Droves
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- Published: Monday, 06 February 2023 10:33
- Written by Guy Tuggle
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A survey by the Medical Defence Union (the ‘MDU’), the indemnity provider that provides legal support to some 200,000 doctors, dental professionals and other health workers, has discovered that 40% of its clients are considering quitting the NHS because of ‘intolerable’ pressures.
The survey, whose findings were ‘seen’ by The Guardian and published on January 29th, declared that ‘intense workloads, rapidly soaring demand for urgent and emergency healthcare and the record high backlog of operations are causing burnout and exhaustion and straining relationships between medics and patients’.
Of over 800 doctors and dental professionals across the UK, ‘40% agreed or strongly agreed they were likely to resign or retire within the next five years as a direct result of “workplace pressures”.
The potential exodus will cause alarm bells to ring across the NHS which is already trying to grapple with delivery when it has already has 133,000 vacancies. Dental deserts are widely recognised with GP services now being stretched to the limit.
Britain has 3 doctors to every 1000 of the population. Across the EU the ratio is 4 Drs per 1000 population rising to 4.5 in Germany and 4.6 in Spain.
The Guardian report added ‘NHS chiefs said it laid bare the impact of the crisis in the health service on staff, and MPs said it should serve as a “wake-up call” to ministers on the urgent need to take action to persuade thousands of NHS staff heading for the exit door to stay.
The report comes as the government is due to publish an urgent and emergency care strategy (on Monday). It says it will provide tailored support at home to tens of thousands more elderly and vulnerable people, in an effort to shift some NHS care out of hospitals. Quite where it will find the staff is unclear.
The MDU report is suggesting that as many as four in 10 doctors and dental professionals may have quit the health service by 2028.
“These figures are alarming,” said Eddie Crouch, the chair of the British Dental Association. “NHS dentists are working in a broken system, and many have given up hope of change.”
On Tuesday 31st January, Crouch Tweeted to the BBC’s Health Editor Hugh Pym, who broke the news that Health Secretary Steve Barclay had told the Select Committee that there had been a delay sending evidence to the pay review body “Every year the same for the past 5 years plus @SteveBarclay promised @TheBMA and @ThreBDA this year it would be different Hmmm”.
According to the MDU report, ‘88% of doctors and dental professionals said workplace pressures had increased in the past three years, and 48% said they had reduced their hours in order to cope.
Ninety per cent said they often or occasionally felt completely worn out at the end of a shift, while 83% said their job often or occasionally left them burnt out’.
Dr Caroline Fryar, the MDU Medical Services Director said “The pressures on the system are not only incredibly frustrating for patients struggling to get easy or quick access to healthcare but are also extremely difficult for our members.”
The Guardian report of the MDU survey also highlighted the toll that low morale takes on service delivery as well as clinician’s wellbeing. ‘63% of doctors and dental professionals felt relationships with patients and colleagues had become more strained in the past three years, with 20% suffering abuse or threats’.
The BDA’s Eddie Crouch pulled no punches when he spelled out the consequences of each and every dental professional’s resignation: “Every new vacancy will leave thousands more [patients] unable to secure needed care”.
If the survey’s findings transpired the result would be nothing short of apocalyptic for the NHS and the overwhelming majority of the population who depend on it.
800 participants is a very small sample of the total number of doctors and dentists. There are 283,663 doctors on the GMC’s register (2022) and 42,215 dentists on the GDC register (January 2022).
But even when allowing for a margin of error and accepting that maybe it’s the most disaffected who jump at the opportunity to log their disillusionment, the conclusions of the MDU’s survey cannot be downplayed.
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