We’ve signed an open letter to Dr Michael McBride, Chief Medical Officer for Northern Ireland, and Professor Sir Chris Whitty KCB FRS, Chief Medical Officer for England.

It urges them to work with NHS Practitioner Health and the Northern Ireland Executive to commission an extension of the service to doctors and dentists in Northern Ireland.

The open letter has been coordinated by the charity Doctors in Distress and signed by a coalition of leading UK medical organisations, including DAUK.

NHS Practitioner Health

It points out that doctors working in England, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey can all access confidential, expert mental health and addiction care designed for the profession.

Northern Ireland’s 5,200 whole-time-equivalent doctors and dentists are alone in the United Kingdom in having no equivalent dedicated provision.

The signatories draw on published evidence to set out the scale of unmet need:

• A 2024 British Medical Association member survey found that 44% of doctors reported suffering from depression, anxiety, stress, burnout or other mental health conditions related to or made worse by their work.
• Northern Ireland records the highest prevalence of common mental health conditions of any UK region, affecting at least one in five adults.
• HSC trusts recorded a sickness absence rate of 7.1% in 2024 – the highest of any UK
• health system – alongside a 5.6% medical and dental vacancy rate and the longest waiting lists in the United Kingdom.
• Applying NISRA benchmarks to the Northern Ireland medical and dental workforce produces a conservative estimate that mental-health-related absence accounts for between 25,000 and 31,000 lost working days each year, the equivalent of removing between 110 and 140 full-time doctors and dentists from the system annually.

Mental health support

Dr Matt Kneale, DAUK co-chair, said: “Doctors in Northern Ireland should not be left behind when it comes to accessing confidential mental health support.

“The pressures facing the workforce are immense, and dedicated services like NHS Practitioner Health make a real difference.

“Extending this support to Northern Ireland is essential for the wellbeing of clinicians and the safety and sustainability of patient care.”

Mary Jane Roberts, chief executive of Doctors in Distress, said: “It is an outrageous inequality that Northern Irish doctors are being treated like this.

Proven service

“It is so easily solved: NHS Practitioner Health is an expert, proven service, ready to provide the care that is needed. This is an ethical, speedy win. I am sure the CMOs as leaders of the medical profession will act to resolve the issue.”

Professor Baroness Gerada DBE FRCGP FRCPsych, patron of Doctors in Distress and founder of NHS Practitioner Health, said: “Now, more than ever, support for doctors is needed. 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.”

Read the letter in full.

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Ms Helen Fernandes said it was ‘really good news’ that NHS Practitioner Health had secured funding until March 2026.

She said: “This is really good news and most welcome.

“The work of NHS Practitioner Health is greatly needed at a time when the medical profession is on its knees and healthcare professionals are under huge pressure.

“The service is so important in supporting doctors while we support our patients. It’s needed more than ever.”

DAUK broke the news in April that Practitioner Health had been due to have its funding cut while a review into the service was carried out.

It led to a social media storm and widespread criticism before NHS England announced the service would be extended by 12 months while a wider review was carried out.

Announcing that funding was in place until March 2026, Lucy Warner, NHS Practitioner Health chief executive, said: “Earlier this year we were hugely grateful to those individuals and stakeholders who spoke out in support for the service, highlighting the impact of NHS Practitioner Health on their lives and those of friends and colleagues.

“As a result, we saw agreement from NHS England to fund the service for a further 12 months to March 2025, while they carried out a review into staff mental health support.

“Over the last six months we have been engaging with our commissioners and inputting into the review.

“We have now been reassured that our funding is secure for a further 12 months through to March 2026, to enable time for the review to be completed and for a clearer picture to emerge on long term support for all staff.

“We really believe we have been able to demonstrate the value and impact of the service and hope that by the end of this review NHS England will have identified a long term future for NHS Practitioner Health.”

Support the work of DAUK by signing up as a member.

NHS England (NHSE) today announced that the Practitioner Health service for secondary care doctors, dentists and senior NHS staff would be extended by another 12 months.

DAUK reported how Practitioner Health had been due to have its funding cut from Monday – meaning no new referrals would be accepted leaving vulnerable doctors without access to its support – while a review into the service was carried out.

It led to a social media storm, with the decision criticised by doctors, healthcare professionals, and groups and associations.

Now NHSE has announced Practitioner Health will be extended by 12 months whole the wider review is carried out.

