Missing for two weeks, depressed NHS doctor who criticised Hunt
FEARS were growing last night for a junior doctor who went missing after becoming depressed about the state of the NHS.
Talented violinist Dr Lauren Phillips, 26, failed to turn up for her A&E shift in Bristol almost two weeks ago.
Two days later, her silver VW Polo was found abandoned more than 100 miles away on the esplanade at Woolacombe, North Devon.
Police and Coastguards have been scouring the shore at the resort but have found no trace.
Dr Phillips, who has used her Facebook account to attack Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, was last seen three days before she was reported missing on February 26.
She was working at Bristol’s Southmead Hospital and played the violin in Bristol Symphony Orchestra in her spare time.
Last night, a colleague, who asked to remain anonymous, said: ‘She works crazily hard. On Facebook she was getting increasingly depressed with the state of the NHS.’
Last year, Dr Phillips posted scathing criticisms on Facebook of proposed changes to junior doctors’ contracts. In one she wrote: ‘F*** you, Jeremy Hunt and Dave Cameron. I don’t see you actively trying to save lives to the detriment of your own health every day.’
The next day she posted an image of herself on the picket line at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro.
North Bristol NHS Trust said it would not comment on any possible issues involving Dr Phillips, adding: ‘At this point our concern is with helping the police to find Lauren.’
Detective Inspector Mark Langdon, of Avon and Somerset Police, said: ‘We’re growing increasingly concerned.’
‘We’re increasingly concerned’