A GP whose job was “incredibly pressurised” took his own life after a battle with depression, an inquest heard.

Dr Paolo Doria, 45, who was a partner at Abbey Field Medical Centre in Colchester, was reported missing on January 22.

Friends and family, supported by the police, began a search.

They later found him hanged at the back of his garage at his home in Colchester.

An inquest into the doctor’s death, held at Chelmsford Coroner’s Court on Friday, heard his wife had penned a “glowing” letter to the coroner.

Senior coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray said: “She is complimentary about her husband.

“But he had become depressed and his job was incredibly pressurised, she says.”

Dr Doria, who was born in Italy, was a father and was known to many as a “lovely and caring” doctor.

His death reignites the conversation about the support medical professionals receive and the stigma surrounding their ability to speak out.

A former patient of Dr Doria’s, who asked not to be named, said she had sought advice from him about her own mental health.

“It’s a sensitive topic, but it can’t be ignored especially when it comes to medical professionals not being able to seek help,” she said.

“I only knew him as a GP, but even the waiting lists to see him could be long as he was always booked up.

“He encouraged me to seek help for my mental health.”

She added: “I can’t underestimate how stressful his job was, he was always well liked by patients and it’s such a shame it’s come to this.”

A recent survey of 1,651 UK doctors found almost a third are ‘burned out’, with more than a quarter experiencing secondary traumatic stress.

Retired GP Dr Laurel Spooner’s daughter Sophie, who was a junior doctor, took her own life in 2017.

Dr Spooner said while she never worked with Dr Doria, he had a reputation as a “very kind, gentle and caring doctor”.

She fears many doctors do not take steps to seek help.

“Sophie was anxious, out of her depth as a locum, terrified of making a mistake and had great difficulty sleeping,” she said.

“Yet she did not ask for help.

“Most doctors share her fear of admitting they cannot cope.

“It is hard to say you are depressed, addicted, suicidal – or perhaps hardest of all, as in Sophie’s case, that you have a long-term condition to manage.

“She had several bouts of depression which had responded well to medication, but with a strong family history of bipolar disorder this was the likely diagnosis.

“So often doctors are paralysed by the fear that their colleagues will find them out and their careers will be wrecked.”

Sophie’s death inspired the creation of Supporting Our Professional Health-carers In England.

The groups aims to support health-carers and raise awareness of their mental health.

For more information, visit itsok2ask4help.weebly.com.