New RCGP report finds GPs do not have enough time to offer preventative care

Patients trust their GP most for advice on healthy living – but RCGP research shows three quarters lack the time to offer it.

Around two thirds of patients trust their GP for advice on how to live healthily, yet three quarters of GPs say they lack the time to offer preventive care, according to research by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP).

A poll of 2,000 members of the public found that 64% trust their GP for advice on healthy living. This is more than NHS.uk (the NHS website) (51%), pharmacists (38%), family and friends (22%), AI chatbots (7%), and social media influencers (5%).

A separate survey of RCGP members conducted last year found that 75% of GP respondents said they do not have enough time to offer preventive care, which may include advice on lifestyle, vaccinations, and self-care.

The findings come as the RCGP launches today a major report urging governments across the UK to ensure general practice has the resources it needs to deliver more preventive care.

The report, "The General Practice role in evidence-based and equitable prevention", argues that a stronger preventive approach could lead to better patient outcomes, reduced health inequalities, fewer avoidable hospital admissions and a more sustainable NHS. It makes 10 recommendations, including:

• Increasing the proportion of NHS funding going to general practice, and training, employing and retaining enough GPs and practice staff to deliver proactive preventive care, including having enough time with patients and supporting continuity of care.
• Ensuring evidence-based prevention is an explicit focus in clinical guidelines and policy frameworks.
• Redesigning incentive frameworks in general practice to better prioritise a proactive, holistic approach.
• Ensuring strong GP leadership and named accountability for prevention within each neighbourhood or community health system, and on each ICB in England, Health and Care Trust in Northern Ireland and Health Board in Scotland and Wales.

Professor Victoria Tzortziou Brown, President of the Royal College of GPs, said: "Governments across the UK want more focus on prevention. This is the right ambition for patients, the NHS, and society as a whole. But prevention must be evidence-based and properly evaluated. Our report sets out what needs to change to remove the barriers GPs face, so we can give our patients preventive care that genuinely improves their health.

"Prevention doesn't happen by accident. It requires time, capacity, and trusted relationships with patients – and our polling shows just how much people trust their GP for advice about healthy living. At a time when people are increasingly turning to online sources for information, it's reassuring that GPs – and not AI chatbots or social media influencers – remain such a trusted source of health advice.

"As a GP working for over 20 years in East London, one of the most rewarding things is building long-term relationships with patients and earning their trust. That trust means that when a patient comes to see me, I can look beyond the immediate symptoms and talk with them about their health more broadly – and about what they can do now to prevent their health deteriorating or future illness. But I know how difficult it can be for GPs to find the time to have these conversations.

"If governments are serious about improving healthy life expectancy, reducing avoidable illness and easing pressure on hospitals through a greater focus on prevention, then investment in general practice must be part of the solution. Prevention cannot be delivered on goodwill alone."

Dr Munro Stewart, Vice President of the Royal College of GPs and a lead author of the report, said: "Preventing avoidable illness is something we can all get behind. GPs and our teams are already doing a huge amount of preventive work from evidence-based screening and vaccination programmes, to managing risk factors and chronic disease, and supporting people to stop smoking.

"But effective prevention requires time and capacity. General practice is already beyond capacity, and if governments want to give prevention greater priority, they need to invest in the frontline capacity needed to deliver it.

"At the same time, responsibility for prevention cannot fall solely to GPs and our teams. We need a whole-system approach – to preventing illness rather than waiting to treat it once it occurs. Many of the underlying drivers of poor health – including poverty, poor housing, unemployment and wider social and environmental factors – sit beyond the NHS and require coordinated action across government."

The research was conducted by Censuswide, among a sample of 2,000 Natrep UK xcconsumers. The data was collected between 5 August 2026 - 7 August 2026. Censuswide is a member of the Market Research Society (MRS) and the British Polling Council (BPC), and a signatory of the Global Data Quality Pledge. We adhere to the MRS Code of Conduct and ESOMAR principles.

Savanta was commissioned by RCGP to deliver the GP Voice Survey 2025. The survey was in field between 28 July 2025 and 20 August 2025, and it received a total of 2,316 responses, of which 2,108 from practicing GPs, from across the UK. Responses from England were weighted on the basis of gender, region, and age in line with data from NHS England's GP workforce data.

Further information

RCGP press office: 0203 188 7659
press@rcgp.org.uk

Notes to editors

The Royal College of General Practitioners is a network of more than 54,000 family doctors working to improve care for patients. We work to encourage and maintain the highest standards of general medical practice and act as the voice of GPs on education, training, research and clinical standards.