It's been a while since we had a doctor bashing thread. I see the daily mail has done a good job of convincing everyone that doctors earn in excess of £100k, work 3 day weeks and play golf on NHS time.
I'm a doctor. When I was working in the UK, it took me 10 years working to get to the salary ranges you describe - my max yearly gross was £74k at the end. My medical friends were earning similar amounts to me. Not one sent their kids to private school, not one had a second home and although most of us had accrued plenty of annual leave, there was too much pressure on achieving targets to allow anyone the time to take it. I wasn't allowed to take annual leave on my wedding day until a friend rescued me at literally the last minute by swapping call shifts (wedding planned based on the rota I had been mailed a few months prior which was then changed to a completely different one by the time I started that job).
I am also of the vintage that worked 72h shifts (arriving at work at 8am Saturday, leaving at 9pm Monday) with little prospect of breaks or meals. Did that one in every 2 weekends for a bit, plus one 8am weekday to 8pm the following weekday per week. I'm glad those patterns have changed because honestly I don't think people are safe working those hours.
Find me another profession that expects so much of its training staff for 7-10 years with the level of responsibility demanded. The reason we all stuck it out was the job satisfaction (now going as the NHS crumbles), the prospect of a job with reasonable hours and a good salary at the end of it (now gone - I was unemployed at the end of my training as there weren't any jobs available due to the hiring freeze).
I left, haven't looked back. I also took my pension with me - except they made a mistake with the first calculation so I requested a recalculation including a few of my jobs (including the higher salary at the end) - which they did. In the meantime having changed the calculation parameters (RPI /CPI) so I received £10k less than the first attempt. The changes weren't meant to be applied retrospectively but I took the offer based on the thought that if I didn't take it then, it wouldn't exist by the time I reach retirement.
I don't see why people shouldn't complain about being asked to work longer, pay more and receive less at the end than they originally signed up for.
To anyone who's had a worry over older grandparents taking care of their babies while they work - you are really ok with an older doctor (ie late sixties) operating on them? Anaesthetising them?
For the record, not that it's anyone else's concern, I voted Labour at the last election.
Doctors will read this and recognise the sentiments. Non doctors will say So? You knew what you were signing up for when you chose medicine as a profession. You know what? I knew what I was signing up for with my pension scheme too.