To think people are very quick to forget the pandemic

[BelleMarionette]

Myself, and other junior doctors, worked hard on the covid wards, in appalling conditions. We didn't have decent PPE, and often had little to no relevant experience or training, as many were redeployed with little notice (in my case, 36 hours). Almost all of of us became sick, some very seriously so, and some even died. Many more were left struggling with our own mental health, suffering from PTSD, anxiety and depression.

We are now striking, due to pay erosion over the past 15 years. In real terms its around a 30% pay cut. It's difficult to live on what we are be being paid, especially with families to support.

I have seen an awful lot of negative comments about junior doctors on another thread. Aibu to think the public has been very quick to forget our contribution during the pandemic?

I would dearly love to be wrong and see support

I absolutely support people requesting a fair wage and I am deeply grateful for all of the key workers during the pandemic, and those people that helped their neighbours and others.
However I won't be told that I must support strike action because of this, saying that we have forgotten the pandemic because some people are unsupportive is ridiculous, do you think those with family that died have forgotten it because they are not joining your picket line, terrible terrible way to use a dreadful time for your own ends

I have to agree here. If junior doctors are on their uppers, then the rest of us are truly fucked! All public sector workers have been royally screwed for years.

I remember the pandemic very well: we were caring for the children of doctors. One was working in intensive care, looking after Covid patients.
They had limited PPE and we gave them all we had.
Thanks to Matt Hancock and his greedy, grubby mates, NHS workers risking their lives were sourcing their nurseries and childminders for PPE. I will never forget that.

The reason why all these workers, including doctors, are asking for more money is because they have all been underfunded for years while the money that could have paid them adequately has been siphoned off elsewhere.

The answer is to stop siphoning off the money, stop paying bots to write derogatory comments on Social Media, and start paying these people what they should be paid.
Our chancellor and our PM are two of the richest men in the country. Many of the Government are so rich, they actually can't remember what assets they have and what taxes they should pay. They have a nerve refusing junior doctors their pay - but then, I remember Jeremy Hunt has already had a run in with them when he was Health Secretary.

Pull the other one choppies. Noway someone with your attitude comes from a poor or working class background. Noway.

Do you believe in conspiracy theories?

Hospitals were not empty. We increased our capacity by over 100% in medicine. Every spare space was made into a ward. Our ITU capacity was increased by 300%.

We worked 70 hour weeks on covid wards, and worked bloody hard in appalling conditions.

And no, we didn't have adequate PPE either. That is another misconception that was spread. I helped to intubate a covid positive patient with only a surgical mask, telling older colleagues who wanted to help not to come in as they were more at risk, should they contract covid.

Thank you for all you and your colleagues are doing OP. I support the strike - how heartbreaking you have been pushed into this. Good luck

Thank you for this and all the other supportive messages.

You are misinterpreting this. Childcare out of hours (weekends, nights, evenings and early mornings) is so much more expensive, as nurseries and childminders are closed. The only option is a nanny. It's very expensive to source, and finding a reliable person is very difficult.

The parking fees for hospital staff are also prohibitive, not uncommonly around £100/month. Everyone I know in the private sector has free parking.

The constant moving around, or travelling large distances, is also exhausting and very expensive.

This is absolutely not universally characteristic of the health system during much of the pandemic. It’s just false. We all saw the empty hospitals and health centres. We are not daft. One of my closest friends is a doctor who was working on Covid wards , he was busy for a few weeks, then for months on end said it was the least hard he’d ever needed to work in his career. He copped off at 3pm most days there was so little to do.

Has anyone else noticed the spectacular own goal by the BMJ If they wanted to drum up support for the doctors strikes it would have been prudent not to minimize the sacrifices and suffering much of the public went through because of the lockdowns

www.bmj.com/content/380/bmj.p588

www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4759256-no-real-mental-health-crisis-from-pandemic?page=1

Did you go onto the covid wards? Of course not, as they didn't allow visitors. Empty outpatient clinics (because doctors are redeployed onto the wards) are not representative. To say that hospitals were empty is just misinformation spread by certain tabloids and conspiracy theorists.

Are you actually just trolling now? Yes of course only NHS staff do shift work don’t they? no one else has childcare issues!