Ms Fernandes said: “We’re delighted that NHSE has reversed its decision to cut NHS Practitioner Health for hospital doctors.

Thank you DAUK members

“Thank you to our members and to everyone who made their voices heard.

“It is disappointing that NHSE felt able to cut this lifeline of a service without proper consultation and provision of an alternative.

“Everyone understands the need to ensure value for money within the NHS, but DAUK feels that the mental health of the doctors that provide healthcare for our patients is about as important as it gets.

“NHSE needs to reflect on its decision to stop Practitioner Health, reflect on the response that this generated, and consider an alternative way to treat and communicate with its workforce.”

What is NHS Practitioner Health?

NHS Practitioner Health is a free, confidential service for doctors and dentists across England with mental illness and addiction problems, who are working or looking to return to clinical practice. This service is a commitment as part of the NHS Long Term Plan.

Announcing the reverse, Dr Navina Evans, NHSE’s chief workforce officer, said: “Following discussions with Practitioner Health on their current service for secondary care doctors, dentists, and NHS senior staff, we have jointly agreed to extend the service by 12 months, for both existing and new service users, while we carry out a wider review to ensure that all NHS staff groups have the mental health support they need.”

NHS Practitioner Health has been given just days’ notice that its funding for secondary care will be paused from this Monday (15 April).

This is while a period of consultation is carried out on the service, which is currently treating more than 6,000 doctors and healthcare professionals, 60 per cent of whom are hospital staff.

It means that no new referrals will be accepted from Monday, leaving vulnerable doctors experiencing anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, and addiction without access to support. Current clients will continue to be seen.

Ms Helen Fernandes, co-chair of DAUK, said: “This service is so important and given the pressure that our secondary care doctors and healthcare professionals are under, it’s needed more than ever.

“To turn off the funding just like that, with no warning and nothing in place is absolutely outrageous.

“These are real people who are in trouble and distress. They will need some support somewhere, so where do they go?

“The commissioners that fund the service want to do a piece of work to find out if it’s value for money, so rather than do that piece of work and keep the service running at the same time they’re going to stop it, which seems a really bizarre thing to do.”

NHS Practitioner Health

NHS Practitioner Health is a free, confidential service for doctors and dentists across England with mental illness and addiction problems, who are working or looking to return to clinical practice. This service is a commitment as part of the NHS Long Term Plan.

Dr Peter Bailey, who qualified as a GP in 1984 and has worked for NHS Practitioner Health for five years, said: “I feel incredibly passionate about the decision that’s been made – it’s wrong-headed and stupid.

“I can’t imagine anybody working for workforce wellbeing in the whole of the world who will think this is a good idea, to cancel a service that’s working perfectly well while you have a think about whether you want to continue funding it.

“It’s ludicrous.”

Dr Bailey said the service was originally set up following the tragic death of a hospital doctor who was unable to access confidential help for her mental illness.

He said: “If someone like her were to call Practitioner Health on Monday, she would be turned away.”

Support for doctors

Another doctor who works for NHS Practitioner Health but wanted to remain anonymous said: “For six months it’s likely there will be no support via Practitioner Health for addicted or suicidal hospital doctors.

“It’s clear people will be rejected from Monday

“This is due to new commissioners, lack of funding, and poor awareness of the importance of supporting clinicians, not only for their own health but for patient safety issues.”

More than 32,000 doctors and healthcare professionals have been treated by the service since it was founded in 2008.

Ms Fernandes said: “To pull out a major support service for hospital-based doctors seems rather cruel. We’re calling on the commissioners to reverse the decision.

“The funding of this service will be tiny in comparison to the NHS budget but the work it does is huge.”

We’ve contacted the GMC for help on the issue.

In a statement, Practitioner Health said: “We have been in discussion with NHS England over arrangements for the service from 1 April 2024 and want to reassure all patients who are already registered with the service that this does not alter your situation. We will continue to support all existing patients to complete their treatment.

“NHS England are undertaking a review of the staff support offer for mental health across all staff groups to consider long term sustainable options. We will contribute to the review.

“On this basis we have agreed with NHS England to halt new registrations for secondary care staff from 15 April 2024 onwards. New secondary care patients will be signposted to alternative sources of support, including your GP, occupational health departments and organisational employee assistance programmes.

“The arrangements for the primary care element of Practitioner Health have been extended for a further 12 months to 31 March 2025.”