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

Fully supportive of the strikes, a payrise is definitely due as are improvements to working conditions. I wouldn’t hold your breath though, the increase needed isn’t affordable.

Hope you never need a doctor 👍 why ARE the people in the U.K. so desperate for a race to the bottom.

My spinal op is being delayed yet again by these strikes. I haven't been able to walk far since January last year. I still support the strikes though. I don't know how we're going to repair the health service, who will be willing to work in it?

Fully support you, hope the strikes work swiftly.

Think of all those billions of unused PPE with the money funnelled to Tory connected people. Just 1bn of that would pay for the rises that junior docs are asking for.

I forgot to add that the UK legal industry also takes 3 months off every year ;) everyone goes abroad in summer when court closes for months.

It costs £250k to train a doctor, do you not think poor people pay tax?

Honestly thank you for all you do; I’ve had the misinfortune of 3 weekends of pneumonia and acute asthma each time on the cusp of IC. The junior doctor stayed each time without fail way past their shifts; one 12 hours later to help me. He was on a 96 hour week that one. He even came in on his next day off to check on me. He was trying to do hourly blood arterial flow readings from my wrists and I could see his hands were shaking with tiredness. We simply can’t think this is an acceptable health care system when we are tasking people with actual life and death decisions and then putting them in these working conditions. I wouldn’t be alive with the NHS.

All those grudging the 'Junior Doctors' a decent salary should think about what happens when the NHS folds... when we can no longer attract, train and retain staff of all levels...
When the ONLY way you will get medical attendtion is to PAY for medical insurance..
When there will be no more FREE at the point of delivery health care...

Because that is what is going to happen...

I support your right to strike. I agree your working conditions are awful. But I don't think taxes should have to rise to pay for it. Income tax has never been higher. The NHS is inefficient. Too big, too many chiefs. Raising income tax to increase NHS staff salary isn't the answer.
I'd love to get a look at the NHS books/spreadsheets. I can't even begin to imagine the level of waste in the organisation.

That’s awful I didn’t realise this

For six months right, before your pay goes up and up?

Realistically, what is going to happen when we reach a critical point of doctors moving abroad or to a different career path with far better working conditions?

It's all very well claiming conditions are fine, but if enough people actually in the profession think it's dire enough to leave and do it, the general public's opinion is meaningless @nighthawk99

@Juniordoc you have my full support

Yes, I support junior doctors’ demands 100%. There’s a substantial brain drain. Why is this stupid government a slave to the free market in so many ways except when it relates to pay and conditions.

I qualified in 2001. So I'm old.

I earnt more in 2001 than a newly qualified doctor earns today. This is not allowing for inflation but simply in pounds.

Think of how much more expensive life is now than it was then...

I bought a two bedroom zone 2 flat for 153K in 2003. The same flat now costs around 425K.

I graduated with around 9k of student debt. The average medical student now graduates with between 50-90k of debt.

I got free accommodation for my first year of work. It was a bit crumbly round the edges but it kept my travelling expenses down and kept me in close contact with my peers who provided an important support network. I'm still in touch with many of those I shared that accommodation with despite the fact we all graduated from different medical schools.

This is why doctors are striking. Quite simply the financial rewards no longer justify the effort required to be a doctor. You can't live on claps, gratitude or the hippocratic oath.

@silverlentils

the gross pay is 28K as the top right box shows?

Sincerely hope the people who voted Tory and are against the strikes are aware that they are in fact the reason for the strikes, for the lack of nurses and doctors and for all the people who die due to poor conditions and lack of staff within the NHS.

They are not a “trainee”, They are highly skilled professionals who are at times responsible for keeping someone alive and that person could be you,me, your child, parent … what would we do without them?

I had an F1 involved in my care when I was admitted to hospital last year, they were fantastic and a really credit to the NHS (as were the nurses, HCAs and even the lovely porters)

It saddens me how little we value these doctors and how there is now a post like this because some of the public have made them out to be greedy.

For what it’s worth I support you 100% as does everyone that I know who can see the incredible job you all do and who deserve a decent standard of living!.

I worked in the NHS for years and was married until 18 months ago to a GP (30 years). I’ve lived and breathed the NHS unfortunately. The OP has my sympathy. I understand how devastatingly overwhelming the job is, but many jobs are. The fact is, the economy in this country is not in a good place for various obvious reasons and nearly everyone across many sectors have and are feeling and will continue to be affected by this. So yes, the OP has my sympathy. I’d really hate to be a junior doc in ANY country. But… as someone wisely pointed out, OP posted a two year old payslip. Update us OP.

I fully support you and thank you so much for all you do. I can’t understand why anyone wouldn’t.

I wholeheartedly support the strikes but don’t see the pay as the main issue.

For context, people always talk about the ‘big bucks’ in finance. That’s partly true in London, but Big4 accountants outside of London, in 2021 the starting salary was £23k with no NHS style pension. The take home was £1500pcm
and I remember taking cereal to work for lunch and using the milk there as I was skint. You work 50 hour weeks plus exams.

Yes a tiny minority might go on to be Partner and earn £££ but most will sit at Senior Manager / Director which is £60k - £100k, again with no NHS pension.

Medicine outside of London is pretty well paid (my friends who are doctors are by far the wealthiest - one is paying £650pcm off his student loan each month so at the age of 30 is earning well in excess of £100k).

The focus should be on working conditions, with an inflationary payrise.

Stupid and callous. What do you do for a living nighthawk99? Please don't apply for any NHS roles.

This. Doctors can go on to earn a very high wage.

No sympathy from me. You’re effectively a trainee, your potential earnings are huge and most Drs I know work part time as they’re paid so much.
Nearly 10% of your earnings goes into your very generous pension when you retire. You’ll have no worries unlike the rest of us.
The fact that the payslip was from during Covid is irrelevant. I lost my job. No one cares.
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.
Why choose to study medicine when you knew what the pay was going to be? Why didn’t you study law or something You obviously don’t care enough about your patients enough to be a Dr 🙄. Sick to death of this strike and the moaning Drs