'I felt anxious every day working as a doctor'

Ed Hutchison said he "knew it was right" to stop being a full-time doctor

A junior doctor who left full-time medicine due to his declining mental health is now running every day for charity in 2024.

Ed Hutchison, from Bristol, is running five kilometres (3.1 miles) every day to raise money for the mental health charity Doctors in Distress.

The Birmingham University-trained physician said he left full time medicine in 2017 after realising he was facing burnout.

Speaking to BBC Radio Bristol, Mr Hutchison said: "I knew it was right for me at the time.

"I still want to carry on practising medicine for as long as I can because it's an amazing job."

Mr Hutchinson is running every day in 2024 in aid of the charity Doctors in Distress

Figures published by the NHS in 2023 showed the number of doctors seeking help for mental health issues had risen by three quarters in two years.

Doctors in Distress was founded in 2018 by Amandip Sudhu following the suicide of his brother Jagdip.

According to the charity's website, a 2023 survey showed 34% of healthcare workers are suffering from burnout and 37% are emotionally exhausted with reverberations of the COVID pandemic still being felt.

Mr Hutchison said he decided to stop being a full-time doctor when he realised he was going to work feeling anxious every day.

"I could be calm and collected when I was there, but I would always be nervous driving in, and then I'd get home and just be worried about everything I'd seen or done."

He told BBC Radio Bristol at one point he drove all the way back to hospital to check the blood results for a baby for his "peace of mind".

"I got to the point where I thought, in the long run, this is not going to work out for me."

'Survivor's guilt'

The junior doctor said he realised every job has its stress triggers but the medical profession has some "unique" stresses due to a financially stretched NHS.

He said: "You're trying to deliver a level of care that you often can't and I think that just builds up on top of the stress.

"No-one wants these waiting lists, everyone wants to deliver the best care they can."

Mr Hutchison, who has so far raised more than £1,000 for Doctors in Distress, talked of the emotional guilt he felt leaving his full-time position.

He said: "It's almost like survivor's guilt in a way.

"My wife's a full-time doctor, most of my friends are full-time doctors, and part of me still feels guilty that they are suffering five or seven days a week through these services and I've in some ways chosen the easy way out."

Mr Hutchison's new role as a clinical solutions specialist at a digital health company involves giving his clinical input into new software that improves systems in the NHS.

He said: "If I can make life easier for my wife and other healthcare staff, at least I'm still doing something useful."