To the poster saying that her friend had two weeks off between rotations, I’m sure she’ll have been using her AL. That is not standard at all.
What is much more likely is you’ll be rota’d on call in different hospitals miles apart whilst still being expected to attend induction. I’m not the only one who has finished a night shift in hospital A, driven an hour to hospital B, sat through a morning of useless induction (no computer log ins etc but a nice lecture on how to be more resilient or how not to set the ward microwave on fire), driven home for a couple of hours sleep then driven back to hospital B for another night shift in a specialty I’ve never worked in before and have had no specialist induction or teaching.
We have no say over our jobs geographically. I know colleagues who live away from their families in the week (at their own personal cost, we pay for hospital accommodation etc) because they’ve been allocated jobs two + hours away from home and you can’t uproot your spouse and children every year at the whims of the deanery. I know people who have moved only to be told a month before starting (when they’ve already signed a lease, husband got a new job, kids in new schools etc) that there had been a mistake and they now had to work in an entirely new location. My training scheme has decided that I need to go to a different hospital for 6 months. I currently walk to work. This new hospital is an hour and a half on public transport. We had to sell my car as we couldn’t afford to run both and my partner works a busy on call rota at a hospital an hour away. I’ll be expected to suck it up and pay for this like I pay for my indemnity insurance, my exams, my portfolio, my college membership, my GMC fees. All in all my partner and I have spent thousands this year just to be allowed to work. We have no choice in this, you don’t pay you can’t work.
The NHS is a monopoly employer. It can only run by exploiting its staff.
I’ve been in some very dark places during my career. I used to fantasise every day about how I could harm myself so I didn’t have to go back in. I’d stand by the kettle every day picking up the courage to pour the hot water over my hand in the hopes I’d get a morning off. I wouldn’t look before crossing roads in the hopes somebody would run me over.
I’ve carried three bleeps because there weren’t enough doctors. I’ve been bullied by seniors. I’ve done 12 hour shifts without eating or taking a break. I’ve been the only doctor for over 200 patients. I’ve been verbally and physically abused by patients and their relatives. I’ve had leave cancelled with one days notice. I’ve been bullied into working extra on calls (including the night before my grandma’s funeral). I’ve been consistently underpaid or worked locum shifts that then don’t get paid for 6+ months. I’ve had colleagues denied leave to go to their own wedding despite giving a years notice. I’ve worked 12+ hour shifts with a two hour round commute and then had to squeeze in some revision for my upcoming £600 exam which I have to pass in order to progress. I’ve had colleagues move across the country for a new job only to be told in an email at 4.30pm on a Friday that there’s been a mix up and they’re actually in a different hospital (never might that they’d moved house, kids had moved schools etc).
I’ve been so ill on shift that my observations were worse than some of the patients I was admitting but if I went home there was literally nobody else.
I’ve watched consultants I admire get stretched more and more thinly until they stop. And despite all this it’s not good enough. I’m not good enough. There is nothing more demoralising than running yourself into the ground mentally and physically only to spend every patient encounter apologising for this shit care you’re providing.
Conditions would be awful regardless of what we were paid but the terrible working situation combined with the (comparatively) low wage (or at least a wage that has never caught up with inflation) means that it’s becoming even less tolerable to stay. This means more are leaving (the profession, the country) which makes the whole situation worse.
The only way this makes sense is that the government are deliberately running it into the ground to make it easier to privatise.
I’m leaving. I can’t do it anymore. At times I still love it, I’ve been so privileged to be involved in some of the most impactful moments of peoples lives. When you have a good five minutes it’s the best job in the world. But I can’t remember when I last had a good five minutes. And I don’t want to be one of those doctor suicide stories.