Objectives: To examine the relationship between the level of burnout in general practitioners and doctors' interpersonal skills, the patient centeredness, the consultation length. The effect of GPs' gender, age, time since registered, and the likelihood to suffer from burnout was also investigated. Design: A cross-sectional study of NHS general practitioners. A postal survey used the Maslach Burnout Inventory to measure self-reported levels of burnout, in 564 doctors. A sample of 38 respondents, selected by high or low emotional exhaustion scores, was further assessed via practice visits. 822 consultations were audio recorded, and 1,900 patients completed the Doctor Interpersonal Skills Questionnaire. Setting: Two studies have been conducted. First, a pilot study was carried out in Tower Hamlets, Newham and Hackney areas of North London in 2000. Then, I set out to perform the main study in county of Essex in 2003. Main measures: Burnout of the doctors; patient-centeredness; the doctors' interpersonal skills, the consultation length, gender, age, time in practice since registration, workload characteristics of the doctors, and general characteristic of the patients. Results: I report high levels of emotional exhaustion and depersonalisation and correlate these levels to characteristics of the doctor. Male doctors reported significantly higher depersonalisation than female doctors, and doctors in group practice suffer more from depersonalisation than singlehanded practitioners. I also find no significant correlation with DISQ (patient assessment of the consultation) or patient centeredness (observer assessment of consultation). Finally, my results also demonstrate that patient-centeredness is significantly associated with consultation length and that "usual doctor" visits correlate with higher ratings of the doctors' interpersonal skills by patients (DISQ). Conclusions: Burnout is a significant issue in Essex general practitioners. Burnout, patient centeredness, doctors' interpersonal skills and consultation length are inter-related.