Where have we gone wrong?

Abstract

The November BJGP Viewpoint article by Morrison and Gillies about the tragic death of Dr Pat Manson serves as a timely reminder of the pressures that UK general practice is under.1 I was sad when I heard of Pat’s death and 2 weeks later I became even more distressed when another GP working in rural Scotland took their own life. These tragedies mark the tip of an iceberg. The litany of burnout, depression, alcoholism, drug misuse, and relationship breakdown among GPs goes largely unseen and unrecognised. At the same time we have a culture where GPs who are struggling are reluctant to take time out as they know that the burden of their workload will fall on their colleagues (or, in the case of single-handed GPs, there may be no-one to take up the …