{"id":478195,"date":"2026-03-16T06:35:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T06:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/478195\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T06:35:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T06:35:22","slug":"haddington-gp-wows-dragons-den-with-luxury-doctors-bags","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/478195\/","title":{"rendered":"Haddington GP wows Dragons\u2019 Den with luxury doctors bags"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Dr Catherine Fernando, 47, founded IYASU<\/a> – Japanese for ‘to heal’ – after becoming frustrated that traditional doctors\u2019 bags remained \u201cso masculine\u201d, despite women now outnumbering men in the medical field.\n<\/p>\n

\n Dr Fernando, who works two days a week as a GP at Haddington’s Orchard Medical Practice, pitched the business to the Dragons after being approached by the programme\u2019s Glasgow team last spring.\n<\/p>\n

\n The episode, filmed in April 2025, saw her seeking a \u00a350,000 investment with a 20 per cent share to help grow the brand, which had sold 350 bags.\n<\/p>\n

\n Dr Fernando said she tried to keep her appearance quiet but after friends and patients reached out, she has decided to enjoy the “fame” (Image: Supplied)\n<\/p>\n

\n The mum-of-four told the Courier: “I didn’t sleep the night before filming, then when I came home I was instantly anxious.\n<\/p>\n

\n “I think I am well regarded and did not want anyone to think badly of me, so I didn\u2019t tell anyone it was going on TV, I didn’t even tell my husband!\n<\/p>\n

\n “I feel loved because, after worrying about what people would think of me, I’ve had so many messages and comments from people which have been lovely.”\n<\/p>\n

\n Dr Fernando’s “high-quality” bags impressed the panel, which included Deborah Meaden, Peter Jones, Steven Bartlett, Theo Paphitis and guest judge Susie Ma, of Tropic Skincare.\n<\/p>\n

\n Although none of the Dragons ultimately invested, podcast host Bartlett “stuck to his word” and bought a handbag after filming.\n<\/p>\n

\n Dr Fernando, who also runs IYASU<\/a> Healthcare in Longniddry<\/a> with her husband Dr Kevin Fernando, said that the experience involved months of preparation and scrutiny.\n<\/p>\n

\n She said that, more than 100 years on from women first studying medicine<\/a>, she wanted to redesign the traditional doctor\u2019s bag to combine style with practicality for modern healthcare professionals.\n<\/p>\n

\n The range features multiple bespoke pockets for stethoscopes, laptops and other equipment, with each bag named after a pioneering medic, including Scottish doctor Elsie Inglis.\n<\/p>\n

\n Since the TV<\/a> appearance, she said that she had noticed a boost in sales from people from “all walks of life”.\n<\/p>\n

\n Dr Fernando added: \u201cI\u2019m really proud of what I have produced.\n<\/p>\n

\n “There is a huge amount of passion behind this.\n<\/p>\n

\n “When you put the money in at the start with the passion in, you don\u2019t know where it is going to go.\n<\/p>\n

\n “I’ve sold a lot of bags over the weekend and loads of people have been in touch; even a priest has even been in contact about the bags.”\n<\/p>\n

\n The episode aired on Thursday, March 5, and is available to watch on BBC iPlayer<\/a> for the next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dr Catherine Fernando, 47, founded IYASU – Japanese for ‘to heal’ – after becoming frustrated that traditional doctors\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478196,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-478195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}