2025 Focus on physicians survey: job planning and supervision

The 2025 Focus on physicians survey is a joint survey run by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (RCPSG) and Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE).

There were 2,038 respondents to this year’s survey, which ran between 12 March and 2 June 2025.

The survey data will be published in a series of write-ups throughout 2025. The three UK royal colleges of physicians will use these data to inform their work.

Findings relating to job planning and supervision

Working patterns

• There has been a year-on-year increase in the number of consultants who reported working less than full time (<10 programmed activities (PAs)).
• Only 63% of respondents were contracted to work full time (10 PAs or more) in 2025.
• One PA is defined as 4 hours of activity during Monday to Friday 7am–7pm (3.75 hours in Wales), or 3 hours for work out of hours.

Job planning

• Over half of respondents (54%) said that their contracted job plan did not reflect all the work they do. 
• The top three things most likely to be squeezed out during a busy week were professional development time, time to improve the quality of their service and time to train and supervise other doctors.

Clinical and educational supervision

• The majority of physicians said that they undertake educational and clinical supervision of other health professionals (88%).
• This usually involves supervision of resident doctors, although 42% (of the 1,251 responses to this question saying they undertake educational and clinical supervision) said that they supervise others, predominantly clinical nurse specialists and advanced clinical practitioners.
• 65% of physicians said they have time in their job plan to undertake this supervision and 61% of those who have it in their job plan said that they feel the time is adequate.

Responding to the findings, Professor Mumtaz Patel, president of the RCP said:

‘These findings offer a clear picture of a workforce under strain, with so much being asked of them. When over half of consultants say their job plans don’t reflect the work they actually do, and that workload in busy weeks is squeezing out time to train and supervise other doctors, it’s clear the job planning system is out of step with reality.

‘If we don’t fix this, we risk the further burn out of physicians, restricting their opportunities to engage in vital activities such as service development and the training of the next generation. This not only holds back doctors’ progression but ultimately undermines patient care. A sustainable and effective NHS starts with job plans that respects and reflects the fantastic work that the physician workforce does day in and day out for their patients.

‘The emerging trend of more consultants working less than full time has been clear for years. Flexibility is a vital part of a modern NHS workforce, especially when the demands of the job can be so great, and we should expect less than full time working to continue to grow. This must be considered as part of the 10 Year Workforce Plan as it means we will need a higher headcount in the future.’

Commenting Professor Andrew Elder, President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, said:

‘It is deeply concerning that over half of physicians have said that their contracted job plans simply do not reflect the work they do. We know that this unsustainable position means that many clinicians face the risk of burnout and many who want to teach, supervise and mentor trainees to the standard we all wish to see are unable to do so; this lack of time for training and supervising others can cause a ‘moral distress’ for doctors in the same way that a lack of time to care for patients can do.

‘At a very basic level, doctors who are asked to provide training need to have the time to do so and that means having adequate protected space in their job plans that allows them to do so. Our College has consistently argued that training current and future cohorts of doctors is as important as other aspects of service delivery.

‘Governments across the UK, not least the Department of Health & Social Care which is currently preparing the 10 Year Workforce Plan, must take on board the findings of this survey and other key studies like the GMC National Training Survey and invest in a physicianly workforce underpinned by comprehensive, whole time equivalent (WTE) workforce planning which takes into account the increasing number of consultants who work part time.’

Professor Hany Eteiba, President of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, said:

‘These findings underline the immense pressure on doctors across the UK, who are too often working beyond their job plans. It’s vital that consultants have the time and resources for training and supervising resident doctors to develop the workforce of tomorrow.
‘Excessive workload also has a profound impact on doctors’ wellbeing. Clinicians want the very best for their patients and to provide excellent care; it is essential that their value is reflected in workforce planning.’

Who responded to the 2025 Focus on physicians survey?

Over 2,000 doctors completed this year’s survey. Find out more about the role, location and specialty of those who responded.