The largest survey of Australia’s healthcare workers has highlighted the sharp rise in mental health symptoms experienced by doctors and health care workers around the country throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The Australian Frontline Healthcare Workers Study was distributed nationally in September last year at the height of Victoria’s COVID-19 second wave amid nearly four months of strict lockdown, receiving record responses. Over eight weeks close to 10,0000 healthcare workers participated in the survey speaking of burnout, feeling unsafe at work, and frustration with misplaced funding and inadequate quick fixes. Detailed stories from senior clinicians, junior doctors, allied health workers and hospital administrators have revealed the magnitude of mental health symptoms experienced throughout the crisis: More than half of survey respondents had depression, while 70% of participants experienced emotional exhaustion and 41% experienced post traumatic stress disorder as measured on validated psychological scales. In this podcast lead investigators respiratory physician Associate Professor Natasha Smallwood and health sociologist Professor Karen Willis talk to the limbic about the key findings from their analysis and what Australia's healthcare workers say about how inevitable future crises should be handled to protect the mental health of frontline workers.