Two papers exploring psychological factors influencing hospital doctors' provision ofhealthcare are presented. The first paper reviews literature on burnout in UK hospital doctors. Burnout is a state ofemotional exhaustion, cynical attitudes to patients and reduced job satisfaction, and is associated with poorer outcomes for both doctors and patients. Links between the literature on UK doctors and Leiter's (1993) model of burnout are evaluated. While there is reasonable convergence, the role ofpersonality appears to have been underplayed. The second paper reports an empirical study ofhospital doctors' attitudes and emotions when treating patients with a learning disability. People with a learning disability have high levels of unmet physical health needs. Negative attitudes have been implicated in this finding, but had yet to be systematically examined. In total, 353 hospital doctors completed a questionnaire regarding attitudes and emotional reactions when treating patients with a learning disability. Overall attitudes were positive. However, treating a patient with learning disability evoked less positive and more negative emotions in comparison to a deaf patient. Addressing emotional experience and the need for formal teaching is important, as over halfthe sample encounter patients with a learning disability on a monthly basis.