Doctors are at high risk of "complexity fatigue". General practitioner consultations are becoming more and more complicated. In the more than 40 years since he qualified, medicine has changed significantly. Many patients who would have died before are now surviving, for example with certain types of cancer or ischemic heart disease. These patients often live productive lives for another 15 years or more before eventually dying of dementia. This increases the complexity of the cases doctors see beyond the "simple" visits of patients asking for the birth control pill or with an upper respiratory tract infection. Doctors need to see fewer patients for longer to manage their often multiple problems, but high demands are expected of them by patients, politicians, professions and regulators.