Struggling to make ends meet as a junior doctor. AIBU?

[HK3444]

Struggling to make ends meet. Rent has gone up, food bills are going up and struggling to support my kids.

I’m someone worked really hard through medical school, it felt like endless exams and accumulated student debt with the hope that I’d be able to support my family comfortably at the end of the degree and but also feel job satisfaction bettering the health of others.

Not sure what this was all for… can’t believe I’m in this situation as a doctor

Blimey I thought they got a bit more than 50k for a Reg. I'm a band 7 nurse and on 50k myself 🙄

I dont think anyone is disagreeing that work as a Jnr doctor is hard. Actually I think it must be dreadful and I don't doubt you feel undervalued etc.

However - surely you knew this was a tough career choice? Didn't you look at salaries etc when choosing your degree? I was unaware of the extra fees you mention but surely those were also explained to you at some point way in advance? You could of chosen a different career path.

Unfortunately lots and lots of people are struggling with bills and rising costs at the moment. Unlike many Jnr Doctors at least have the opportunity to raise in their careers to eventually be on a much higher salary. Not all careers have such potential. Imagine being on £14 ph (or less) in a regular office or supermarket job with little prospect of promotion?!

Yes you should absolutely get a pay rise - and decent one. But asking for 35% pay rise in my opinion is taking the p**s. I got a 3% payrise last year and have to live with that!

@Newchapterbeckons Because the rubbish that you are regurgitating is not true for current JDs.

So is going on holiday then. If you want to argue that not working is breaking their oath to do no harm then leaving the job also is.

Striking doctors = dead patients

Anyone supporting this should question the morals and principles of a profession who seem more than happy to use patients as cannon fodder.

Don’t be ridiculous people don’t go on holiday en masse!

I think most people who are in first jobs post degree would struggle to support having kids.
This is why many people delay having a family and have kids later in life once they've a more established career/earnings.
The average age of parents has increased considerably.

@Newchapterbeckons Not striking now= further degradation of medical services = ongoing increases in patient deaths.

For someone that is supposedly so bright she can become a doctor in the first place, she has made some questionable life choices.

True

Like i said, zero outrage over pre strike needless deaths.

The SNP resolved the strike, so why can't the Tories?

You are doing a great job of fast tracking the demise of the NHS by making it entirely unaffordable to have one!!!

@OlderandwiserMaybe Not, these things are not explained to 17 year olds going into medicine.

Also, for people who are JDs now, things looked very different back when when they were applying. The goalposts have been moved.

They have to sort out Brexit first our economy shrunk when we left so where is the money coming from to pay them. Councils are going bankrupt what do you expect to happen. We have made ourselves poorer.

The Scottish government didn’t meet a 35% increase!!! Are you always this limited in your thinking skills.

Govt that refuses to negotiate = dead patients.

Anyone supporting this should question the morals and principles of a Government who seem more than happy to use patients as cannon fodder.

Yes but this is their starting salary. I'd guess your salary won't go up much but junior doctors will go on to be senior doctors, then consultants raking in thousands doing private work and driving Jags. I've never known a consultant not to have a massive house, flash car and multiple holidays. The op needs to look at the longer term.

No one goes to med school at 17!

The problem is doctors could have done something else. They see less intelligent friends graduate and get city of London financial jobs starting on £75k. So early doors they compare themselves with the top paying jobs. The rest of the financial world start on similar graduate salaries to doctors. Of course doctors have life and death and the general public to deal with. Presumably they didn't fancy spending their working lives in boring high stress low social impact jobs.

A 15 year path to consultant seems fair enough and similar to my field. Once there the salary is amazing and the pension unheard of in the private sector.

Most people in high stress financial jobs leave having children to mid to late 30s. Then they struggle as childcare costs are extortionate. They also feel underpaid for the effort they put in.

I do think the cost of exams and professional fees and subscriptions should be paid for and a write off of some graduate debt fair but I get a bit fed up of the idea that doctors are unique in their struggle and so selfless. It's an interesting job with great prospects and pension. It's very clear from the outset that there are better paid alternatives in the middle career years. Law, finance and tech all offer better prospects to a high quality undergraduate but medical schools continue to be oversubscribed.

What if they all leave the job en masse?

@Newchapterbeckons I refuse to hold up the system on my own while all my colleagues head overseas or shift into other professions.

Well the health secretary needs to stop being stubborn and sit down and discuss that with them. Digging her heels in and refusing to negotiate seems very childish.

@Newchapterbeckons historically most partnership deeds had lawyers retiring from the partnership at 60. Appreciate its slightly different now, but we are pretty much put out to pasture post 60 (consultant etc). The pace of a city lawyer
life is not compatible with aging and my biggest concern right now is wherher I will have enough years left to maximise on the top of equity (i am mid 40's). And most lawyers have pretty healthy pension pots in my experience as its tax effecient to contribute to your pension.

This is true.
But most junior docs aren't in their first jobs.
"Junior doctors" aren't just newly qualified (F1, F2 doctors) - it applies to (almost) all non- consultants.
It takes - for most - at least a decade to become a consultant after graduating.
It takes many others longer.
Junior docs - especially women - are frequently in their mid 30s or older; junior docs are not - for the most part - newly qualified.

Maybe you need to share your income, outgoings, situation and career earning prospects before any of us can comment.

Agree with this point on the first page and see it hasn’t been answered.

This feels to me like a journalist seeking opinions on current affairs rather than a genuine OP