Thought Leadership

How well do you know UK GPs? (Part 1)

It is well-documented that general practitioners in the UK are experiencing very high stress levels, with 71% of UK GPs finding their workload extremely or very stressful.¹ Much of this is driven by high patient caseloads. In addition, however, the rapidly expanding landscape of therapy options presents GPs with the daunting task of not only grasping these new treatments, but also integrating them confidently into their practice. How can pharma companies support GPs in doing this? The first step lies in generating a deep understanding of primary care in the UK.

Knowledge is power

Data from a recent GP Omnibus survey run by medeConnect researchers paints a challenging picture (see fig. 1). Fewer than half of UK GPs feel that they have at least a good knowledge of the most important recent advancements in key areas such as cardiology, dermatology, diabetes, neurology, respiratory medicine and women's health, and only about 7% feel able to advise colleagues on new treatments in these common disease areas. A key question arises: how can these apparent knowledge gaps be best addressed?

Figure 1: UK GPs' assessment of their knowledge of recent advancements across core disease areas (% selecting each option)

Trial, not error

To answer this question, the medeConnect research team asked the GP Omnibus respondents to identify the key pieces of information they would need to see to prescribe a new treatment for the first time. The average GP respondent selected between six and seven different types of information, out of a possible list of 14 (see fig. 2) – a major communication and learning challenge, given GPs' heavy workload. However, it is a challenge that can be mitigated by doing timely and targeted research.

Figure 2: UK GPs' content requirements before prescribing a new treatment (% selecting each option)

Work smarter, not harder

GPs are a big audience in the UK, and highly diverse in their working preferences. When asked whether they agreed or disagreed with a range of statements that described how they work, there was little consensus across the group (see fig. 3). However, one thing is clear: one size does not fit all.

Figure 3: UK GPs' assessment of their working situation and preferences (% selecting each option)

Our researchers' advice in this situation: "work smarter, not harder". Pharma companies in the UK, especially ones bringing new products to the primary care market, can scarcely afford to waste time and resources on ineffective comms. By contrast, months of wasted work – and entire budgets of ineffective marketing investment – can be avoided by deploying targeted research upfront.

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Source: 1. Beech J, Fraser C, Gardner G, Buzelli L, Williamson S, Alderwick H. Stressed and overworked. The Health Foundation; 2023. Available at: doi.org. Accessed April 2024