Only 8% of GPs and practice managers find their practices current workload sustainable

Recently, we surveyed medical practice clients, to find that only 8% of respondents felt the current workload of their practice was sustainable and over 60% of respondents felt overloaded or at risk of burn-out. These results confirmed what anyone who works closely with healthcare professionals already knows, our GPs and practice managers are stressed and working harder than ever. With an ongoing pandemic, several lockdowns, and many patients presenting with multiple issues, these factors continue to add to the time pressure of a GP consultation.

Lack of resource to meet patient demand was an overwhelming concern of 71% of GPs surveyed and when asked about one thing which would have the biggest impact to their practice, the overwhelming response was to see more GPs coming through the training programme. If you combine this pressure with the fact that over 50% of GPs have advised that they would like to retire before normal retirement age, you can understand why this must be a key priority for them as there is already a lack of qualified GPs and this is only going to intensify as more GPs retire. Further investment is a great solution for the medium or longer-term, but it doesn’t help GPs right now.

It is no doubt due to the pressure of increased workload that we have seen greater demand from GP clients for outsourced accounting services. Although the Mazars healthcare team cannot help with patient workload, we can help lighten the administrative workload with our outsourced accounting offering. This covers a range of services including keeping the financial records up to date, provision of monthly or quarterly mini management reports, and for those who prefer to continue with their own book-keeping, a monthly or quarterly review.  Apart from freeing up practice administrative time, outsourcing accounting services also offers consistently up to date financial records, prepared year-end accounts, and more accurate, real-time tax and superannuation estimates.

At Mazars, we are committed to tailoring our services to suit our clients’ needs. Over 60% of our survey respondents have advised they would prefer a mixture of face to face and virtual meetings depending on the purpose of the meeting. We have listened and continue to invest in technology so that we can offer digital meetings when appropriate and requested, freeing up GP time as they don’t have to change their location for a face to face meeting. Face to face meetings, as with GP consultations, still have their value and we will also continue to be available for this type of meeting when beneficial.

How we can help

If you would like to discuss any of the points raised above or want more information on our services, please do not hesitate to contact your regular Mazars contact or use the form below.

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