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

errr … applications to medicine outweigh places something like 10 to 1 - there are many many clever and talented people willing to take the career route.

I do understand the disappointment when after all of that work other people seem to be earning mega bucks as accountants or whatever, but if we didn’t glorify medicine in the way that we do maybe things would be different. We did all the clapping in covid, but who was clapping for the teachers or the police or shop workers or lorry drivers and whoever else kept the country turning.

Absolutely. I have encountered many stupid and lazy people in the NHS, but none of them were doctors.

Haven't read the whole thread but I work in health and social care at a national level and 20 years ago was earning more than that as a fresh graduate. I fully support the strike.

What people on the outside the system often don't understand is it is breaking from years of mismanagement at a government level and that the workforce is leaving in droves. You can't rebuild from nothing and this bunch of political muppets don't seem to be able to understand that (and it isn't as simple as just moving to a different funding model and shifting to private... no workforce means no workforce. If you are burnt out you still can't work)

Hi OP,
I am behind doctors strike.
Unless you are doctor, we will never know the full extent of what they go through, even if, as some people have said, they earn “very well” for recently graduates.

This should be a race to the bottom and we really need to stop comparing jobs/professions. All people contribute to society.
Doctors do an amazing job but they also need to look after themselves.
the government needs to do better.
its not fair to constantly state how well doctors will earn in years to come. As it currently stands, junior doctors are telling us they need our support to improve not just their working conditions/ pay which will, culminate in better care for us patients.
I believe being a doctor is a vocation so money will not be the first motivation for someone going into the profession however, they need better survive and need better condition.

Also, it seems that Doctor are hold to such a standard where despite them stating how this need to change, then narrative is that they shouldn’t complain because they will earn well in years to come.
anyone out there is free to try and have a go.
Go doctors!!!!!!! ❤️

We are still putting huge responsibility on them. If they weren't doing the job, what would the impact be?

They deserve so much more

Ooh punching down? Classy! Is that what they teach you at 5 years med school?

The point , I am making is that other careers , particularly in IT are increasingly dwarfing the importance of doctors, and doctors are spitting the dummy

My cleaner charges £18 an hour!

You also need to compare progression and reality on retirement. I doubt they need the changes to the limit on retirement funds which recently benefited Drs

As a nurse of 37 married to a doctor, I support you and will be taking snacks to the picket line.

I’m assuming you’re a bitter person who didn’t make medical school??? Or just a bitter person with little capacity or understanding of the nhs and what medics do 🤦‍♀️ I despair

100% support the strikes

Why should doctors in this country be paid so much less than doctors in other developed countries?

Totally support you.
For those complaining that the pay claim is unrealistic, bear in mind that the value of the pay has been eroded massively by inflation. Here's another payslip from a junior doctor in 2000 which shows that in 22 years the take home pay of someone at the end of their 2nd year has gone up by... £1.98
https://twitter.com/MRIman_9/status/1645672180959551492

Shocking, I was an F1 in 2003 and I am sure my first pay check was £2100 and that was 20 years ago. Yes the hours were longer, the working conditions were still shit. Until you have grabbed your only 30 mins sleep (on a 24hour shift) on a grubby mattress on the floor of a shoebox office you don’t know what it’s like to be a junior doctor.
Yes the pension is or was good but many will die or suffer stress related illness well before they can enjoy it.
Good luck I support your strike.

But their job included risking their own lives?!

Armed forces personnel get extra money when they actively deploy... they are still 'doing their jobs' but there is recognition that not all that many people are cut out for having a job that actually threatens their life. Those who are willing to do a job that risks this deserve monetary recognition

Gross. ASed the problem poster and on one thread they defended a rapist, in another they defending a violent abuser, and on a third they claim to work with children. So that’s great.

Fully support you OP. Thank you for all you do.

The pay of doctors in other countries is eye watering…

I fully support your right to strike and the principles behind it - junior doctors are not paid well and are treated really poorly in my experience. There is so so much to be done outside pay awards to improve lives for our doctors.

I disagree that this is not the gateway to high earnings though. Most doctors I know (50+ of them) earn well over £100k through NHS (including non-clinical leadership roles) and private work. Some also do insurance work, research, lecturing etc - it is a gateway to high earnings potential and a varied career if you want it to be.

I absolutely support the strikes. When COVID first hit, the Tories managed to find billions to give to their mates to supply PPE, a good proportion of which was unsuitable & anecdotally (from medic friends) may have contributed to the death of hospital staff https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n399

If they can conjure up billions for their friends whilst doctors, nurses, carers & support staff died, then they can increase the hourly rate of the very people who saves countless lives in the pandemic.

Likewise I completely support the teacher’s strikes (as an ex-teacher myself). Likewise the striking nurses.

When we have professional medical staff having to claim Universal Credit to keep a roof over their heads, after 3-6 years of training/student loans etc., something has gone very, very wrong.

Of course it's relevant. It's a reflection of what junior doctors earn...

The doctor is only the front man supported by an army of occupations who make it possible for them to play the hero.They are doing a job they have been trained to do , largely at your expense!

I earn more working 3 days per week as a teacher.

The pay for early career doctors is shocking.

I support you. You have responsibilities beyond your age and experience. You have graduated as a doctor and we respect you. You and your peers could earn twice as much in another country or another graduate job in this country, which is why we are short of doctors. The government wants to make the nhs fail to support their privatisation agenda.
Thank you for all you do .

@nighthawk99 yeah, but I can do all of the other occupations with minimal training, so could a lot of people. Pretty bogstandard stuff

Very few people possess the skill set to be doctors.

The 35% is to start negotiations from the pathetic 2% - anyone with a slither of common sense would know that.

These threads really bring out the rotten underbelly of the population.

The problem isn't pay per se it's what it buys you and in many cities that sort of salary would mean about 70% or more of take home pay would go on housing costs.That's just crazy. Of course everyone is suffering but we need doctors more than anyone else and with everyone else living in freezing homes and cutting back on fruit and veg (and prescriptions and exercise classes) to make ends meet we're going to need them in coming months and year.

There's a really class divide in this country and also a lack of understanding of the housing situation for younger people.

I bet if junior doctors had their housing paid for they'd be happy with that salary.

Junior doctors will generally not own a home so they're stuck in private rented which is just far, far too expensive. Plus they have to pay expensive council tax, utilities, food.