A doctor with burn out who feared he was "failing" his patients quit the NHS and set up a botox clinic. Baldeep Farmah, a former psychiatric consultant, has nearly doubled his wages with his new business.
Baldeep walked away from his post amid the pressures of staffing issues and his massive caseload. He said he had a caseload of 120 patients to see in three days and had to cover an entire city.
The 37-year-old said the demands of his job meant he was rarely able to spend time with his partner Kiran and their two daughters. The couple have now set up the Dr Aesthetica clinic and said they saw £150,000 yearly profits from an £800,000 turnover.
He told Birmingham Live: "I had a caseload of 120 mentally unwell patients to see in three days - plus I covered the whole of Birmingham the rest of the week. Just one psychiatric doctor for 103 square miles.
"I was so stretched and uncomfortable with the care I could provide. I felt like I was failing my patients, my family and couldn't see a way out.
"I used to wake up at 5am, not see my children and then get home after they had gone to bed. I had a top job, but didn't know where to go next. That's probably why there is such a high suicide rate in my profession."
Mr Farmah said resources were "so stretched" that he had to buy his own dictaphone for assessing psychiatric patients. He said he would often conduct consultations in a car park for privacy.
In 2016, he started to plan his exit from the NHS. But it wasn't until August 2021 when he felt he could take the leap and work at the clinic full-time.
He said: "Kiran and I came up with a plan that I'd start offering cosmetic injectables outside of my NHS work. She built the brand, with a website and social media presence, and I took a course to learn dermal fillers and botox.
"I felt confident after a refresher in injecting as I'd worked in mental health for so long. In 2017, I rented a room from a beautician and we built a client base and grew from there.
"I found my psychiatric experience very useful to help patients feel truly heard and respected. I want to know each patients' motivation and mental headspace, before we agree to treatments.
"Sometimes I decide injectables aren't the right route forward for a client because I won't compromise my medical and ethical principles to overfill lips or give people an unnatural look.
"We're all about maximising natural beauty. This approach has proved popular."
