My payslip as a doctor in Feb 2021 during COVID

[Juniordoc]

See attached image. Yes this is for full-time work with weekends and nights in the currently stretched working conditions that the NHS provides.

This does not include the expenses and sacrifices of a six year medical degree. On top of that, we have to pay out of pocket for our own GMC membership, medical defence union, postgrad exams and revision courses, conferences and courses.

Please get behind us and support the strikes. We are burnout, exhausted and struggling to live

35% is ridiculous, and I don't support that, but something does need to be done to improve pay and conditions for our doctors.
The issue I have with strikes is the effect on patients - I know consultants are working to minimize this but there's still a negative effect, and as the daughter of a nurse and granddaughter of a retired nurse, that just doesn't sit well with me.

I support EVERYONE earning a decent wage that means they can afford to live. I'm a civil servant taking home £1300 a month for 37 hours a week - according to my friends I must be raking it in as I'm in the CS, but it's not the case. Several colleagues have 2nd jobs just to cover the cost of living - we had a 3 year pay deal in 2020, equivalent to around 5% and have been told to expect a big fat 0 going forward.

Something needs to change, for everyone's sake.

@xbp medial pay has fallen off a cliff in the past 15 years.

if you looked at the pay and lifestyle of people doing the job when you applied (in my case that was 1993 ish) then it isn't really comparable to what you get now.

He’s practising now, earning a lot of money. He also worked 90 hour weeks as a junior Dr.
He cares about his patients. Yes the hours are long but don’t study medicine if you don’t agree with the pay and conditions.

That's truly awful. I absolutely support you!

I haven’t rtft but I started as an f1 in 2019 and worked throughout COVID for less than this
i built up significant rent arrears as a single parent
there are often significant mistakes with our pay and I spent considerable months on between 1k &1400 when in specialties without out of hours
it has contributed to significant burnout and depression
my DS’s other parent died during COVID as well and the financial burdens of training and costs we have to pay day fo day just to even get to work or stay registered are enormous
it has been run on goodwill for far too long I worked so so many additional hours unpaid and the burnout is too high to keep doing it

I would if they were on here whining, Oh but wait, they arent!

Wow ! These are doctors saving lives . What a cunty uneducated post !

We live in a world where so many useless jobs are rewarded and yet jobs of genuine value to humanity are paid a pittance. It's disgusting.

What might not be apparent is that if pay for doctors and other clinical posts had not been systematically eroded since 2010, the current base salaries would be at least 25% higher.

Those of you against the strike who voted this current bunch of venal useless clowns into power, and almost certainly will again, didn't it ever occur to you this was a likely consequence at some point if the issues weren't addressed? It takes a LOT for doctors to strike. Go follow a junior doctor around for a shift, have your over privileged eyes opened.

Actually on second thoughts don't, you'd only be even more of a hindrance.

My father is a GP and he would never ever go on strike. He cares about his patients too much, that’s why he chose to become a Dr in the first place.

This ‘cares too much’ is dangerous rhetoric. Junior doctors deserve to be paid decent wages. Talking about the calmer career choice
of someone who worked before the NHS was in such chaos is unreasonable. Bet his salary can currently comfortably take inflationary rises - the OP’s salary is unlikely to be able to.

I loathe this notion that ‘caring’ equals martyring yourself. It’s amazing how it only exists for professions such as doctors, nurses and teachers. I don’t see any accountants, bankers or engineers being asked to work long hours in appalling conditions for shite pay. Judging from the responses in this thread alone, the staggering meanness and entitlement from a decent proportion of the general public means they should receive hazard pay as well!

That was my point.

But you've appointed yourself their spokesman, so they don't have to.

I don’t give a shit what you’ll earn in 5 or 10 years, OP. You and all front line NHS doctors and nurses deserve decent pay now. The twats who thought clapping every Thursday night was enough reward need to know that the young doctors will not be there in 10 years if we don’t make things better for them.

Some posters on this thread don’t seem to appreciate what F1s do. You’ll appreciate it when they are no longer there. These people are not stupid. They will leave or live elsewhere or do something less bloody awful if we don’t respect their efforts and hard work. I am happy to pay extra taxes for their payrise.

The wider conditions need to be better and part of this is about nurse, HCA and paramedic pay so there are sufficient in post to work normally (which is currently not the case in large swathes of the NHS).

In terms of starting pay, I do think it needs to be more. A junior doctor should not be strugging and rents can easily be £1500-2000pcm for flats in cities so where do they find enough for food, transport on that pay? I don't think junior doctors with the level of responsibility they have should be forced to houseshare. they need somewhere they can be guaranteed a decent nights sleep.

There are alternative ways to achieve this e.g. doctor and nurses subsidised housing - take them out of the private rental sector with its extortionate rents.

The final salaries of doctors are very high - maybe take some from that end to pay junior doctors better? Or get rid of the extremely high paying management / admin roles which don't seem to do much in the NHS e.g. the diversity and inclusion jobs on 100k. Maybe those jobs are a nice to have when everything else is working well, but it's not and they can go with the money redirected to front line services. At the moment no-one is included in decent care because no-one can get appointments in a timely way.

It's all very well saying well, eventually you'll be rich but that's not a lot of help if you don't have family money to subsidise the starting salary and presumably is why a lot drop out. And that's before we even get to nurse and HCA pay. It makes it impossible for people from poorer backgrounds to stick through the early years.

The problem is, the average and low end salaries in the UK just aren't enough to live off comfortably any more. I know people in mid-level jobs using food banks. The multiple whammy of already high housing costs, high food costs and interest rate rises (mortgage costs going up) means lower salaries don't cut it anymore. Those who are actually worst off are end of career people who don't have the physical ability to retrain and are stuck in a salary that simply can't cover costs.

But we all need doctors and some acknowledgement that this just isn't a lot to live off in many locations in the UK would be helpful.

Just as a point of reference with the solicitor/trainee comparisons - I took a role in the government legal service mid qualification.

I was early 20s, unqualified, performing a paralegal type role and earned significantly more than OP. Oh and that was 20 years ago.

Wishing your son well but I do hope he’s researched the pay scales and doesn’t choose to go on strike in 6 or 7 years when he sees his payslip and decides it’s not enough.

Hi OP.
I support you and your colleagues in the NHS. Please know that so many of us ordinary folk are behind you.
Thank you for all you do.

Wake up people and stop voting Tory

You all have my support all the way, no matter how long it takes for the government to listen. They are the problem not the workers!

You have my support too.

Totally behind you OP . Cannot believe some of those posts on this thread 🤯

This is a bonkers statement. Who knows what the economy will look like in 6/7 years, or whether doctor pay will have been restored to what it should be. Because that’s what this is about- not a pay rise but RESTORATION.
See below chart for what has happened to medical salaried in recent years

I support you 100%. You are appreciated and valued by the vast majority, I believe.
It's disgraceful how we treat the medical profession in this country.