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Original poster

Resident doctors synicsl strike again

739 replies

uneffingbelievable · 25/03/2026 20:22

The resident doctors have once again announced a 6 day strike to co incide with a bank holiday weekend.

Whilst I support fair pay and working conditions I have lost all sympathy with them. This is not poverty when you are being paid as a whole package 40-95000 gross on a 44 hr week depending on your seniority.

The arguments about lack of jobs did not stack up with more jobs going to home graduates than IMGS despite the hysteria and a huge number of home graduates not even bothering to apply.

They are coming across as tone deaf and entitled or am I missing something.

OP posts:
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Original poster
uneffingbelievable · 01/04/2026 07:48

F1s do not need to do anything more to get full licence, except complete F1. So fully qualified - nothing more to do. And often they are carrying the bleeps at 2am in DGHs. - not true mums

so they are not fully qualified doctors till they have finished F1 and some do not, so are not fully qualified.

They will be carrying a bleep along with a CT and SPR and CNS etc - they carry a bleep as part of a team which they are a member where they learn and help look after patients. The nurses and medical staff will contact them via the bleep - this is normal and nothing special in any hospital.
They are never the only bleep holder in the hospital

Mums you are advocating for a system where everyone gets a training place simply because they trained in the UK. My med student proved yesterday that the perception is why bother you know you will get something so no reason to strive,A system that expects mediocrity so people ai m for mediocre. Competition is good it improves quality

OP posts:
mumsneedwine · 01/04/2026 07:08

Neurodiversitydoctor · 01/04/2026 03:43

F1s are not and have never been fully quualified.They are training posts and should be supervised. I agree with others debt forgiveness is the answer.

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That would be fantastic. But no one is offering it.

mumsneedwine · 01/04/2026 07:07

uneffingbelievable · 31/03/2026 23:00

And mums you are advocating a system which demotivates people to strive because they have guarnateed traiing and will get a number whether they are good enough or not.

Please show me where I have ever said this. Never.

Neurodiversitydoctor · 01/04/2026 03:43

mumsneedwine · 31/03/2026 21:32

And F1s are not students. They are fully qualified doctors.

F1s are not and have never been fully quualified.They are training posts and should be supervised. I agree with others debt forgiveness is the answer.

Marchesman · 01/04/2026 00:47

mumsneedwine · 31/03/2026 22:49

Read the other threads. The rudeness and patronising attitude towards all resident doctors has been disgusting. And apparently only a handful of Unis are any good. I find this revolting

Yes, some students are not great. And they won't last. The algorithm makes a mockery of the selection process. Hopefully this will change now the MLA is in place.

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Given your invariably pompous, ill judged, and uninformed posts regarding medical education and training, I'll take that as compliment. Many thanks; and smiley emojis.

Original poster
uneffingbelievable · 31/03/2026 23:00

And mums you are advocating a system which demotivates people to strive because they have guarnateed traiing and will get a number whether they are good enough or not.

OP posts:
poetryandwine · 31/03/2026 22:59

mumsneedwine · 31/03/2026 22:50

And that 75% figure is v v out of date.

But there isn’t a newer one so we work with the data we have

mumsneedwine · 31/03/2026 22:50

And that 75% figure is v v out of date.

mumsneedwine · 31/03/2026 22:49

poetryandwine · 31/03/2026 22:43

I expect @Marchesman does treat them with respect. There is nothing here to suggest otherwise.

Every degree programme in every university does have some students who don’t belong. @Marchesman may focus more on DEI and I might look to other factors, but it is a fact.

The pause rate of 75%,after F2 (not applying for training) does suggest some kind of problem. It is not disrespectful to discuss it.

Again, a consultant is paid to do much more than train and support doctors just as an academic in a research intensive university is paid to do much more than teach undergraduates.

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Read the other threads. The rudeness and patronising attitude towards all resident doctors has been disgusting. And apparently only a handful of Unis are any good. I find this revolting

Yes, some students are not great. And they won't last. The algorithm makes a mockery of the selection process. Hopefully this will change now the MLA is in place.

mumsneedwine · 31/03/2026 22:45

The system has completely demotivated students to do well. Not the students fault. A stupid stupid system.

F1s do not need to do anything more to get full licence, except complete F1. So fully qualified - nothing more to do. And often they are carrying the bleeps at 2am in DGHs.

poetryandwine · 31/03/2026 22:43

mumsneedwine · 31/03/2026 22:24

Nope. My face to face would be the same. If you are paid to train and support doctors then you owe them respect and not treating them like an annoyance of no worth. All if them. Not the select few you like.

