Doctors demand ‘urgent extension’ of GP mental health services
A coalition of major medical organisations has called for urgent action to address the ‘inequality’ in mental health support for doctors in Northern Ireland.
Doctors in Northern Ireland are unable to access free mental health services available to the rest of the UK, in one of the ‘clearest inequalities in support available to our profession’, said the coalition, formed of over 13 organisations including the Royal College of General Practitioners Northern Ireland and charity Doctors in Distress.
Doctors in Distress co-ordinated an open letter to the chief medical officers for Northern Ireland and England – Michael McBride and Chris Whitty – calling for an ‘urgent extension’ of the NHS Practitioner Health service operating in England and Scotland.
A wider rollout of NHS Practitioner Health – a free, confidential service for healthcare professionals that offers urgent and crisis help – to Northern Ireland would improve doctor health, strengthen patient safety and reduce workforce pressures, the letter said.
The open letter argued support for doctor wellbeing was an ‘essential component of maintaining safe, high-quality patient care’.
It pointed to a 2024 BMA member survey, which found 44% of doctors reported suffering from depression, anxiety, stress, burnout or other mental health conditions related to or made worse by their working environment.
There are no specific figures for doctor absences in Northern Ireland, but a ‘conservative estimate’ based on the public sector benchmark would suggest mental health issues account for between 25,000 to 31,000 lost working days each year, it said. That equates to the removal of between 110 and 140 full-time doctors and dentists from the workforce.
Extending the NHS Practitioner Health service to the roughly 5,200 whole-time equivalent doctors and dentists in Northern Ireland could therefore have a substantial impact, in a system that operates with a 5.6% medical and dental vacancy rate, the letter argued.
The service has a ‘strong evidence base’ and 76% of doctors who were not working at the point of entry returned to clinical practice within 12 months, the coalition pointed out.
It estimated a Northern Ireland rollout would cost around £410,000 a year – a ‘modest and proportionate spend’ when considering the benefits to the workforce and patient safety.
‘Now, more than ever, support for doctors is needed,’ said Professor Baroness Gerada, patron of Doctors in Distress and founder of NHS Practitioner Health.
‘There is so much distress and pain out there in the general public and our patients. We have to keep our healthcare professionals working, resilient, able to support the people that are really desperate.’
The Department of Health for Northern Ireland said it was considering commissioning a practitioner health programme.
‘However, the current financial position makes the introduction of new services such as this particularly challenging,’ a spokesperson said.
‘The Minister remains keen to be imaginative in identifying a solution.’
Doctors who require specific psychological support can obtain help through referral to Health and Social Care Trust Occupational Health Services, the spokesperson added.
In England, funding for NHS Practitioner Health was extended last year for a further three years to 2029.
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