Community mourns much-loved GP
Twyford: Doctor’s husband says job pressure became too much
A GP who was known for her exuberant nature is being mourned by former colleagues and patients at Twyford Doctor’s Surgery.
Dr Gail Milligan, who trained at the surgery before moving on to Camberley, went missing in the Wokingham area on Wednesday, July 27, and was found 24 hours later in woodlands in Bracknell, having taken her own life. She was just 47.
Her husband, Christopher Milligan, has given permission to share a 730-word emotional letter, issued on social media, in which he describes how ‘the unbearable pressure of her job finally got to her’.
Speaking from the heart he bears open his grief and devastation over his wife’s shocking death, giving glimpses into Dr Milligan’s stoic nature and the amount of work she was doing, adding ‘we are in no doubt that the job made her ill’.
Together for 30 years the Milligans enjoyed a life filled with ‘lots of laughter and fun’ with their two sons.
After completing her general practitioner training at Twyford Surgery, Dr Milligan went on to co-run and manage a busy surgery in Camberley.
According to Mr Milligan, doubling-up as a practice partner, trainer, HR personnel as well as working through the COVID-19 pandemic placed huge demands on an already heavy GP caseload.
“She saw old people dying in care homes and was working at the vaccine centres,” he said in his Facebook post.
This all took its toll, as well as maintaining her face-to-face and telephone appointments, keeping up with piles of paperwork and working with CCGs and other organisations, he said.
Mr Milligan described his wife as a person who ‘for years has been giving everything she had to other people in her professional life and her private life too’ but an email received by the doctor on the Sunday before she passed away ‘hit her so hard that she never recovered.’
Colleagues and family members could see that a ‘deep, deep depression’ had set in and they ‘tried to intervene’ with offers of help, suggestions of taking time off and reassurances that ‘her thinking about a situation was wrong’ but, according to Mr Milligan, ‘she had lost the ability to think rationally. Something had gone wrong in her head.’
In a social media post of Friday, Twyford Surgery said: “Her nickname here was ‘party.’
“It was because every time she walked in the room that is what the atmosphere was. She was one of the best.”
In his poignant and powerful statement, Christopher Milligan added: ‘It’s such a sad waste of a wonderful, beautiful, funny and absolutely bananas wife, mother and doctor.
‘The next time you hear somebody banging on about lazy doctors, please stop and think about what happened to my wife.
‘There just aren’t enough GPs to cope, and now there is one less.’
Fiona Edwards, chief executive of NHS Frimley, said: “Everyone at NHS Frimley was shocked at the unexpected death of Dr Gail Milligan, a much-loved friend and colleague and a highly respected and admired clinician.
“We are working with her practice to provide support at this difficult time, as well as supporting wider staff who knew and worked with Gail.
“We would like to add our sympathies and condolences to the many already expressed to Gail’s family and friends.”
■ If you have been affected by any of the issues in this story, the Samaritans can offer 24-hour support to those struggling to cope or feeling emotional distress. Call 116 123.