Seeking help is not weak. Our doctors need to know support is there for them

There are different stresses that can affect different specialists and different grades.

At a more senior level, there are obviously targets to be met and sometimes these can feel completely unrealistic.

For an A&E consultant, waiting time targets are a major issue and we know that cases of burnout are very high.

The difference between burnout and depression is that burnout is very work specific, but people take it home with them.

We don’t want the doctors we turn to, and our families turn, to being unwell.

If you don’t care for the healthcare workforce, while it doesn’t mean that on any given Tuesday they can’t care for you, it will impact on the quality of care we receive over a period of time.

The service is stretched to breaking point so there is an issue of funding. Without that, these problems are not going to go away.

In addition, the culture of medicine has lost sight of the fact the doctor is also human. It is very demanding work looking after people who are sick or who have recently been bereaved.

It should be the norm for doctors to be able to seek support, that shouldn’t be seen as them being weak or flaky.

This is somebody who is doing a really tough job and it is almost inevitable that at times they are going to need support.

In Scotland a group gives every junior doctor a book of poetry called “Tools Of The Trade” when they graduate from medical school.

That in itself isn’t going to stop a doctor from being pushed to the edge but it recognises this is tough work even when the system is working perfectly – and this is not working perfectly.