After reading about the stress endured by Lauren Phillips, a fellow Old Girl and previous pupil of mine, I felt that unfortunately that stress may well be part of the cause of her disappearance. I therefore decided to try to set up a community for Old Girls who have entered the medical profession so that they might support each other.

Becoming a doctor requires travelling a stressful route that none of us non-medics can truly apprecaite.

• At school you have to attain very high grades throughout your secondary education as only the very best get accepted for a medical degree course.
• At Uni you suffer long hours of training and study, competing with the country's brightest in a learning environment that inolves dealing with real people, with real life changing conditions against a backdrop of medical advancements, new techniques and techology, new medication and ever increasing 'cost cutting'.
• After qualification you have experience in various sectors of the NHS and then have to decide in which direction you want to go - currently that means whether to stay in the hospital environment (the NHS hospital presently being understaffed, overwhelmed and generally at breaking point) or become a GP (another minefield, with established GPs leving in droves and practices being unable to fill vacancies).

Public attitude towards medics varies from:

• overpaid, out for themselves and priviliged to
• underpaid, selflless and put upon by the Government

Which of the above prevails depends on your choice of newspaper and the mood of the newspaper editor at the time....

I propose that Old Girls who are studying to be medical doctors or nurses and those who are now fully qualified have a private forum where they can discuss the problems that they can discuss (I know some can't be discussed because their workplace will not let them - but we Old Girls can find ways around anything!).

I want it to be a forum where, when overwhelmed by stress or just plain disheartened, they can talk to others from a similar educational background (the Good Old School) and hear from others who have lived through a period of time like they are having....

Sometimes you need to talk to someone who is remote from your situation but can understand where you're coming from. I think that speaking to others from school could help - or at least not do any harm....

There is a 'closed group' called S.C.R.U.B.S on Face book which has been set up for you to mingle with others in your professional calling....