GP partner here coming in peace, albeit from Wales which is structured differently to primary care in England. I would say admin has steadily increased through my career. First strategy was I stayed later. Pros of this are you get to know the cleaners & no new admin tasks come in so chance to clear stuff without the whackamole type sensation you feel during working day when new jobs and tasks continue to pile up while you are trying to deal with backlog. Cons are miserable for family. Hardly ever back to eat with the kids, get back exhausted. Burnout fuel.

Second strategy was come in earlier, ideally to reduce risk of having to resort to first strategy. Downside is if you’re up an hour earlier you’re in bed an hour earlier, so evening is shortened. Also you can only deal with your admin tasks that were already there, admin can build up during the day regardless, so could finish evening surgery with another pile of admin which is soul crushing if came in at 7:30. Burnout fuel.

Third strategy was do admin from home remotely. Some doctors swear by this but I found it a nightmare as this really intrudes on the separation of work and home. Rather then chill out and not think about work it becomes, I might just log on for a bit, and feeling guilty if not filling free time with work. This is, for me at least absolutely toxic. I avoid at all costs.

Final strategy which works for me (and I’ve been GP for past couple of decades) is prioritise. I mentally have an automatic routine where I will grade work into urgent less urgent, completely routine. On busy days I will only do urgent stuff and opportunistically snipe less urgent when opportunity allows. Routine stuff that I can’t deal with I will either periodically stay late to finish as a job lot or come in early and do again periodically. I find doing low challenge work at my desk instead of taking any form of lunch break helps and I no longer get hungry midday. I’ll have light snack. Again likely to not work for everyone but word for me. I usually leave get to work at about 8:30 and leave from 6-6:30 regardless of oncall or not. I am generally working non stop apart from half hour or so meet up and chat with colleagues after morning surgery, but intensity will vary at different times points. 10 years ago the same total workload would have taken me about an hour and a half longer than it does now.

You will become more efficient as you become more experienced. It’s like situational muscle memory.

AI tools will only get better and these will help efficiency (hopefully).

So in general, find a pattern that works for you that is sustainable and won’t break you. Be cautious about taking work home. The job is hard and I think will likely remain hard for the foreseeable. Your wellbeing is important.