GP burnout is one of the greatest risks to the sustainability of general practice. Growing patient demand, complex care needs, recruitment challenges, financial constraints and constant administrative strain are leaving many clinicians overwhelmed. The impact is felt across the system: fewer available appointments, increased staff turnover, and a widening gap between patient needs and practice capacity.
Technology will not solve the workforce crisis alone, but automation offers a powerful lever to reduce unnecessary pressure. By removing repetitive tasks, supporting safer patient navigation and freeing up clinician time, automation can give GPs space to focus on what matters most—patient care. Here are five practical ways automation can help reduce GP burnout in primary care.
1. Lift the admin burden at the heart of GP burnout
One of the main drivers of GP burnout is the administrative burden that sits around every consultation. Writing notes, coding entries and generating referral letters can take up almost as much time as the consultation itself. This constant switching between patient interaction and data entry contributes heavily to cognitive fatigue.
Ambient voice technology (AVT) provides a practical solution. Surgery Intellect, powered by TORTUS, listens to consultations—face-to-face or by phone—and produces accurate clinical notes, coding and referral documents in real time. Meeting the NHS standard for compliant, safe use of AVT in primary care, tools like this mean GPs can maintain focus on the patient rather than the screen.
With early adopters reporting a saving of around four minutes per appointment, there is valuable time saved across a full clinic that can be put back into the day. For clinicians, this means less late-night admin and more engaged consultations. For patients, it ensures their concerns are heard in full without the distraction of constant typing.
2. Smarter triage and patient navigation to tackle GP burnout
The GP contract for 2025/26 requires practices to keep online consultation (OC) tools open during core hours. While this is intended to improve access, static OC forms can create extra admin if every request is treated as equal. Without triage, practices face the task of sorting through hundreds of forms daily, many of which could have been safely managed elsewhere.
Surgery Assist, our AI-powered care navigation assistant, changes this dynamic by triaging patient requests before surfacing the OC option. For clinically urgent cases, the system immediately flags this and directs patients to book an appointment. When an OC form is more appropriate, the digital assistant can direct them to an OC request link to complete NHS-compliant verification, log whether it is a new or existing condition and fill out the form. This can now be done using a voice agent, to ensure equitable access and a thorough completion of the form.
This approach ensures practices achieve GP contract 25/26 OC compliance without risk, and that OC tools reduce workload rather than adding to it. Patients are guided to the right care—whether that’s pharmacy, mental health services or an online consultation—without creating unnecessary admin for the practice. The result is fewer inappropriate requests, safer workflows and less strain on the team.
3. Automate routine appointment booking to reduce GP burnout
A large share of daily calls into practices are for simple, routine requests: smear tests, blood pressure checks, flu jabs or medication reviews. These don’t require GP triage but still take up valuable receptionist and call-handling time.
With the latest appointment booking functionality in Surgery Assist, patients can now book routine slots directly through the digital assistant. This complies with new GP contract requirements to make same-day routine appointments available online. If triage is required, the digital assistant diverts the patient to an OC form, but where it isn’t, the request is handled instantly.
For practices, this means:
- Reduced call volumes and less telephone pressure
- Fewer SMS reminders and follow-ups, cutting costs
- Empowered patients who can self-serve without waiting on hold
Routine booking through automation helps practices focus their resources where it is needed most—managing clinical complexity and helping to reduce GP burnout.
4. Manage demand smarter for less GP burnout
The morning rush remains one of the most stressful pinch points in general practice. Staff can face hundreds of calls within the first couple hours, leading to long queues, frustrated patients and high stress for reception teams.
Surgery Connect, our Cloud telephony platform, introduces automation to balance this demand. Features such as unlimited phone lines, automated callbacks, and intelligent call routing help spread patient contact more evenly throughout the day. Practices can also use real-time dashboards to understand call volumes and allocate staff accordingly.
When combined with smart patient navigation first through Surgery Assist, this creates a joined-up system where demand is shared across channels. Patients benefit from quicker responses and more choice, while staff avoid the daily pressure of overwhelmed phone lines.
5. Harness practice data to prevent GP burnout
Burnout doesn’t happen overnight, it builds up as pressure mounts without relief. Often, practices don’t have visibility of where the biggest pinch points lie until staff wellbeing has already been affected.
This is where data becomes a critical tool. Dashboards like Surgery Insights provide real-time visibility into patient demand, digital adoption, and staff workload. Practices can track trends such as peak call times, OC usage, or appointment patterns. By spotting bottlenecks early, leaders can redistribute workload or adjust staffing before pressure escalates.
For example, if data shows high levels of incomplete OC forms, practices can adjust how requests are routed or provide extra guidance to patients. If certain appointment types have high DNA rates, these can be targeted with reminders or better scheduling. It is clear that having this level of visibility over GP practice data unlocks operational efficiency. But more importantly, these small adjustments prevent systemic strain from building up and protect both staff and patient experience.
Reducing GP burnout to create a sustainable future for general practice
GP burnout is one of the greatest risks facing general practice. Left unaddressed, it threatens patient access, clinician wellbeing and the long-term sustainability of the NHS. But solutions exist, and automation is already proving its value.
By automating processes in general practice, GPs can begin to reclaim time and restore balance. Importantly, automation is not about replacing people, it is about giving them the tools to work smarter, not harder. There is a real opportunity to reduce the cognitive and administrative burden on practice teams while maintaining safe, accessible care for patients.
Reducing GP burnout is not only about protecting clinicians; it is about safeguarding the very foundation of primary care. Automation, applied thoughtfully, can play a central role in building a healthier, more sustainable future for general practice.