Influencing policy at the highest level

Let’s Prevent Suicide

Let’s Prevent Suicide is our campaign to bring BS 30480, the world’s first standard on suicide prevention in the workplace, into the NHS. We are working with NHS trusts and practices to put the standard into practice, so that staff know how to recognise distress, start a conversation and find support.

Campaign for Practitioner Health for Northern Ireland’s healthcare workers

Healthcare workers in Northern Ireland deserve the same access to appropriate, confidential mental health support as their colleagues across the UK. Yet Northern Ireland is the only UK nation without the specialist mental health and addiction treatment that NHS Practitioner Health provides, leaving healthcare workers with nowhere to turn when they need help.

In May 2026, Doctors in Distress brought together a coalition of healthcare organisations and wrote to the Chief Medical Officers of Northern Ireland and England, calling for this service to be commissioned. This is an ongoing area of coalition building, and we are pleased now to be working with key policy makers to achieve this change.

All-Party Parliamentary Group for Healthcare Workers

Doctors in Distress is proud to be part of the APPG for Healthcare Workers, which has shown consistent care and attention to the issues of staff welfare, risks of burnout, retention, wellbeing and suicide prevention in all NHS settings.

Memorial Day Recognition

Doctors in Distress and NHS Practitioner Health’s founding and rollout of the National Suicide Memorial Day for Health and Care Workers has now been recognised in Parliament, in Early Day Motion 774 (opens in a new tab).

Every healthcare worker who has died by suicide was a loved family member, friend and colleague, whose loss has left a lasting impact on those who knew them.

National Suicide Memorial Day takes place annually on 17 September to honour the lives of healthcare workers who have died by suicide, remember those who are grieving and reaffirm our commitment to preventing further deaths.

Co-Chairman Supports NHS Standards

The new NHS Staff Standards make staff wellbeing a requirement for the first time. Dr Chaand Nagpaul CBE advocates that policy must now be matched by the investment needed to make them real.

Downing Street Reception

Senior parliamentary leaders, representatives of NHS leadership from primary and secondary care, Medical Colleges and other stakeholders gathered at a Downing Street event to raise awareness of Doctors in Distress and the mental health of doctors and healthcare workers.