To not want DD to become a doctor

I didn’t say doctors were lazy. I actually resent that being said about my comments. There are other jobs medics can do as suggested but in many other careers, earning £110,000 means people are approaching their earning peak, as a Head, as a regional solicitor or as a Chartered Engineer. All of these people will have proved themselves in their career and will have huge knowledge and worked hard. Structural engineering is life and death! We don’t like buildings collapsing do we? Doctors are not unique in working hard or moving around to further their careers. The plus points are generous part time opportunities. How many part time head teachers does anyone know?

No all get jobs after they graduate. It's getting into training that's hard (after 2 years as a doctor). We have enough jobs for all UK grads, just not enough when the rest of the world try and come too.

Are there still jobs for graduates? My understanding was that very few junior doctors get permanent jobs after they qualify these days.

My DP is 30 and in his final year of his medical degree (8 years in total, after a BSc and an MSc), and now that he's actually experienced the work side he doesn't want to be a doctor. He wants to move into lab research. It's a tricky one, as until he tried it he couldn't be sure if it was a good fit. And his student loan debt is very high, which stresses him. He did the other courses previously, I don't know if that's an option to work her way through first and see if she decides what direction to go? I'm sure for those who find it really is their calling, it would be worth it.

I cant imagine anything worse. Im an RN/Podiatrist and have worked for the NHS for 46 years.
If you are a doctor your whole life is being a doctor, if she wants this then great but I like to switch off at the end of yhe day and be someone else, do other things.
I dont see doctors having a wonderful time in my job.

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 yes, those lazy doctors. Never work hard. And I'll say again, for the hard of understanding, not all doctors can become consultants. Many will never earn anywhere near the amounts you quote.

There are a lot if non nhs jobs around that pay similar salaries. Our (big multinational consumer goods company) health/policy advisors all earn around 100k for a 9-5 office job. All have clinical experience, very few were consultant level before!

Maybe now & I’m pleased to hear things have improved but I experienced non of that. You can’t have that many friends with 5 kids and a serious medical career surely?

@mumsneedwine And in what other job do you get guaranteed a £110,000 salary without being exceptional and working very hard for it? The salaries for consultants are similar to headteacher salaries of secondary schools. How many teachers starting out become Heads? A small fraction! It’s the same in many other jobs.

My son is a medical student. We have lots of medics in the family who largely tried to dissuade him but he is completely sure it’s right for him and has been since he was 12. Quite a few of his peers who thought about it either decided it wasn’t for them or didn’t get good enough grades. It’s a great incentive to study as she’ll needs great GCSEs and Alevels so go along with it, pick biology plus chemistry plus one other for A level and keep the option open. We found it more possible to get NHS work experience once in Y12 (apply to local NHS trust) but she’ll also need some public facing work or volunteering (lifeguarding, care, hospitality, retail etc)

IF, and it's a big if these days, you get to be a consultant. Many many will never get the chance as not enough jobs

UKGrad prioritisation should be in by 5th March. This will be a game changer for post F2 jobs !

@mimiasovitch The job situation will ease though - in time for her. Let’s be honest, doing well will reap rewards, as below.

Surprised nobody has mentioned the show This is Going To Hurt. It is a brutal docu drama / damning indictment of the NHS and in particular how tough it is for young medics. Having seen how truly truly terribly bad things are first hand (my mum was very sick) in a Welsh Hospital trust, I recognised a lot of what this series portrayed from the patient's perspective.

My DS is looking to do postgraduate medicine here in Australia. It is practically a cake walk here compared to the UK and even I have some reservations, so I get where you are coming from OP.

I think our reservations have to stay in our heads., we have to let them decide.

My daughter is in her second foundation year, and is very worried about finding a job afterwards. The number of applicants for each role is huge, and for whatever reason they don’t look at each applicant, their references etc. individually. It’s a numbers game, so the concern for the future is very real. However, she loves every minute of it. It does bring me joy to know that she feels that she made the right decision and is absolutely thriving. I’ll never stop worrying about her, and her debt levels are horrific, but nothing I can do about that.

@mummybearSW19 Consultant pay grade starts at £109,000. Up to £140,000 plus. See attached. They are well paid and many women are part time which is easier to get than in many other jobs!

Both my husband and I are hospital Consultants. We have a small child. Working life is busy but no more so than any other career.

Medicine is a VERY broad church and the wife skill sets required means there is a space and place for almost all personalities.

It's an extremely rewarding career and it is such an enormous privilege to care for people at their most vulnerable. It is never lost on me the impact I have on the lives of the patients I care for.

In my job every day is different and I've never spent a single day bored in more than fifteen years. I have never regretted my decision.

If she's keen I'd let her go for it.

Everyone complains about their job and career. Medicine is hard but once you're about a decade in it's very well paid compared to most science based roles so if it's biology she loves and she wants to do medicine then great.

I wanted to be a doctor, had the grades, couldn't afford the years and years at uni and all the outlay required, was told I'd never manage to work alongside uni and placements (which was correct, it's a real barrier to medicine for many from impoverished backgrounds as the course I eventually did allowed me to work in an evening and weekend job in office work and I'd never have managed financially otherwise) so anyone I know who did medicine had decent family support to get them through it.

If she's academically able, fairly resilient and you can afford to support her then I'd support her. I work alongside doctors in clinics and all I work with are happy with their choice, a few having retrained after other careers infact. The biggest strain for most is the level of responsibility once you get to consultant level because it's a lot of influence over the lives of others and that's a lot to carry.

You’re basing your judgement on how it plays out in the NHS alone. But even within that doctors have a very purposeful career. And it’s a career with fantastic longevity that can take you anywhere you want in the world. She can practice in the NHS or ultimately choose to go private. If you’ve got a child who is up for it and interested, I think you’d be absolutely mad to try and dissuade them from going into medicine.

I know a couple of medical doctors who are no longer practicing doctors but stayed in the health field and did academic PhDs. One is very senior in public health policy and the other is a researcher and runs a lab on medical research at a uni.

So while they both probably could have reached their new careers a bit faster without having done medicine and being junior doctors, they are very happy where they are so studying medicine doesn't necessarily tie you in to being a doctor forever.

It's much easier to become a teacher than a doctor.

I do agree with the poster about being grateful for doctors and consultants.

If that's what your daughter has decided she wants to do, then you should be supporting her.

She will make up her own mind regardless of anyone else's opinion.

Never something I considered for myself but when I am in awe when I watch medical documentaries and think how amazing it would be to make such a difference to lives.

Having said that, I said to DH that if i had ended up being a doctor, i would have chosen not to have kids as that would have been too much juggle.

So I don't dispute any of the stresses your husband endured, constant moving is difficult especially with a young family ( we stayed put and I endured some epic commutes- mostly by train good for studying for exams!). However the maternity benefits are great and you are guaranteed pt work on your return which is more than most of my non medic contempories had. I know some female doctors who have spent the best part of a decade on maternity leave with brief periods of returning to work part time between them.

I'd agree it's a fab career for those with a vocation. We need health care professionals and I'd definitely consider it top of the tree of medical jobs. With private work as well its incredibly lucrative. Stressful yes but all good jobs are. Airline pilot might be least stressful out of that list

There’s a series about surgeons showing on 5 currently. Tonight there was a woman who is a breast surgeon. She was inspirational about women in general and particularly about female doctors who want to be surgeons. When she first mentioned to her mentor, a man, that she wanted to be a surgeon, he replied “but who will do the shopping?” It made her all the more determined. Its a great series, in case anyone is interested.