Why doesn’t anyone want to be a GP: and what can we do about it?

Following the recent announcement of an unprecedented third round of recruitment for general practice, 1 we must ask why so many junior doctors, like us, are turning their backs on the profession -and what can be done about it? ExpEriEncEFor many of us, experience of a specialty during training can be the most powerful 'advertisement' there is for any prospective career.Few junior doctors would commit to a lifetime spent working in a specialty without some experience.It is striking, then, how little time we spend in general practice: for us, perhaps 8 weeks over an entire degree.Is it any surprise that hospital medicine appears 'the norm'?Fewer still would commit to a specialty if they only had poor experiences in it.At heart, GP placements frequently offer oneto-one clinical supervision and teaching; the educational potential is significant, but so is the risk.In hospital, faced with an uninterested consultant, a student can seek teaching from others or go to clinics or theatres.In general practice the student can only sit in the corner of the consulting room and wait for time to pass.Many colleagues recount details of poor GP placements putting them off the profession.