An early warning system could help to protect resident doctor welfare

Abstract

NHS employers need a proactive and consistent approach to protecting the mental health of resident doctors, write Alexander Mafi and Jaya Sharma “No one else is going to look out for you in this job other than yourself.” This advice was handed down to one of us from a registrar during our foundation training. As we progress through our medical training, we increasingly understand its sentiment. Like many of our resident doctor colleagues, we now feel a deep lack of trust that the healthcare system will look after us. Through experience, we have learned that the onus remains entirely on us to be guardians of our own safe working and to preserve and maintain our own humanity and mental health. The system needs to bears some responsibility for our wellbeing. Resident doctors’ belief that the NHS has little regard for our welfare is rooted in individual experiences and the stories of fellow training doctors who have experienced severe mental health difficulties as a direct result of our work and treatment by employers. Deaths of colleagues such as Vaishnavi Kumar, a …