Doctor behind with a bit of paperwork (5)
I believe the answer is:
draft
'a bit of paperwork' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both acts as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'doctor behind' is the wordplay.
'doctor' becomes 'dr' (abbreviation).
'behind' becomes 'aft' (aft means towards or at the end of a ship).
'dr'+'aft'='DRAFT'
'with' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for draft that I've seen before include "Provisional document" , "plan outlined" , "Early version of text" , "Formulate" , "Preliminary text or plan" .)