Self-help prescription for doctors

Published on Friday 9 February 2007 11:57

WHILE some workers let off steam to colleagues in the pub at the end of a particularly tough week, stressed out GPs often have no-one to turn to.

Now frazzled general practitioners in Edinburgh are being invited to attend self-help groups to share the strains of the day and alleviate their anxieties.

The initiative is being rolled out across the city following the success of a pilot group started by Sighthill doctor Helga Rhein.

Dr Rhein saw that while those working in other medical professions such as nurses and social workers received peer support to help them deal with difficult cases, GPs were left to cope alone.

She said: "The life of a GP is stressful and is full of difficult cases but one of the biggest problems can be the isolation.

"If you feel better yourself and you are not harassed, as a doctor you will make better decisions. Other professionals have supervision and support and I felt that we should also have something like that."

Dr Rhein has been a GP in the Capital for 28 years and said the ten GPs who have been meeting regularly every month also swap tips on how to run their surgeries and cope with heavy workloads.

The members of Dr Rhein's group are all from the west of the city but GPs from across Edinburgh are now poised to establish their own support networks.

The expansion has been possible because of the Edinburgh Community Health Partnership (ECHP) which has agreed to provide 5000 a year to fund new groups.

Clinical director Ian McKay, of the ECHP, said: "The point is to give continuing support to GPs who have had nowhere to go in terms of an outlet for their anxieties.

If we give them support, they will continue to work at a premium level. A large proportion of GPs become burnt out from listening to their patients."