How much do you think junior doctors should be paid per hour

[Jill688]

you are being unreasonable - they should be paid £14/hr

you are not being unreasonable - they should be paid more

This person with not be a salaried GP. They will be a partner so earnings fluctuate year on year (and are in general going down). Their three days a week will be at least 10 hours a day, likely longer. They will need to devote time to running the practice on top of this. They will be responsible for the business and should it all go wrong they will need to pay redundancies etc. They are definitely not a junior doctor.

I think there's a great deal of ignorance Re the name "junior doctor" - if people actually realised what it meant and the responsibilities etc then they would receive the respect they deserve. I think a name change would help immensely.

@NewFL

Should public money be diverted to supporting medics from working class backgrounds? Hardship funds could be set up for those trainees in genuine financial difficult to improve widening participation in medicine. I think the public may get behind this as the average man in the street would identify more with the struggles of those that benefit from financial support.

I think what rankles with my peers is that those from privileged backgrounds and are in future likely to be privileged are using this period of mass industrial action to leverage for more salary in what are effectively the apprenticeship years of a lucrative profession.

Absolutely more should be done to support people from disadvantaged backgrounds into medicine

Name changed to post this.

In 1993 I started on 13k while my junior doctor friend started on 19k

If i was starting now in same job (private sector healthcare) I would get 38k while junior Doctor gets 26k for longer hours. It's ridiculous.

The 35% sounds unreasonable but it really isn't.

Also more university places needed for medicine. Give them a bursary tied to working in NHS for five years.

This seems fairer. And student debt should be waived for people who commit to working for the NHS.

It seems wrong that we're poaching doctors from poorer countries where they're needed, while doctors trained here go to Australia.

I think widening participation is definitely a factor in this debate and I think one that would chime with the public at large many of whom having children who can aspire to become medics may be a real challenge.

I do think there are circumstances where finance may deter working class students from pursuing medicine and we should establish discretionary funds to assist. Similarly a relaxation of A level/GCSE tariff would mean you did not take proportionately from the select pool of grammar/independent school leavers.

Florenz · Yesterday 23:09
They are paid more than enough. Perhaps there should be a limit on how many hours they can work both in a day and in a week. But I am sick of their whinging and misrepresenting of how much they earn, comparing their wage to that of Pret workers is just insulting.“

No, your post is insulting. Making sandwiches hardly compares, does it? Some juniors are paid the same as Pret workers.

The real question is
“How much do junior doctors think they should be paid “.
The answer is more than they are getting.

These are intelligent adaptable people who will either retrain into another career or move away. Pay needs to improve and so do working conditions and management and patients need to respect them more.

Doctors could all get higher salaries of they went into private practice but won't this lead to a system where only the wealthy could afford adequate health care? We could move in that direction but isn't this is real threat to the NHS?

Maybe we should let the market rule healthcare and see where that leads us?

"It seems wrong that we're poaching doctors from poorer countries where they're needed, while doctors trained here go to Australia."

Couldn't agree more with this!

Not disputing they should be paid more, though not 35%.

But they don' t get paid per hour. They are salaried with overtime available. So disingenuous to break it down like that.

Also note that junior doctors are paid up to £55k I think, at the top grade. You are looking at starter grade.

35% puts the on parity with their pay in 2008.

Do you think doctors are worth 35% less in 2023 than in 2008? If so, why?

Junior doctors are effectively still learning (although working). Junior doctors benefit from specialist training to become consultants and the vast majority achieve this grade. Doctors can retain as bankers or accountants of they like but one has to question the motivation of doctors if salary is of such paramount importance.

The £14 per hour is just for their contracted hours remember. Working an additional 20 hours a week is normal - and expected most of the time. Plus writing up notes, additional study (paid for by themselves). And of course coming saddled with massive debt after 5 years at University. Working 48 hours straight isn't unusual - yet these are the people that are meant to save our lives.

My husband works in a hospital pharmacy. They're all doing over time during junior doctor strikes because the consultants, who are covering junior doctors, generally prescribe so very very rarely they need hand holding to do it. That says a lot! Junior Doctors carry the load - and it's a very, horrible, heavy load.

Why if we go to the HE forum on this site are parents actively supporting each other in aiding their offspring acheive places at medical school of the job and pay are so sh*t? Won't people vote with their feet pursue other professions and allow the competitiveness for medicine to decrease as a consequence. Why? The reason is ultimately over a lifetime medicine is lucrative and we can't take away from that and to pretend otherwise may be fairly insulting to the general public. I think more mention needs to be made of salary distributions in the UK.

Of course they work for money, ? Di you think they should work for free?

This. The money is due to the business risk they take on, and is not guaranteed.

For a lot of people, it would be better financially to do an electrician apprenticeship, rather than medicine.

No one should work for free but does anyone think that the case of health care assitants, porters, admin staff,, care workers etc. for additional salary is as equally as valid where many ate a near NMW and certainly won't reach a career grade whether they will be driving Jags or Audis🤔

Here in New Zealand our doctors in their final year of study (6th year, whilst still studying/working in a hospital placement so around age 23) get $70,000 NZD, approx £36,000. First year doctors get $96,000 NZD, approx £49,000. More if they work in a rural area and this goes up every year. Yes they do big hours but definitely not more than the UK, they should 100% be paid more, they are literally saving lives.

@mids2019

My ds wants to be a Dr.

Im actively discouraging him

And I also think all those you've listed should also be paid more

Paramedics are rightly on strike and they 'literally save lives'. Do we feel we need to displace the public attention front hose hard working NHS staff that aren't on stellar career paths?

I think starting salary for a junior dr should be about 30-35k. It's more about the hours than the salary though. Junior drs have a huge responsibility and they need sleep, proper meals and regular toilet breaks.

DifferenceEngines, I doubt it. The electricians I know make barely more than junior doctors in their FIRST year before extra allowances even though they're in their early thirties!