‘Talking about mental health will save lives’
TREE INSPIRED BY TV DRAMA PLANTED AT LONDON HOSPITAL
ACTRESS Ambika Mod and former doctor Adam Kay paid tribute to NHS staff who have taken their own lives by planting a tree at a London hospital.
A Gingko tree outside Ealing Hospital has been dubbed ‘Shruti’s tree’, referring to a character from This is Going to Hurt, a BBC drama series based on Kay’s book of the same name.
It was based on the medic’s real-life diaries from the hospital wards and set in the same institution.
The show revolves around the mental wellbeing of NHS staff who face immense pressure at work, and culminates in the death by suicide of Shruti, a fictional junior doctor, played by Mod.
One scene in the drama depicts a tree planted outside the hospital in Shruti’s memory. It led to several real-life visits from people trying to find the location.
As a result, Kay spoke to the hospital trust to come to an agreement about planting an actual tree which could serve as a tribute to NHS staff nationwide who have taken their lives.
He was joined in his efforts by Mod, who won praise for her portrayal of Shruti in the show.
Kay said, “Suicide among healthcare workers has long been a taboo subject which has been ignored and brushed under the carpet.
“I have no doubt that talking more openly about mental health will save lives. My thanks go to the hospital trust for being wonderfully supportive of the first UK memorial to healthcare workers who have died by suicide.”
Last week, the husband of a GP who died by suicide revealed how “the unbearable pressure of her job finally got to her”. He said, “We are in no doubt that the job made her ill.”
Dr Gail Milligan, 47, a mother and partner at Camberley Health Centre in Surrey, was found dead in woodland last week, according to social media posts.
Her husband described the work pressures that she faced, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“She was seeing patients face-to-face the whole time, as well as the unbelievable amount of telephone consultations that were happening,” he said.
“She saw old people dying in care homes during the pandemic and was working at the vaccine centres.
“She used to leave for work at 6.45am and not get home until usually between 7.30-8pm. When she arrived at home she would generally work until I made her go to bed at 11pm.”
He said an email his wife received hit her “hit her so hard she never recovered”.
At the ceremony to unveil the tree at Ealing Hospital, surgeon Peter McDonald remembered a colleague who had taken their own life due to work pressures earlier in his career.
McDonald said: “I always stress to younger doctors the importance of not bottling things up and talking to someone. We are all human at the end of the day.”