{"id":3211,"date":"2026-05-22T12:42:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T11:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/?p=3211"},"modified":"2026-05-22T12:57:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T11:57:24","slug":"call-to-extend-practitioner-health-to-northern-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/call-to-extend-practitioner-health-to-northern-ireland\/","title":{"rendered":"Call to extend Practitioner Health to Northern Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Doctors Association UK (DAUK) has joined calls by leading medical organisations for an urgent extension of NHS Practitioner Health in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The open letter has been coordinated by the charity Doctors in Distress and signed by a coalition of leading UK medical organisations, including DAUK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"dddfe5\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"996\" height=\"956\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 996px) 100vw, 996px\" src=\"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Logos_-Support-for-NI-Pract-Health-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3219 not-transparent\" style=\"--dominant-color: #dddfe5; aspect-ratio:1.041860465116279;width:381px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Logos_-Support-for-NI-Pract-Health-1.png 996w, https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Logos_-Support-for-NI-Pract-Health-1-300x288.png 300w, https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Logos_-Support-for-NI-Pract-Health-1-768x737.png 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">NHS Practitioner Health<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Northern Ireland\u2019s 5,200 whole-time-equivalent doctors and dentists are alone in the United Kingdom in having no equivalent dedicated provision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The signatories draw on published evidence to set out the scale of unmet need:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>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.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Northern Ireland records the highest prevalence of common mental health conditions of any UK region, affecting at least one in five adults.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>HSC trusts recorded a sickness absence rate of 7.1% in 2024 \u2013 the highest of any UK<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>health system \u2013 alongside a 5.6% medical and dental vacancy rate and the longest waiting lists in the United Kingdom.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>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.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Mental health support<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr Matt Kneale, DAUK co-chair, said: \u201cDoctors in Northern Ireland should not be left behind when it comes to accessing confidential mental health support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe pressures facing the workforce are immense, and dedicated services like NHS Practitioner Health make a real difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cExtending this support to Northern Ireland is essential for the wellbeing of clinicians and the safety and sustainability of patient care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mary Jane Roberts, chief executive of Doctors in Distress, said: \u201cIt is an outrageous inequality that Northern Irish doctors are being treated like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Proven service<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Professor Baroness Gerada DBE FRCGP FRCPsych, patron of Doctors in Distress and founder of NHS Practitioner Health, said: \u201cNow, more than ever, support for doctors is needed. There is so much distress and pain out there in the general public and our patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe have to keep our healthcare professionals working, resilient, able to support the people that are really desperate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Letter-to-CMOs_Extension-of-Practitioner-Health-Services-to-Northern-Ireland.pdf\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Letter-to-CMOs_Extension-of-Practitioner-Health-Services-to-Northern-Ireland.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Read the letter in full<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We are a non-profit campaigning and lobbying organisation led by frontline doctors, for frontline doctors. We are volunteers and our collective aim is to give frontline workers a voice to be heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Please support our work by contributing to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/support-the-work-of-the-doctors-association-uk-dauk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">our crowd funder<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Doctors Association UK (DAUK) has joined calls by leading medical organisations for an urgent extension of NHS Practitioner Health in Northern Ireland. We\u2019ve signed&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":3217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[17,111,657],"class_list":["post-3211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-compassionate-culture","tag-dr-matt-kneale","tag-mental-health","tag-practitioner-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3211"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3226,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3211\/revisions\/3226"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}