Panic newspaper spread about doctor joining hospital (6)
I believe the answer is:
fright
'panic' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'newspaper spread about doctor joining hospital' is the wordplay.
'newspaper' becomes 'ft'.
'spread about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'doctor' becomes 'rig' (I've seen this in other clues).
'joining' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'hospital' becomes 'h'.
'rig'+'h'='righ'
'ft' enclosing 'righ' is 'FRIGHT'.
(Other definitions for fright that I've seen before include "Sudden exposure to fear" , "Shock, intense fear" , "A scare or shock" , "Panic" , "Grotesque" .)