August 27th 2026

By Ailsa Colquhoun

Improving GP staff wellbeing support

Support for general practice staff in England, including in dispensing practices, varies widely, and it is not clear where the responsibility for wellbeing services lies, a new study has concluded.

Workplace wellbeing for the general practice workforce across England: mapping current services studied the provision of staff wellbeing services including the following:

• Physical environment and workplace provision: break rooms, catering facilities, IT
• Work organisation: shift patterns, social connection of teams
• Psychological and physical health support: stress management training, mindfulness, skills training, physical health improvement, counselling, physiotherapy, debt advice, domestic abuse helplines.

The report published in BJGP found that among ICBs there is a variation in perceptions of responsibility for general practice staff wellbeing and approaches to and provision of wellbeing support. There is also a suggestion that workplace support may vary considerably according to geographical location.

The researchers concluded that general practice in England has been more affected than other settings owing to a combination of cumulative individual, occupational, and broader sociocultural factors; for example, frequent changes in the organisation of primary care; increasing administrative tasks and workload, which have changed the professional–patient relationship; and erosion of professional autonomy and values.

It identifies that GPs tend to be reactive rather than proactive in workplace wellbeing support and it calls for future research to evaluate the impacts of wellbeing support for the general practice workforce.