Impact of the Proposed Closure of the NHS Practitioner Mental Health Programme for Doctors and Managers in Secondary Care

Abstract

To reduce its financial deficit, NHS England decided to cull the funding of the Practitioner Health Programme (PHP), which has been providing confidential mental health services to 110,000 NHS doctors/ senior managers since 2011. This decision was announced when NHS doctors were in a dispute over pay and conditions, AND coincided with increasing prevalence of mental illness, stress and burnout. This decision raised concerns among doctors' unions, medical royal colleges, and doctors through social media. An open letter asked the Health Secretary to reconsider this decision. Access to primary care doctors was maintained. What appears not to have been considered is that around 50,000 junior doctors, including locally employed doctors and international medical graduates who are in short-term contracts or rotational attachments, are unlikely to meet the waiting time for such ‘secondary care OH services’. In addition, the elephant in the room of a massive challenge of the professional stigma that prevents doctors from accessing mental health support early seems to have been missed. This editorial briefly explores the causes of a high prevalence of stress and work-related mental illness amongst HCPs, the consequences on their overall health, employing organisations and their patients.