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Medical charities come together to offer GP help portal

Doctors struggling financially have been invited by a group of medical charities to access help via their new ‘Help Me I’m a Doctor’ portal.

BMA Charities, the Cameron Fund, the Royal Medical Benevolent Fund, the Royal Medical Foundation and The Society for the Assistance of Medical Families said they have come together to offer a single point of access to struggling doctors, as well as those trying to help.

The project, championed by NHS England programme manager for primary care commissioning Matt Boycott and NHS Practitioner Health Programme (PHP) chief executive Lucy Warner, will also direct GPs onto the new national GP mental health support service where appropriate.

The portal includes a simple questionnaire, advising users of the most relevant organisation to help with the issues they are facing.

The charities, which have secured GP Forward View Funding to help set up the portal, said this comes as there was ‘a lack of knowledge about the differences between each of the charities and how they operate’.

They said in a statement: ‘Doctors all too often experience loneliness and isolation, even though working in an extremely busy, stressful work place – whether a hospital or practice setting. 

‘Dedicating their time to helping others, while putting their own needs to one side, doctors can often find it difficult to admit they have a problem, to their colleagues or even to their own family. Often they are concerned that admitting they have a problem will impact upon their Fitness to Practice.

‘The portal will offer an effective way to attract those who are in distress and have a real need for financial help and money advice.’