AI and smarter systems help doctors reclaim time for patients

Doctors are increasingly using technology, including artificial intelligence (AI), to reduce their administrative burdens, improve efficiency and create more time for their patients, according to a report published today by the General Medical Council (GMC).

More than one in four doctors reported improvements they said helped them provide good patient care in the last year, with AI and better patient information systems among the most cited*.

Doctors said the technology was helping reduce administrative workloads and enabling them to have more meaningful interactions with patients.

But significant pressures remain. More than four in 10 doctors (41%) said they found it difficult to provide the level of care they would like at least weekly. For GPs, the figure rose to six in ten (60%).

Commonly reported barriers included inadequate staffing, heavy workloads and time spent on bureaucracy and admin, as well as delays for patients awaiting screening or treatment.

Poor co-ordination between primary and secondary care was also a factor, with only one in five doctors agreeing that co-ordination was currently effective, with complex cases and systems often the cause.

The findings are in the GMC’s The state of medical education and practice in the UK: Workplace experiences 2026 report. It draws on a survey of more than 4,600 doctors, as well as interviews about their experience of working in the UK.

Other findings included that doctors’ overall satisfaction levels fell in 2025, after two years of small but steady improvements, and that doctors in the early stages of their careers cited challenges around progression and development.

The research will help inform the GMC’s work to improve workplace conditions and patient outcomes.

GMC Chief Executive Charlie Massey said:

‘Patients rightly expect good care from their doctors, and doctors are clear about what good care looks like. Yet many tell us that providing that level of care is difficult. It is not due to a lack of professionalism or commitment, but because of the pressures in their working environment.

‘Unless those pressures are addressed, doctors will continue to struggle to deliver the care patients need and expect. However committed doctors may be, the quality of care they can provide is shaped by the conditions in which they work.’

Mr Massey added that local improvements, including the use of technology, should be scaled up and turned into wider improvements:

‘Progress is being made, and some of the improvements are deceptively simple, but the challenge is turning those local gains into system-wide improvement. It won’t be straightforward, and it won’t solve all the problems of an under-pressure workforce, but harnessing technology can make a positive difference, for doctors and their patients.’

Read the report, The state of medical education and practice in the UK: Workplace experiences 2026.

* Many of these doctors specifically cited the ‘encompass’ electronic patient record system, which became operational across all Northern Ireland Health and Social Care Trust areas in May last year.