The views of doctors on their working lives: a qualitative study

Abstract

Summary Objective To describe doctors' views on, and responses to, their professional working lives in the UK National Health Service (NHS). Design Qualitative study using semi structured interviews. Setting Two district hospitals and primary care settings in the North of England. Participants Fifty-two doctors participated in the study – 47 worked in hospital and five worked in general practice. Main outcome measures Qualitative information regarding doctors' views on their working lives. Results The study provided insights into the views of their working lives of a sample of doctors in the NHS. Feelings they articulated contained a number of ambivalences. Feelings about the future were coloured by concerns about the impact of regulatory changes and processes of modernization on the experiential knowledge of doctors. Conclusions These insights into doctors' views of their working lives might usefully inform those involved in the planning and overseeing of changes to health service structures and systems.