We’re having to make huge sacrifices just to keep basic services running, and our decisions can be life or death. It can’t continue like this
I was in my car when I reached breaking point. It had been another busy day at the GP surgery where I am a partner, and I had stopped to check my emails. What I read turned my blood cold: the suicidal teenager I had worked so hard to admit earlier that day had been discharged from A&E without even being assessed by the mental health team.
I was genuinely afraid that this young person would die, but I knew there was nothing more I could do. I wept, and I could not stop. I phoned a colleague. She came and sat with me in a dark car park in the middle of nowhere and gently persuaded me that I needed to take some time off. I felt huge guilt but reluctantly agreed.
The writer is a partner in a small rural GP practice
In the UK, the charity Mind is available on 0300 123 3393 and Childline on 0800 1111. In the US, Mental Health America is available on 800-273-8255. In Australia, support is available at Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and at MensLine on 1300 789 978
