To think I am a bloody doctor, I shouldn't be working for a pittance after childcare?

[knackeredmother]

I am having a pissed off day so am probably BU.
I work 24 hours (plus much more unpaid overtime) a week as a GP registrar, this includes nights, weekends and long days until 10pm.
My take home pay is £1200 (after 5 years qualification).
I have 2 dc under 5 and employ a nanny as my son has lots of hospital admissions with an ongoing chest problem and my shifts mean nursery/childminder would be impossible. I also have no family to help out before I get flamed for having a nanny. There really is no other option for us that I can work out and nursery for 2 would not be much less money.
I pay our nanny about £800 a month gross for 17 hours per week (£10 p.h going rate). That leaves me £400 income to pay all of my outgoings.
My nanny has no childcare to pay for as she uses the 15 hours free government funding and has family help. Its not her fault but she has almost double the disposable income I have for working less and more sociable hours.
I'm using up annual leave today as poor ds is too sick to leave even with our nanny.
It's just made me think what is the point of going to work? I could stay at home, have no sick child stress and although I would be £400 a month down I wouldn't need to run a car, fork out bloody thousands pounds for professional exams and membership fees
I'm being unreasonable aren't I - somebody tell me it will all be worth it in the end!

I can't see why not.

So actually the pay for the nanny should come out of both partner's salaries as they are his children too.

At least you have a pension and will in the future earn a lot more than most people in the country. It's tough at the moment but you know it will get better.

I have sympathy for all women trying to get off the ground in their careers, and being made to feel like childcare is all their responsibility and their wage has to be 'traded' against that (as if the men could have children without either having or being a childcarer).

But I feel a bit less sympathy for doctors as at least at the end of their very lengthy training, there is a pot of gold of sorts, which far outstrips what most other professionals will ever get paid even if they keep going for the same amount of time. But, respect to those who get through the training- doing it part-time is still a lot of work and long hours and the prospect of finishing must feel a long way off.

And, in fairness, many professions get paid much more in the US or Australia, so the option to move and get paid more is there for many of us.

Viva

Which part of the country do you work in? I'd kill for £600/yr study budget (hossie doc, currently self funding a MSc that I need to progress, plus mandatory courses which can be over £1000 each)

I do know that MWs/nurses/PAMs do tend IME to get things funded more easily than docs. I've worked in about 10 different hospitals on my rotation and it's been that way in all of them.

How much does a plumber earn nowadays and shouldn't your finances be shared?

Childcare is very expensive and many women can't afford to work because their childcare costs would be more than their wages. Many women with jobs have no money left after paying childcare. So having £400 left over a month is actually quite a lot.

YNBU, esp after the years of training...

Knackered, have you thought about practicing in Canada or the US? In the States, at least, there is a GP shortage, and childcare tends to be cheaper (well not in NYC). Of course there would be a lot of red tape to wade through for licensure.

Just a random suggestion.

So if you split the cost of childcare between you and your DP you actually have £800 a month disposable income. I expect you split bills and household expenses between you too? Then it's not that bad, is it.

Be a GP.
My SIL takes home £120,000 a year.
Live somewhere where you have healthy patients, like her. Get a husband that is also a GP or DR
They live very comfortably.
This is not long after she qualified.

I earned £1000 a month for 2.5 days as a teacher so thought you'd be earning a lot more than that? If you want to stay at home then stay at home. You'll be much better off when the kids go to school so could always go back then.

I read your first sentence, "I work 24 hours" and thought you were a carer working that per day for pennies and that I had misread the title.

Will RTFT and get back to you.

foglike - Have a friend who is a plumber who earns about 24k. But many earn less. Maybe in some areas it si very well paid, but generally its not the pot of gold many make it out to be unless you run your own firm and employ people. Added to that there are a lot of newly qualified plumbers about competing and bringing wages/prices down.

Ah well knowing OP has a DH who is working makes it easier to understand! In that case I really dont see the problem "only" having £400 left - join that up with the family finances from your DHs income and child benefit and I dont understand what you are complaining about. Is it because you see your nanny as spending less time training for her job than you for yours and its being less "prestigious" and feel resentful (and I can understand that to a degree)?...... Because its clear the Nanny doesnt have childcare costs and Im sure you and your family earn more than her £800 a month salary!!

