I am a Junior Doctor about to go on strike, ask me anything.

[Lauralaaaa]

I am a Foundation year 1 doctor who started in the NHS in August. I have been reading some things online and have seen some quite differing opinions. I wondered if anyone had any questions.

I would assume you knew it would be a shit show while you were training as it has been so for a while. So hats off to you for going into it!! We need people like you! God knows I am way too selfish (and stupid and anxious) to be a doctor.

My question is, what is your home life like - do you have (time for) a family, hobbies etc?

@Bluetrews25
there will be consultants, juniors who don’t support the strike, SAS doctors who aren’t in a training programme as well I believe.
Speaking to my consultants they have a plan for while we strike and said they will be able to cover it. They support the strike.

It seems unfair that we come out of university with up to 100,000 debt and a lower salary in comparison to the doctors doing our same job 10 years ago.

That is a crucial issue, and one which will need to be addressed. It's more likely to cause the NHS to collapse than anything else. The BMA survey shows that 79% of young doctors are considering leaving, and pay is the huge contributing factor.

You can't expect people to bear double the debt of everyone else who graduates, to earn less than many other graduates, to work harder than just about anybody, to slow down their profession, and then to keep them for long. It isn't realistic. And that's before you hear stories such as people being refused to be allocated holiday for their own wedding in a year's time, but told to swap with someone else if they can, should it prove necessary. Being treated like dirt, in effect.

I mean, wtf?

Have you found the female nurses unhelpful to the female doctors, the the opposite to the male doctors?

@Nimbostratus100
I am hoping it will be more elective things that are cancelled. I would really hope you are able to have your chemotherapy. Best wishes.

@Paturday thank you. Great question.
I don’t have my own family yet. I have a boyfriend and a large circle of friends. I’m able to go to the gym. I go before work and my colleagues think I’m mental haha. I get to work about 7.15 to prep the list so am up at 5 o’clock. I finish work at 4.30 but am usually later. Then the traffic coming out of the hospital it usually terrible so I’m usually hope about 5.30/6 on a good day. Gives me time to see my boyfriend. I’m usually exhausted by this point and just chill watching TV. I then see family and friends at weekends if I’m not working.
I have no idea how my colleages with children do it, I am so tired as it is.

Hmm. Whilst I appreciate things are tough at the moment would you ever say to a patient they had to trust you, be abuse you had been to medical school, or announce "you are over 60 so I'll assume you are retired". Then after arguing whether a spinal XRay was necessary fail to tell the patient that the T12 was fractured.

Do you agree that the poor practice of a few put the majority at a disadvantage due to the way the NHS is reductive and seeks not to apologise for its failings.

I think the above was an F2 in A&E but clearly one who hadn't much common sense. The department was supposed to have been very busy and short staffed but it didn't stop the staff squawking loudly about their holidays when eventually we got through to cubicles - after 7 hours - and surgery was required.

Personally I don't think doctors shoukd strike because it's unprofessional and they shoukd have sharp minds and communication skills to put across their points without resorting to withdrawing their labour at the expense of their patients.

My experience when having an operation 20 years ago was that the nurses and doctors should have spoken up about how bloody awful the conditions were in the hospital.
At long last you are all taking strike action. For the sake of your patients thank you.

@Thatcatisdrivingmenuts
this is exactly the issue. 100% this.
I asked for holiday once well in advance. I asked for a 4 days off to go on holiday with my family. They gave me 3 days apart from one smack bang in the middle of the week 😭 I was able to swap with someone but had to come home a day early. It’s little things like that really wear you down.

I'm blown away at the starting salary of 29k.

I get more than that for just looking at if a relatively unimportant number on a page looks OK, and changing it if it doesn't.

No one dies if I fuck up.

@SleekMamma
thats an interesting question.
I haven’t found this yet. Nurses have always been very helpful to me but some of my other F1 colleagues have had some difficulties, but sometimes it because they demonstrated a lack of respect towards the nurses so it’s on them in my opinion.

@RosesAndHellebores I’ll be honest and say I probably have assumed people are retired if over 60, but your comment has made me question that. I would usually say “what is it you do for work, or are you retired?” would never mean anything negative by it either way. I would hope the rest I wouldn’t do.

I would say overall your view on the NHS seems very negative which all I can do is say sorry you haven’t experienced it at its best.

I understand your point of view on the strikes and we in fact don’t want to Strike. We have asked to discuss as you say and the government have refused. They won’t talk until we show how serious we are and I don’t see how else we can show that.

Former NHS pharmacist here and I just want to say you have my full support. Worked closely with doctors of all levels throughout my time in NHS and used to socialise with F1 and F2s when I qualified.

You all work so hard and are not appreciated or respected anywhere nearly enough for your skills and knowledge. I’m currently hearing of multiple doctors I used to work with leaving the country or profession every week

Don't waste your time, that poster always pops up on such threads because he/she felt humiliated when he/she was called by her first name once or something.

Sometimes it's not the doctor that's the problem.

Every GP that I've spoken to supports you. I hope you stand strong so that there's someone to look after me when I need it!

It's the little things like that which wear down anyone in any organisation with a crappy culture. A few nhs trusts do better, but it's not good enough.

I'm glad you are striking OP- well not glad , as it means things are so shit that you & your colleagues feel the need.
I totally support you

Thank you for going into medicine. Something I've always regretted not doing. X

Do you think a lot of money is wasted in NHS and that it is badly managed or that it just needs more money thrown at it, although it already takes 45% of national budget? Do you think it needs radical changes and reform or it will not survive but probably cannot survive as is anyway? Some/many city hospitals were built in Victorian era and appear to be not fit for purpose now. I.E. what is the future of NHS? Thanks.

Hi Laura, I've been considering graduate med for a few years. Would you advise it worth it?

I'm in a comfortable public service flexi hours job where I can choose my hours, be available in school holidays etc., salary similar to F2 bracket - but I HATE it. Dream of escaping. Would I be crazy to consider this?

I think I know what you're going to say

Sorry I see 45% is an error - but it still takes a lot!

@tara66 I think a lot of money probably is wasted. Just on the amount we throw away every day. One use stuff which costs so much money. A lot of people talk about middle managers being a waste of money which might be true. I don’t see it lasting as it is much longer. I don’t want it to collapse but I don’t know how it can change without more money.
There simply is not enough space in the hospitals, not enough beds, now enough doctors or nurses, not enough anything. With the growing population it’s just going to get worse.

@Stepbumpstepbumpbump
I wouldn’t recommended it to anyone especially graduates. However I know a lot of graduates who love it. I feel like you really need to think you’ll love it and understand the pressure/anxiety it causes. If you think you’d enjoy anything else, pick that instead.

Thanks so much for this post. My DD applied for medicine last year (only had 1 interview which was a 4 min teams meeting) She strived to become a doctor since the age of 14 and worked her backside off. She exceeded the grades required. She’s now in her first year of a Natural Sciences degree…contemplating Grad Med but I think she may have dodged a bullet…

@Lauralaaaa I support your strike.
And please promise me that when it’s all too much and you feel like you’re drowning and see no way out, promise me you’ll grab an older nurse and spill it all out in the sluice. The charge nurse can’t send you home, but she knows where the secret stash of biscuits is can can make you a mean cup of tea and listen to you.

@lauralaaaa thanks, confirmed what I suspected! I've just applied to the NHS STP instead, thinking it would be a better option, so I'll see how that goes 🤞