They are fully qualified doctors. And the NHS uses them as such.

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I expect @Marchesman does treat them with respect. There is nothing here to suggest otherwise.

Every degree programme in every university does have some students who don’t belong. @Marchesman may focus more on DEI and I might look to other factors, but it is a fact.

The pause rate of 75%,after F2 (not applying for training) does suggest some kind of problem. It is not disrespectful to discuss it.

Again, a consultant is paid to do much more than train and support doctors just as an academic in a research intensive university is paid to do much more than teach undergraduates.

Original poster
uneffingbelievable · 31/03/2026 22:33

F1s are not fully qualified as they are only provisionally registered with the GMC - not sure why tht is difficult to understand mums.

Also respect is earned not owed by anyone to anyone. I greet all my students with consideration and respect. It waxes and wanes depending on how they grow and evolve, address challenges and take charge of their training and careers.
I do not respect the entitled who expect it all on a plate and do the bare minimum to achieve what they need to progress.
Today in discussion with a medical student on asking if they knew where there next jobs were - the response, dont know. We discussed the idiocy of a system which treats adults like children in telling them where to go and live and work for 2 years with no consideration of their wants and needs. We were in complete agreement.
The next response was completely spontaneous from the med student - he said none of us try harder because it makes no difference, we will get a job and getting high marks makes no difference to what happens to us.
That was depressing to hear -we have created a generation who will do the bare minimum to progress and not strive for excellence which has always driven medical developments and innovation. This was an extremley motivated med student who I have known over 3 yrs.

OP posts:
mumsneedwine · 31/03/2026 22:30

poetryandwine · 31/03/2026 22:26

Well your DD is an ST1! The £79-80K is overall average salary for STs. Luckily your DD will get automatic pay progression.

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There was no clarification given about which grade of ST. So an ST7 would be on this wage ?

Oh and there is no automatic pay progression. Several years have no pay rise. And nothing is automatic as ARCP needs sorting, exams need passing.

poetryandwine · 31/03/2026 22:26

mumsneedwine · 31/03/2026 21:29

According to March who said STs are on £80k !!!!

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Well your DD is an ST1! The £79-80K is overall average salary for STs. Luckily your DD will get automatic pay progression.

mumsneedwine · 31/03/2026 22:24

poetryandwine · 31/03/2026 22:14

You are brutally frank here, anonymously, towards many. I assume that your standards for face to face interactions would be different.

Why not assume others are capable of the same dichotomy?

Besides, neither @Marchesman nor anyone else has spoken badly of F1s as a whole, though someone else said they do need an awful ot of training up. I cannot see that you or I are in a position to judge.

Without going into the underlying causes or knowing which are the weakest students, I take @Marchesman ’s point that some medical students will be weak.A 75% pause rate (after F2) as documented in the 2024 GMC report is troubling. (These are the ones not applying for further training immediately)

We have weak students in every discipline. We turn out weak PhDs every Why pretend medical students and trainees are different?

Honesty is not a sign of disrespect.

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Nope. My face to face would be the same. If you are paid to train and support doctors then you owe them respect and not treating them like an annoyance of no worth. All if them. Not the select few you like.

They are fully qualified doctors. And the NHS uses them as such.

poetryandwine · 31/03/2026 22:16

Edit: we turn out weak PhDs every year, in every discipline, in every university. Meaning that the work is not of a quality to advance a career.

poetryandwine · 31/03/2026 22:14

mumsneedwine · 31/03/2026 20:54

And not sure where I've said they are lying ??? Have said they are rude about the F1s they are paid to support - which is strange behaviour from a consultant. And sad.

You are brutally frank here, anonymously, towards many. I assume that your standards for face to face interactions would be different.

Why not assume others are capable of the same dichotomy?

Besides, neither @Marchesman nor anyone else has spoken badly of F1s as a whole, though someone else said they do need an awful ot of training up. I cannot see that you or I are in a position to judge.

Without going into the underlying causes or knowing which are the weakest students, I take @Marchesman ’s point that some medical students will be weak.A 75% pause rate (after F2) as documented in the 2024 GMC report is troubling. (These are the ones not applying for further training immediately)

We have weak students in every discipline. We turn out weak PhDs every Why pretend medical students and trainees are different?

Honesty is not a sign of disrespect.