And surely as people have pointed out it should be a shared childcare bill?

Op, stick at it.

I remember the endless juggling of preschool kids and their childcare, getting the boxes ticked for OOH experience, exam prep, videoing consultations..it's a hard, hard year (or more, part time) and financially seems a kick in the teeth after 6 years at med school and then foundation years.
But.......it really is the most incredibly privilaged job. You get to help people in their hour of need, are privilage to confidences, joys and despairs that your patients may never tell anyone else in their lives, walk alongside and learn from people as they face birth, death, and all manner of things in between.
I don't regret being a GP..and tbh it's also a lot more family freindly than hospital jobs, on the whole.
It's very hard to get a long term perspective when you are in the thick of it and your head starts to droop.
Are there any GP mums around you can chat/moan to? What about some Retainers? Have you had a moan to the BMA support line if you are feeling really low/mad about the whole thing?
I do 3 days/week and now the children are all at school at least part time, the childcare fee are far more manageable.
I'm really glad I stuck at it with 2 under-4's as a Reg..it's 'bought' me an immensley satisfying career (earning no-where near what some on here have posted, but enough to get buy without any sleepless nights and have a holiday)
Things (really) can only get better...now get a cuppa and find someone else to sign the repeat scripts x

Living in Country Victoria is not unlike the seris Country Practise ie going back 100 year. I found living in the heart of the CBD Melbourne like going back 50. Not sure the money is worth it.

My Dsis is a part-time GP, married to a council worker, two kids, mortgage, dog etc and while they have a comfortable lifestyle it certainly isn't a life of riches.

But that's not really what this is about and I totally feel for you OP. I went back to work PT after DS because it didn't make sense for my wage to be swallowed up by childcare. And yes, I have a DH and we share costs but if you look at the figures it looked as thought I'd be working for no extra coming into the house IYSWIM.

Once DS is older though I may regret it as I may not be able to regain my full time hours.

You are working towards a career which you have chosen because it's something you truly want to do. Don't compare yourself to others and be proud you're coping with everything that's going on in your life.

It's a low spot - you'll hopefully feel better tomorrow. Good luck.

I think you have to work out how much your job means to you and whether it is worth the trade off at the moment for the longer term earning potential and job satisfaction. I gave up my job because with four DCs, although I was earning just over £2k a month for three days work (which was a lot less than my FT male equivalents - but that's another story!), it was costing me £1800 a month to work (nanny/commuting) and I decided that it just wasn't worth it. It wasn't a job that I loved enough to keep on doing at that level of 'sacrifice' - for the next 4 years until my youngest started school. I trained for 3 years for my qualifications, but I can have a 5 year career break - which is what I am doing, without losing my professional status, and although I know I am unlikely to be earning that sort of money again, I know that I will stay within the same profession, doing something else, earning less, but probably much happier!

Most plumbers earn more than £24k!!

My Grandmother has just said she is an Auxilliary Nurse, she works 24 hours a week and makes more than £1200 some months.

I am going to study Pre-Med next year and reading this has made me a bit nervous in regards to pay.

24k is enough even if the OP's wages are exhausted by household bills and expenses.

Joint income joint household.

I thought they did too dandelionss.....they always cost me a small fortune.

"my nanny who works less hours"

OP, do you have a learning disability? Kudos to you if that is the case. I am not casting any aspersions on your competence as a doctor. I'm well aware that atrocious and indecipherable handwriting is a pre-requisite for the job for example but I am wondering things.

Oh, and I hope your battery doesn't die soon. That would be terrible!

Or did you mean your phone's battery?

Maybe she was a bit to concerned about her on-call and her ill son to worry about phrasing her op. Maybe she's a bit tired

Dandelions - The national statistical average for employed plumbers is circa £28,000 per annum
www.theprwire.co.uk/2010/09/22/how-much-can-plumbers-earn/

But it does increase a lot in London and the South East - I live in the North. Frienda lso says influx of newly trained plumbers has brought earnings down quite a bit.

Sorry 'too' - I'm also tired etc etc