Doctors save lives daily. We need to do more to save theirs

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By Mary Jane Roberts

On National Suicide Memorial Day for Health and Care Workers, the CEO of Doctors in Distress says listening to doctors is key to preventing more tragic losses.

It was a cold and bright January afternoon when my mobile phone rang with a call from an unknown number. When I answered, standing in my kitchen, the person spoke rapidly, in facts. They told me they were a hospital doctor and that their colleague, a fellow consultant, had died by suicide.

They shared traumatic and desperately sad details, told me of the children left behind, a distraught bereaved partner.

They then told me of the things they saw happen in the hospital that they believed contributed to the death: staff cuts, removal of secretaries who had helped the doctors manage their admin load and the arrival of new technologies which, ironically, made work harder.

Too often doctors’ voices are not heard – their own darkest hours faced alone