Everyone I know in the private sector pays for their parking, if it’s free it’s considered a benefit in kind and taxed. £100 per month is a bargain. A fiver per day over 20 days. You’re totally out of touch.

I support you!
and I currently have Covid so I’ve definitely not forgotten the pandemic

I support the junior doctors strike.

The starting salary is, shit, for the training, experience and working conditions. You can get similar in a graduate (3 year degree) job that doesn't require the personal expenses (from moving frequently, from student debt, from paying for exams, from out of hours childcare) or personal sacrifices (relationship breakdowns, PTSD from covid etc)

The fact that they 'knew that before they got a job' doesn't negate the fact it's a. Still shit and b. Objectively (in real terms salary etc, understanding levels etc etc) getting worse.

And that doesnt mean that other jobs dont deserve more money as well. But the people doing the profession are leaving because the pay doesnt make up for the shit conditions. The NHS can either sort out the conditions (which isn't going to happen) or sort out salary...but doing nothing will cause staff to vote with their feet.

That’s not true though. Entire hospital were turned into Covid wards, and then for months and months of the pandemic there were only a handful of patients, meanwhile so much else had been cancelled in preparation- hospital planners massively overshot in their projections for a huge proportion of the pandemic This is not conspiracy, it’s what happened.

I support you and everyone else who is striking or who cannot strike.

This government is running the NHS and the country into the ground while lining their own pockets and looking after their cronies. Imagine if all the money wasted on useless PPE contracts, apps that didn't work, test and trace was spent on improving the NHS?

YANBU.

Like many others, I really didn’t appreciate just what you have to go through as a junior doctor until I read Adam Kay’s ‘This is Going to Hurt’. Even the parking meter earns more than you and you had to work really hard to get the best grades before putting in 5/6 years of medical school followed by ridiculous levels of responsibility and seriously punishing working hours.

If junior doctors (and nurses) aren’t paid more, no-one will agree to do the job, at least not in the U.K. (Australia OTOH is doing everything it can to poach you all). We are then all screwed.

Yes they have. The fear and drama of covid are in the past and people are now more worried about their cancelled operations.
I support you fully but I think trying to ride public sympathy for your covid contribution is not a winning pitch.
Your pay is unfair, your conditions are appalling and unless those things change, the public are at risk from staffing shortages in our hospitals.
Your support depends on the public understanding the risk to them. When people are struggling financially themselves, it's a hard sell, and you need to appeal to their self interest not hope for their gratitude.

I support you.

I refused to clap during the pandemic because it felt like such an empty gesture. Instead I followed all the rules and generally tried to avoid catching/spreading covid (like a mug considering what the gov was up to).

I wonder what proportion of clappers aren’t supportive now. Hypocrites.

I support you. I will never forget the treatment of some sectors by the government and people in general.

I fully support the junior Doctors strike action and believe you should all get paid a great deal more. Thank you for your service 🙏.

As a nurse myself working in appalling conditions in the NHS, I for one support junior doctors wholeheartedly!! My mental health is in the toilet, directly due to my working conditions. This country is a shambles

This!! If you deserve a rise then so do lots of people- I don’t remember shop workers choreographing tik tok dances or getting clapped on a Thursday night 🤷🏼‍♀️

Can you provide any source for these wild claims?

We never had any empty beds whatsoever. As patients died, their beds were filled straight away. As the number of covid patients fell, the wards were turned back into general medical wards. This happened overnight in many cases. The NHS simply does not have the capacity for empty beds.

Unfortunately the NHS seems to be massively mismanaged, and too many people don’t acknowledge this when talking about the money it gets or ‘needs’. My partner works in the NHS, and have heard first hand of the poor management including costs. The people at the very top need to focus on all the necessities first, paying better for frontline, better systems that are mirrored across trusts etc. NHS appears to pay astronomical costs in long term sick pay (not all will be genuine), mutual agreements & roles that should come after the frontline and day to day management is efficient and effective.

It also cannot be denied that our economy would not be in the state it’s in if we hadn’t shut it down for covid and paid furlough. That’s not rocket science and sadly we’re all paying the price now - which was always obvious.

If we’d protected the vulnerable and allowed everyone else to support the economy we’d no doubt be in better shape.