Confidential Consultation service for doctors by doctors

At Tavistock & Portman NHS Trust and at South London & Maudsley NHS Trust

Funded by London Deanery

What is MedNet and who is it for

MedNet provides doctors and dentists with confidential consultations, advice about their careers, emotional support, and when needed, access to other expert help.  This may include more specialised psychotherapeutic interventions (which embrace all the mainstream modalities of psychotherapy), or specialised psychiatric advice.

MedNet is staffed by Consultant Psychiatrists in Psychotherapy, who have seen over 750 doctors face-to-face in the last ten years.  Treatment interventions are tailored to the indi-vidual practitioner in the context of a supportive relationship.

MedNet is available to doctors of any grade or specialty who work in London and relate to the pan-London Responsible Officer network including doctors on postgraduate training schemes managed by the London Deanery.  MedNet is also available to foundation trainees working in South London Trusts.

The service is based at the Tavistock Centre (Camden) and at the Maudsley Hospital (Camberwell); this enables practitioners to access services which are geographically convenient and/or away from their local area of work.

The service is funded by London Deanery but operates on the basis of strict confidentiality.

MedNet aims to contribute via research to the body of knowledge about doctors and their work-related difficulties in several areas and what might help them to overcome those difficulties.

What kind of difficulties are helped by MedNet

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Relationships at work/home
• Burnout and work/life balance
• Bullying/harassment at work
• Obsessive compulsive disorder
• Anger management
• Bipolar illness
• Personality difficulties
• Communication difficulties
• Adjustment difficulties
• Isolation/racism/migration
• Social phobia
• Examination stress
• Inquiry/clinical incident stress
• NCAS/GMC involvement
• Trauma, past or recent
• Bereavement/loss

What is offered by MedNet

After contact has been made with Mednet an assessment of up to approximately six sessions is offered, the first appointment being within two weeks, or even less, if urgent.

Following this therapeutic assessment and consultation, a collaborative decision can be made on what further action, if any, is needed.

This might include onward referral to a more highly specialist psychotherapy treatment service, or to a specialist psychiatric service.  The MedNet consultants have developed links with experts over the last decade.

Subject to capacity, longer term low frequency psychodynamic psychotherapy may be offered by the Mednet consultants themselves.

MedNet does not provide any reports to GPs, tutors, Trusts, NCAS or the GMC. Exceptions are made only in agreement with the practitioner when collaboration with other agencies is in the practitioner’s own interest.  Clearly MedNet’s confidentiality policy operates within GMC guidelines in that we could not protect doctors who were of actual or potential harm to patients.  In our experience this is rare and almost all practitioners preserve high quality practice at the expense of their own health.

Who works at MedNet

Clinical Staff:

At the Tavistock Centre in North London:

• Dr Antony Garelick (Consultant Psychiatrist in Psychotherapy, Associate Dean for the Counselling of Doctors)
• Dr Matthias von der Tann (Consultant Psychiatrist in Psychotherapy)
• Dr Elizabeth Gibb (Consultant Psychiatrist in Psychotherapy)
• Dr Niloufar Harris (Consultant Psychiatrist in Psychotherapy)

At the Maudsley Hospital in South London:

• Dr Julia Bland (Consultant Psychiatrist in Psychotherapy)
• Dr Emma Janes  (Consultant Psychiatrist in Psychotherapy)

Administrators and contacts
(during office hours, and 24-hr messaging service)

• Mrs Chris Loizou
• Ms Alex Angeloudes

MedNet
Tavistock Centre
120 Belsize Lane
London NW3 5BA

Tel:  020 8938 2411
Fax:  020 7447 3745
E-mail:  mednet@tavi-port.nhs.uk

The MedNet research article on doctors’ health can be viewed on the biomedcentral website.