The BMA’s GP committee for England (GPC England) is encouraging GP practices to take time to focus on staff mental health and wellbeing ahead of World Suicide Prevention Day on 10 September.
The committee, which represents all GPs in England, is recommending that practice teams put a short amount of time aside on Friday 9th September to come together to reflect on their own mental health and to identify the best ways of supporting each other’s wellbeing at a time when pressures on the workforce have never been more pronounced.
It will also provide practice teams with an opportunity to remember colleagues who have tragically taken their own lives, while prioritising how to avoid losing more colleagues in the same way.
Just last month, the profession was united in shock and sadness at the death of Dr Gail Milligan, a GP in Surrey. Announcing her death, her husband described the “overwhelming” nature of her job as a partner at the practice in Camberley.
Meanwhile, a recent survey by the campaign group Rebuild General Practice found that, of the almost 1,400 GPs who responded, almost a quarter knew colleagues who had killed themselves.
And during the Covid-19 pandemic, the impact on doctors’ mental health was profound. In April this year two-thirds of GPs who responded to a BMA survey said they were currently suffering with a mental or emotional health problem made worse by their work. Doctors have also described the “moral distress” and “moral injury” they experienced during the pandemic.
Calls from GPs to the BMA’s counselling service in the last year have more than tripled when compared to pre-pandemic levels1.
Dr Kieran Sharrock, BMA England GP committee deputy chair, said:
“At a time when demand and workload pressures across the NHS have never been higher, it’s never been more important to protect the health and wellbeing of staff so they are able to look after patients properly.
“An exhausted, unwell and demoralised workforce cannot provide care to the best of their ability, and we’re sure patients would not want to be treated by someone who is suffering themselves.
“Doctors and their colleagues too often put their all into looking after their patients, but unfortunately deprioritise their own wellbeing in the process, leading to burnout and real damage.
“That’s why we’re recommending that practice teams take some time on Friday 9th to have open conversations about health and wellbeing, identify how best they can support one another and share some of the excellent resources and services already out there, including those from the BMA, Practitioner Health and Doctors in Distress.
“When we lose a colleague to suicide it’s a huge loss – to their family, loved ones, workmates and patients – recently underlined by the death of Dr Gail Milligan, which sent a shockwave through the profession.
“We have a duty to remember those we have lost, and a responsibility to do all we can to prevent losing more talented and dedicated colleagues in the same awful way.”