Preliminary results of a survey conducted by the Royal College of Psychiatrists indicate that as many as one in five junior doctors applying for posts through MTAS have considered suicide over the ‘deeply flawed’ process, The Daily Telegraph reports today.

680 junior doctors responded to the survey, of whom 94% said they felt more stressed than they would normally and put this down to MTAS.
Three in 10 doctors said they had made more mistakes at work in the last six months, and 43 per cent said they cared less about patient care.

The survey also found that a third of respondants had increased the amount of alcohol they were drinking. 23 per cent said they had taken more sick leave than normal. Disturbed sleep, loss of appetite and tearfulness were also reported and more than half said they had “a sense of future hopelessness”.
The Telegraph reported Professor Dinesh Bhugra, Dean of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and one of the authors of the study, as saying: “These findings are extremely worrying. We have discovered that a normally robust and highly committed group of professionals is feeling very demoralised.

“The government has a moral obligation to ensure that the next generation of doctors does not feel disenchanted.”