Campaign to End Loneliness GPs’ attitudes towards loneliness

 ComRes interviewed 1,007 GPs in the UK online betweeen the 16th and 22nd October 2013. Data were weighted to be representative of all GPs in the UK by former SHA region. ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.

Date Published: 15 Nov 2013

Categories: Health | Professionals | Social | UK

Description

Family doctors ill-equipped for loneliness epidemic

 

New research has found significant numbers of lonely people attending GP surgeries, with doctors saying they are ill-equipped to help them. 

 

A new poll of UK GPs, carried out by ComRes for the Campaign to End Loneliness, found that three quarters of doctors (76 per cent) report that between one and five patients a day attend their surgery primarily because they are lonely. This could mean that as many as one in 10 patients arriving at GPs surgeries are there not because they are medically unwell, but because they are lonely. 

 

Worryingly, almost half (49 per cent) of the doctors questioned said they were not confident they had the tools necessary to help their lonely patients, with only 13 per cent of doctors confident in being able to help.