By Professor John Robertson OBA

In the Guardian yesterday:

Seven in 10 GPs suffer from compassion fatigue and struggle to empathise with patients because they are worn out from caring for them, a survey has found.

Family doctors say they are so emotionally and physically exhausted from hearing about patients’ problems and circumstances that it is compromising the quality of care they provide.

A poll of 1,855 doctors across the UK found that 71% of GPs and 62% of medics overall have experienced compassion fatigue, which undermines the doctor-patient relationship.

“Compassion fatigue is effectively a hidden, secondary trauma with symptoms that can ultimately make it extraordinarily difficult for family doctors to treat their patients,” said Dr John Holden, the chief medical officer at the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland (MDDUS), which undertook the survey.

^{https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jan/02/seven-in-10-gps-in-uk-suffer-from-compassion-fatigue-survey-finds}

There are 376 000 registered doctors in the UK.

^{https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/insight-and-analysis/data-and-charts/key-facts-figures-nhs}

1 317 (71%), of the sample of 1 855, reported compassion fatigue, 0.35%.

We don’t hear if the response was a self-selecting ‘squeaky wheel’ sample or a scientifically constructed representative sample. Given that this was another union survey, the former is much more likely and even if it was the latter, we need then to know what the response rate was,

Despite the fact there are 4 increasingly diverging NHS areas within the UK, with established and often quite marked differences in workload, the researchers seem not to have reported a breakdown. I’ve written to request one but fully expect to be told that the samples for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are too small to be useful.

In 2017, a rigorous academic study carried out by professional researchers, not interested parties like MDDUS, BBC, BMA or RCGP, at the Commonwealth Institute (USA) found varying levels of stress among GPs (Similar to ‘compassion fatigue and struggle to empathise with patients?‘), in the UK. I had to make a special request for the breakdown of the UK figures, to reveal this:

Source: http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/in-the-literature/2015/dec/primary-care-physicians-in-ten-countries

Full TuS report is at: https://thoughtcontrolscotland.com/2017/11/14/already-the-best-staffed-and-least-stressed-in-the-uk-scottish-gps-to-get-better-contracts/

Previous: MDDUS specialise in poor quality surveys. See this from the Herald in February 2021:

Nearly half of family doctors surveyed by a medical body said they are tempted to quit working as general practitioners (GPs) due to the impact of the pandemic. A survey of 280 GPs by the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland (MDDUS) found that 48% said they were likely to take early retirement or quit the NHS.

This is so silly, I should ignore it but I can’t help myself.

Dear research lead at MDDUS:

280 GPs?

Out of more than 5 000?

So, 5.6% response rate?

Structured or self-response (‘squeaky wheel‘) sample?

You don’t know what a structured sample is?

Did you maybe ask them a leading question?

You don’t know what a leading question is?

Your ‘doctorate’ didn’t do research methods but you can prescribe something to calm me down?

Did you check to see if there was any hard evidence?

You don’t know what that means?

Like this?

Fewer seem to be retiring each year, only 3.3% of GPs in 2018 but you found 50% and it wasn’t the headline story in the Herald? You must be disappointed.

Your grade for the investigative journalism assessment? Same as the sample size percentage, 3.3%, FAIL< DO NOT RESUBMIT.

Footnote: Who or what is MDDUS? From wikipedia:

Nearly 5 years later, doubts about their neutrality must question the value of this survey.