Marchesman · 31/03/2026 22:08

uneffingbelievable · 31/03/2026 21:51

Marchesam - the trust grade jobs currently loathed by purple and mums as being inferior and not delivering training will be re badges as training posts and the cost of them will be born by the Trust as they are now.
There will be no extra monies for these 1000 posts -so the funding for the posts from the Deanery will be diluted over in my departments case 12 resident doctors rather than the 4 it funds at the moment. The trust will make up the rest - cost neutral.
Same jobs just re badged - it is just semantics.

Strike on loan interest payments and the idiocy of a system that asks an adult to apply for a job and be sent anywhere in the country from Scotland to cornwall irrespective of where you trained have family etc. Now that is lunacy and treats resident doctors like shit! It is in place though to ensure the less popular locations get trainees and do not become IMG enclaves which has happened in the past.

Thanks. I assumed that is what will happen; and I agree with your point about seeing people develop.

Marchesman · 31/03/2026 22:01

Minnie798 · 31/03/2026 21:57

Yes, If only F1 s went on strike the impact on services would be much lower. They are heavily supervised ( or should be) and aren't fully registered until they successfully complete their first year. But no union would ever suggest that as a course of action anyway, because it would be low impact.

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Sorry, cross-posted.

Original poster
uneffingbelievable · 31/03/2026 21:59

F1s are not fully qualified doctors - they have provisional registration dependent on the successful completion of foundation training!
Which is why they are rarely left in charge of whole wards without back up form both nurses and fellow doctors. The majority of decisions are checked and agreed/signed off before they are executed. aS they gain experience they are trusted to do things without having to be told every single detail.
It is gratifying to watch -scared shitless F1s on a ward round in August and by the time you get to Xmas, some - not all - are more confident and able to start intitiating decisions that are sensible, correct and execute them.

It is one of the honours of our jobs in the NS where we see colleagues grow and evolve infront of us. Different times and different routes to get there but is one of the bits of my job I love the most.

OP posts:
Marchesman · 31/03/2026 21:59

The point that I made about no one noticing if only F1s were striking was that it would not affect hospital activity; clinics and theatre lists would be unchanged. There would be no political fallout - and therefore little to be gained from them withdrawing their labour.

Clearly their F2/CTs would notice, but F1s receive a lot of direction and teaching which takes time and often it's faster to do something oneself if one is working closely with them, regardless of their calibre (which is however variable due to selection occurring later).

The £80k figure is the average paid to STs last year, from NHS Staff Annual Earnings Estimates. Actually it was £79021. Mea culpa.

Minnie798 · 31/03/2026 21:57

Marchesman · 31/03/2026 19:08

It's more complicated than that because "resident" doctors are a heterogeneous lot. Core trainees earn on average £70k, and STs £80k, but striking doctors would garner little sympathy if they started banging on about this not being enough. So the BMA focuses on F1s salaries (which are in fact also quite generous - £45k). If only F1s went on strike, I don't think anyone would mind very much.

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Yes, If only F1 s went on strike the impact on services would be much lower. They are heavily supervised ( or should be) and aren't fully registered until they successfully complete their first year. But no union would ever suggest that as a course of action anyway, because it would be low impact.

Original poster
uneffingbelievable · 31/03/2026 21:51

Marchesam - the trust grade jobs currently loathed by purple and mums as being inferior and not delivering training will be re badges as training posts and the cost of them will be born by the Trust as they are now.
There will be no extra monies for these 1000 posts -so the funding for the posts from the Deanery will be diluted over in my departments case 12 resident doctors rather than the 4 it funds at the moment. The trust will make up the rest - cost neutral.
Same jobs just re badged - it is just semantics.

Strike on loan interest payments and the idiocy of a system that asks an adult to apply for a job and be sent anywhere in the country from Scotland to cornwall irrespective of where you trained have family etc. Now that is lunacy and treats resident doctors like shit! It is in place though to ensure the less popular locations get trainees and do not become IMG enclaves which has happened in the past.

OP posts:
GoBazGo · 31/03/2026 21:39

mumsneedwine · 31/03/2026 19:40

DD will repay over £250,000. Please explain the subsidy ???

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UK universities £43-66k 5 yrs tuition fees - depending where you study.
Everybody has to pay rent, food etc. so to include those costs which I presume you are is not the point.

www.theukcatpeople.co.uk/post/uk-medical-school-tuition-fees-for-international-students-to-study-medicine?srsltid=AfmBOoqrf_M4osJ6imry5BvFMiYTkU89OBFAS9Oajvtxn8-vc5gnmbdK

mumsneedwine · 31/03/2026 21:32

And F1s are not students. They are fully qualified doctors.