Table 1

ABC of doctors’ core needs as outlined in Caring for doctors, caring for patients16

ABC of doctors’ core needs	Subcategories	Description	Suggested calls to action in 2019
Autonomy/ Control	Voice, influence and fairness	Ability for doctors to influence the culture of healthcare organisations	Clinical leaders should gather feedback from doctors about organisational delivery
	Work conditions	Provision of basic facilities such as places to rest and access to food and drink	Implement the British Medical Association (BMA) Fatigue and Facilities charter20
	Work schedule and rotas	Providing work schedules that enable appropriate breaks, allow communication in advance and ensure flexibility	Implement the BMA’s and NHS Employers’ Good Rostering Guide19
Belonging	Team working	Supporting effective multidisciplinary team working with shared purpose	Healthcare organisations should review team working with teams meeting regularly to review performance
Belonging	Culture and leadership	Healthcare environments with nurturing culture and compassionate leadership	Implement programme of compassionate leadership with mechanisms to feedback
Competence	Workload	Ensuring appropriate workloads with doctors performing at top of competence	Develop alternative roles and review technologies to ensure efficiency
	Management and supervision	Ensuring doctors have effective support and supervision in their roles	Ensure those in management/supervision roles have dedicated time within job plans
	Learning, training and development	Supporting doctors with appropriate learning and training opportunities	Review impact of allocation of training placements and address administrative burdens on doctors

ABC, Autonomy/control, Belonging and Competence; NHS, National Health Service.