To ask what else I can do with a medical degree

[BelleMarionette]

I'm a doctor, and don't think I can afford to be anymore, with the abysmal pay, conditions, and antisocial hours.

I have been working just to pay childcare for the majority of my career.

I'm looking for something better paid (this should be easy as pay is pretty dire) with flexibility to ideally work from home for some of the week. The difficulty with medicine is that we become so institutionalised that it's hard to see what else there is out there.

Any suggestions for careers that would value my experience? (Registrar, so completed foundation training and several years of speciality training)

Healthcare policy? Either within the NHS or DHSC or there are specialist organisations that support healthcare policy development (like Nuffield Trust for example).
You might have to start at a slightly lower grade (say a band 7 in NHS) but there’s lots of potential for development and moving up. I currently work with a former doctor who has done just this.

That surely depends on a whole host of factors. I work in one of the roles mentioned and earn c.70k, which is clearly less than quite a lot of doctors, but it's for mostly a 37 h week, 9-5, WFH, amazing flexibility around family life etc. I sometimes need to work an evening and even more rarely on a weekend, but generally get TOIL. The pension is a lot worse though.

It's not all about the money. She wants the work/life balance back.

Avoid management consultancy then as they always get their pound of flesh.

Pharma is the move I hear Doctors making most and the money can be good, but the hours can be long there too, depending on role and company culture.

Agreed. Consultancy is not a path to a goof work/life balance. One PP mentioned the PwC grad scheme - this would be a double whammy of a big pay cut, plus long hours.

A couple of people have suggested healthcare policy work - I also strongly advise against this. NHSE and the DoH are appalling places to work, the pay will be roughly the same as the OP currently gets, and policy work will not give the work life balance she's after. Producing briefings for ministers with just a few hour's notice involves a lot of late evenings.

Occupational Health for a large corporation, a private supplier or an Insurance company. Assessing fitness to work, supporting an industrial site, reviewing long term sick claims?

I worked for an OH company as a consultant ( business, not medical) a few years ago, and the medics worked office hours in the main, although we supported the energy industry among others, so some were posted to client sites and available across shifts. Senior management were mostly promoted from the medics.

I'm just really, really sorry that you ( we, society) can't make medicine work for you.

I know how hard it is to get into medicine at Uni as a first step, let alone the work that follows before graduating. All that student loan for such small reward.

God. Could you be any more judgemental? Assuming a £50k salary could cover nursery comfortably. Assuming the Op has a partner. Leave them alone!!

What kind of wage (roughly) are you looking for? What would give you enough to make childcare worthwhile, yet also provide decent standard of living ? ( I ask because people’s’ expectations are very different - due to location/outgoings etc)

Isn’t GP locum work pretty well paid? Or would you need further training?

I get that junior doctors are pretty badly paid - especially during early years, but isn’t the worst of it behind you? It can’t be long before you get senior roles?

Isn’t GP locum work pretty well paid? Or would you need further training?

Yes definitely. GP training is a separate path.

Ditto going in to Public Health - it's a distinct specialty which requires its own specialist training.

OP: NHS management? You'd probably have to go in at quite a junior level, but should progress well. And I think having those with a clinical background in management roles could be a good thing all round

Just to add, my friends who left NHS medicine went into clinical trials, big pharma marketing and skin aesthetics

How close are you to CCT, because I promise it gets better after. I’ve been a consultant over a decade. I now work FT and earn just over £100k gross. Because of the on call and weekend commitment full time usually equates to about 3 weekdays. I don’t love my job, and have probably spent most of my consultant career wondering if I should leave…..but I don’t hate it either and I get paid well for a pretty flexible job. I haven’t yet come across a job I could transfer to for even close to the same money. I didn’t have my DC until I was a consultant and my DH isn’t medical (although works very long hours and travels), and we have had a nanny since after may leave. We are blinkered when it comes to thinking of other jobs, but I think you are going to struggle to find a job with the same flexibility (as a cons) and salary.

I follow an online PT who is a qualified Dr she uses it as a selling point.
Any interest in law? More study but a law conversion is one yr and would open up door to coroners work, medical negligence etc.

I think the new solicitor's exam introduced recently (SQE) removed the need for a conversion course.

@BelleMarionette hugs to you.

I’m a sister in ICU, not the same but can sympathise with the abysmal pay that goes almost fully on childcare, the shifts, the exhaustion, the missing special time with loved ones…. The list goes on. And then we get offered frankly insulting pay rises 🙄 there’s got to be a better way than this.

I’m not quite ready to get out yet, but I’m following this with real interest. I’d be particularly interested about the medico legal options and copywriting. @RhodaDendron could you share with me how to get into the copywriting please? And if anyone else has any tips about how to get into being an expert witness etc I’d be all ears.

Solidarity OP. I hope you find your happy xx

I haven’t yet come across a job I could transfer to for even close to the same money.

I think this is the crux of it. Despite the fact that the OP isn't a consultant yet, it sounds as though she isn't far off so she needs to factor her earning potential (e.g. where she can get to within 5 yrs) into her decision.

I have worked in the private consultancy sector, NHS (provider and NHSE), and civil service (regulatory, on the other side to my consulting role) across my career, so am reasonably informed about the pros and cons and relative remuneration packages of those options. (I career changed in my 30s, hence the variety).

A fair few of the options being suggested to the OP would pay less than she's currently earning, and several wouldn't represent an improvement in work life balance. The OP's other threads show she was/is considering private school for her child - that isn't going to happen if she takes a significant pay cut.

Yes I think you can now. I was thinking SQE just replaced LPC but I think you can use as a route with none law degree now too.
Chief coroner in our area is dual qualified Dr and law degree.

Pharma or advisory.

If she’s considering private school for child then teaching science in a private might qualify for a free or subsidised place. No official teaching qualifications needed in private.

It may not interest you at all OP, but I know of a few qualified doctors and dentists who have moved into Facial Aesthetics, basically administering botox and fillers. The reputable clinics will want someone who has medical training. There is a course you can do to train, but I'm not sure of the cost.

Over time if you build up a good clientele you could do it from home.

My friend moved to Gp. works 40 hrs over 4 days £85k and is now a partner in practice so will be getting payments etc for that.
2 other very good friends - one local GP, makes around £150k
one is GP partner, does thing like training GPS etc makes around £200k. And will sell his part of the biz when he retires. Also works 4 days.
not saying it’s an easy job but with extra responsibilities on top of seeing patients, there’s good money in being a partner in a GP surgery.

Locum GP £150k. Sometimes does hospital triage GP - not using agency either. Contracted directly by surgery’s and the hospital. Picks her hours

Step out into private. Especially if near London. You’re conditioned to think you need to CCT, but you can sign up to the IV clinics or give Botox or do Medicaid at a lower level for none of the shit of the NHS or responsibility or training and better hours and you get to eat lunch and finish when your pay stops

@ChairOfInvisibleStudies

Do you mind saying what you do for a living?