Rising rates of poverty combined with NHS pressures are resulting in two-thirds of doctors (65%) experiencing ‘moral distress’ while caring for their patients, research has suggested.
A poll conducted by the medical defence organisation MDDUS revealed that doctors are being emotionally burdened by being unable to provide the care they want and expect to deliver because of the NHS’s ongoing lack of resources, delays and waits.
Moral distress occurs when the gap between what professional judgment dictates should be done and what the healthcare system currently permits is wide, the MDDUS said.
More than three-quarters of GPs (78%) said they were experiencing moral distress. Among doctors as a whole working across both hospitals and GP practices, 65% said they had experienced moral distress while working in the NHS. Of doctors who said they were experiencing moral distress, 83% said it was because of ongoing NHS pressures.
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The impact of the cost-of-living crisis was also contributing to this distress, with 65% of doctors saying patients are presenting with conditions that are preventable through better diet and living conditions.
The most prevalent are new severe psychological problems, with 76% of doctors saying they have encountered this. Doctors have also seen an increase in the Victorian-era illness scurvy (14%).
The impact of the living conditions on children’s health has particularly affected doctors. One said their patients were in “inappropriate housing that was unsanitary and unsafe for a toddler”.
Another described treating “unkempt children with poor fitting shoes causing blistering and sores”. Other preventable and treatable conditions doctors said they have come across included:
- Asthma (53%)
- Folate deficiency (46%)
- Other vitamin deficiency (50%)
The findings have also highlighted the impact moral distress could have on the retention of NHS doctors, with 40% saying they have considered leaving the medical profession altogether or retiring early because of the burden.
MDDUS also asked questions about being unhappy at work to explore how doctors’ feelings about this impacted their personal lives.
Of the doctors who said their moral distress was because of current NHS pressures, 70% reported feeling unhappy at work, which led to trouble sleeping at night. A further 53% said they were having more arguments with friends and family.
Meanwhile, 81% of doctors struggling with moral distress because of the challenges facing the NHS said their unhappiness at work was affecting their mental health, and 74% said they were concerned that their unhappiness could have a detrimental impact on their safe practice.
“Asking patients to choose between a prescription or heating causes me moral distress,” one doctor told MDDUS.
“Patients (particularly the elderly) lined up on trolleys along corridors asking for help when you walk past is probably the thing that distresses me most about work at the moment,” said another.
Dr John Holden, chief medical officer at MDDUS, said: “The results reveal the full extent of the psychological damage a worryingly large number of doctors experience because of problems they encounter in their working lives that they feel powerless to fix.
“This research paints an alarming picture of the impact on both doctors’ professional practice and personal wellbeing,” he added.
Separately, the impact of poverty, deprivation and the cost-of-living crisis was highlighted in two reports published over the Christmas period.
First, the Warm this Winter campaign argued that nearly a third of the UK population (29%) is experiencing mould in their homes “frequently” or “occasionally”.
Cardiff, Plymouth and Manchester had the highest incidence and overall one in 10 reported frequent mouldy living conditions.
Meanwhile, the UK has seen a spike in Victorian-era diseases such as rickets and scurvy since 2019, according to The Mirror. It highlighted healthcare data revealing that there had been 30,000 cases of rickets and scurvy diagnosed over the past four years.
According to separate House of Commons Library research carried out by the Liberal Democrats, malnutrition admissions have also risen by 7.7% since 2015.
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