Tackling clinical burnout: a personal, national and global crisis

With the NHS chronically understaffed, resources limited and demand for services increasing, clinical staff are working hard in local systems under pressure. Clinician burnout is on the rise globally and can bring with it significant risks around the care and safety of patients, as well as having a devastating effect on the personal lives of individual clinicians. 

Our online event explored some of the latest evidence on the health and wellbeing of clinicians and the practical actions that can help to make a difference to the lives of staff. Our speakers discussed the pressures that threaten personal health, morale, patient care and create a burden on the NHS, while exploring how to tackle the root causes and engage people and leaders in how to create the best, supportive places to work. 

Tackling clinician burnout

Clinician burnout is happening now to someone you know or work with. 80 per cent of doctors in a 2019 British Medical Association survey were at high or very high risk of burnout, with junior doctors most at risk, followed by general practitioners. 

Tackling clinician burnout requires urgent action to create and maintain healthy workplace cultures. The NHS people plan is being developed to support delivery of the NHS long-term plan and make the NHS a better place to work. The Interim NHS people plan recognised ‘the NHS is being negatively impacted by the fact that our people are overstretched – this is evident from the 2018 NHS Staff Survey where more people have reported bullying, harassment and abuse in their workplace in the last 12 months’. 

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