'A rested GP is a safer GP'

The RCGP has launched a new poster campaign urging GPs to take breaks to ensure patient safety.

The campaign, titled ‘Your safety should always come first’, says that the limits on hours worked by pilots, lorry drivers and train drivers should apply to GPs.

It adds that GPs have to see as many as 60 patients a day, finishing off with: ‘A rested GP is a safer GP.’

The poster will be sent to every GP practice in the UK ‘to emphasise the need for GPs and other practice staff to take regular breaks in order to prevent overtiredness and ensure safe care for their patients’, the college said.

The campaign is one of the outcomes of a report by the RCGP last year highlighting growing fatigue amongst overworked GPs.