Give clinicians what they need … and the whole system lifts.
I have spent the past week absolutely obsessed with this question – what do GPs really want?
I’ve torn through the RACGP’s Health of the Nation report, the Mayo Clinic burnout literature (thanks Cheryl Martin), multiple economics pieces from The Medical Republic, and the conversations and themes emerging from the recent RACGP GP25 Conference.
One truth is impossible to ignore: GPs aren’t asking for much.
All we want for Christmas is …
Time
Not speed. Not “efficiency”.
Time to think. Time to care. Time to be safe.
General practice has become a high-switching, high cognitive load, high-risk profession, still running on a 12-minute legacy model, 30-60 switches a day.
Continuity
The work only makes sense — clinically and emotionally — when you see your patients again.
Continuity lowers mortality. It lowers burnout. It builds meaning.
Every GP in every room at GP25 said the same thing: “We need patients who come back.”
Support
Admin support. Tech support. Team support.
Not more dashboards. Not another inbox. Not more things to check.
Just a practice that removes friction instead of adding it.
Fair economics
A model where complex work isn’t punished – where doing the right thing doesn’t cost you time, money, or your mental health.
Where quality has a fighting chance against volume.
Meaning
Meaning is the deepest protective factor against burnout.
GPs want to feel competent, valued, connected, human.
The unifying insight
If you pull all of this together, it becomes crystal clear that GPs want a practice that protects their attention, supports their thinking, rewards their depth, and makes it easier to deliver great care every single day.
Everything else — rebooking systems, continuity loops, intake redesign, scribing, protected admin time — is just the machinery that makes this possible.
And here’s the kicker – the clinics and technology built around these principles will:
- attract great GPs;
- keep them longer;
- deliver safer care;
- build calmer teams;
- outperform, long-term.
Because this is the real flywheel: give clinicians what they need … and the whole system lifts.
Related
This is exactly what we’re building at Rosedale Medical Practice in West Pennant Hills in Sydney’s north.
And if you’re a GP who wants to work in a model that actually makes sense — we should talk.
Dr Jaspreet Saini is a specialist GP and practice owner of Rosedale Medical Practice, and chief medical officer of HotDoc.
This article was first published on Dr Saini’s LinkedIn feed. Read the original here.
