GP Burnout Highlights Pressure of Australia’s Current Practice Model
04 Sep 2026
For Dr Elly Goodsall, these pressures have reached a point where she has decided to step away from traditional general practice.
At 45, Dr Goodsall says she has found it increasingly difficult to provide the type of care she believes patients need within a high-volume, bulk-billing environment.
Many of her patients wait weeks or months for an appointment and often arrive with several health concerns. She says this makes short consultations poorly suited to the reality of modern general practice.
The hidden work behind each consultation
Dr Goodsall says the demands of general practice extend well beyond the time spent face-to-face with a patient.
Complex consultations can involve significant emotional and mental effort, followed by work that may not be visible or properly valued.
She also points to the additional care patients may seek elsewhere while waiting for an appointment, including prescriptions, telehealth consultations, medical certificates and treatment for conditions such as urinary tract infections.
Evidence has also indicated that female GPs are more likely to provide longer and more complex consultations.
Concerns about bulk billing
A major factor in Dr Goodsall’s decision was the Federal Government’s move to increase bulk-billing incentives.
She believes doctor-owned practices may struggle to remain financially viable if they rely on high-volume bulk billing without moving patients through consultations quickly.
For Dr Goodsall, the approach risks placing greater emphasis on the number of consultations rather than the depth of care required.
She says general practice depends on trust and continuity, particularly when patients have complex or ongoing health concerns.
Why continuity matters
Dr Goodsall believes long-term relationships allow GPs to recognise patterns that may not be obvious during a single short appointment.
Patients can gradually become comfortable enough to discuss issues they may not have initially raised, allowing their GP to understand what may be contributing to multiple health problems.
She recalls a patient who recently told her that a supportive consultation four years earlier had made a major difference during a period of severe distress.
At the time, Dr Goodsall did not know how significant that appointment had been. The patient later explained that being listened to and supported had helped prevent her from acting on a plan to end her life.
For Dr Goodsall, the experience demonstrated the value of having enough time to listen and build trust.
A decision to step back
After taking a break over Christmas, Dr Goodsall returned to work but soon found herself experiencing ongoing exhaustion.
Initially, she expected to take around six months away from general practice. However, as she considered returning, she began to feel increasing dread about working within the same system.
She says the feeling was not related to her patients, whom she continues to care deeply about, but to the conditions in which she was expected to practise.
Dr Goodsall says her medical training gave her skills that extend well beyond writing prescriptions, referrals and completing administrative tasks. She believes GPs can make a greater difference when they have the opportunity to use those skills fully.
Looking for a different path
Dr Goodsall has not completely ruled out continuing to work in medicine.
She is considering other ways to use her medical experience while maintaining a healthier balance for herself and her family.
For now, she is focusing on her role as a mother and studying an advanced certificate in botanical illustration, an area she says she finds creative and healing.
Her experience highlights the wider challenge facing general practice: finding a sustainable model that allows doctors to provide complex, relationship-based care without placing an unsustainable personal cost on the clinicians delivering it.
GP Burnout Highlights Pressure of Australia’s Current Practice Model
Source: newsGP / RACGP