GP died by suicide after work pressure

The recent suicide of a Surrey GP has been blamed on the “overwhelming” nature of her job by her husband

Gail Milligan, 47, was found dead earlier this month after having gone missing for 24 hours.

The event and comments by her husband, Christopher Milligan, have prompted GP leaders to demand more is done to tackle the workload in general practice.

Gail’s husband, Christopher Milligan, said: “Her job as a partner at a GP surgery became overwhelming. Especially during the pandemic”.

Christopher recounted that for four days a week, Gail left for work at 6.45 am and would not return home until 8 pm, where she would continue working until she went to sleep at 11 pm.

On Thursdays, she worked for 12 hours from home, which continued all weekend. “Next time you hear someone bang on about lazy doctors, please stop and think about what happened to my wife”, pleaded Christopher.

Gail’s workload increased during the peaks of the COVID pandemic when she also worked in a vaccination centre and care home, watching many people die.

“We are in no doubt that the job made her ill”. Christopher posed the message on social media, which has since been widely shared across Twitter.

“The pressure of not making mistakes, and the endless emails and paperwork meant that for the last few years of her life she’d been neglecting herself,” he wrote. “There just aren’t enough GPs to cope, and now there is one less”.