Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket MP, Dr Peter Prinsley said doctors were 'in crisis' as he recalled stories of drug abuse, depression, and suicide
An MP has spoken of witnessing drug abuse and depression as well as losing colleagues to suicide to highlight doctors 'in crisis'.
Dr Peter Prinsley, the MP for Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket, held a debate in Westminster yesterday afternoon on the welfare of doctors and the overall state of the NHS, which is a 'matter of personal importance' for him.
He said the previous Conservative Government had left a heritage of gigantic waiting lists, ambulance delays, poor access to GPs and low confidence, but promised the new administration would fix it.
Dr Prinsley said: "Labour must mend the NHS; we have no choice. We invented the NHS. We fixed it before and we will fix it again.
"Doctors in this country are in crisis, doctors are leaving the profession, retiring too soon and emigrating."
Part of his speech focused on the experiences of young doctors through education, with debts of nearly £100,000, struggling to get a job near their families, and work conditions when they entered the workforce.
He said: "Young doctors are left immediately responsible for life-and-death decisions, sometimes with insufficient support.
"They are left scrabbling at the very last minute for somewhere to live — I have known several of them to sleep in their cars."
Doctors, he stressed, were being driven to alcohol and drug abuse, loneliness, depression, insomnia, and anxiety, all of which were having serious impacts on their lives and even leading to suicide.
A survey by the Royal College of Anaesthetists in 2023 revealed as many as 84 per cent of doctors were too tired to drive home after a night shift, with only 64 per cent having access to any rest facilities.
Dr Prinsley recalled deaths by accident when driving home at night in his own hospital.
"We simply cannot leave [doctors] on their own," he said. "Medicine is a brilliant career — satisfying, interesting and rewarding but let us look after the doctors who look after us."
Karin Smyth MP, the health and social care minister, acknowledged the concerns and promised the Labour Government would work to fix them.
She said: "We are on a mission to fix our broken NHS by driving fundamental reform to bring our analogue health service to the digital age.
"We want to work with the unions on the key issues that doctors face on the frontline, and improve their working lives — this does apply to all NHS staff.
"Our ambition is for the NHS to become a modern, innovative and supportive employer."
This ambition, she added, was necessary to attract and retain professionals, give them the support they deserved, and build a resilient health service.
Although Westminster Hall debates don't involve any sort of voting or action, they are an opportunity for backbench MPs to raise specific issues, receive a response from the Government, and seek to influence policy in the future.