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

@Newchapterbeckons they've lost your support. Not all public support.

Stop spouting nonsense you have no facts to back up.

That’s because they are working class in the main, and not affluent middle class doctors thar can afford to strike indefinitely.

Tbf they seem to have lost a hell of a lot of support with this extended Christmas break. 🙄 MN is usually pretty left leaning and I’m quite surprised by this thread.

I agree that the BMA is comically mismanaging the strike action.

You would struggle to find anyone anywhere that supports a six day strike!

If you stepped outside of your union echo chamber for a second you would soon see that.

This exactly. Care worker here - don't see any allied health staff campaigning with or for us. Are we less essential than junior doctors on half the wage? No. Didn't think so. Junior doctors would rather see their patients go to h*ll than wait it out, it's disgusting.

AI will be snatching many doctor jobs away anyway in a few years - computers make more accurate diagnosis than doctors!

We don't have enough doctors.
We are short of about 12,000 hospital doctors.
The ones we do have are being aggressively recruited by overseas as this article sets out.

www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2023/05/25/commentary/world-commentary/u-k-doctor-shortage/

If we didn't have shortages then maybe the ones we have now would enjoy better working practices - which would of course make retaining the staff we do have easier.

As it is we want them to enjoy their pay erosion, work in stressful under resourced (in terms of staffing) environments with outdated IT & infrastructure and pretend they wouldn't be better off in Australia or Canada.

As for the union having blood on their hands - why not extend that to the Government who seem quite happy to see 121,000 vacancies in secondary care?

If anyone is tone deaf it's you!

Why should the OP post their salary? I've become very conscious that posting absolutely anything here can result in a pile-on, with people often searching through the poster's previous posts to add fuel to their attacks etc.

I thought it was common knowledge that junior doctors are extremely overworked and underpaid for the level of responsibility, working hours etc they have! Did you see This Is Going to Hurt?

I've already told you I'm not a doctor nor do I work in any public sector. If you were paying attention to what anyone else was saying and not just your own angry agenda you'd probably not sound quite so daft.

This shit show will be passed over to Labour in the next few months, they will have exactly the same position then what?

Climbdown?
Continue killing people?

What exactly is the endgame here?

Yes carers are the forgotten ones in this country mostly on minimum wage and we are the 1st point of contact if somebody becomes ill.

If I could award anyone a 35% pay rise it would be to care workers. Totally overlooked.

Reading this thread I realise why the Tories and Reform enjoy such support despite overwhelming evidence of incompetence, racism, sexism, classism, cronyism, lies, etc etc etc. People seem to get most of their 'information' and opinions from the the Daily Mail, GB News and various internet rabbit holes.

FYI the unions are there to protect workers' rights and without them we wouldn't enjoy most of the rights we now take for granted. 6-day working week, anyone?

I don't think you are seen as as essential no. If you went on strike they could probably cover your work with other professions. The main issue would be cost. A junior doctor and probably a lot of other people could do your job. You couldn't do a junior doctor job without a lot of training which means that the job can't just be covered if they all strike or just resign.

@FFSNHS And why do you think this is happening? Because doctors are overworked and under resourced, so just can't work to the standards that they want to. The only way to survive the NHS is to get patients through fast - too fast.

None of this changes the basic issue any party will face on numbers

@MumAlwaysWorries 5 years or less? In which fantasy world?

What are you talking about? Labour do not support the pay demand either. Do Reform even have a policy position on this?!

What is the end game when Labour refuse to play ball in the summer? What happens then?

And the OP talking about their struggles as a junior doctor doesn't mean other professions are not underpaid and -valued. Carers should absolutely be paid and valued more but that doesn't mean junior doctors should continue to be underpaid and their right to strike questioned. That criticism should be directed to where it belongs.

I don't think you are seen as as essential no. If you went on strike they could probably cover your work with other professions

Of course care workers are essential. And what other people would do their work if they went on strike?

Ok so two of the biggest costs need more. 35% for one, however much more for the other

In a decade those needs will be far higher for both healthcare and care workers

So where does the pay restoration and massive increase in staff come from?

The unions have totally screwed up.

They have gone in too high and too hard, this six day strike has been decided out of desperation - clicking the trigger as the body bags mount.

Doctors literally standing by watching a slow motion car crash with no ejection button and no end game in sight.

The problem is that care work is seen as unskilled and paid a pittance. My 19y old could pitch up, get ‘trained’ and start with in a week.

Unless we see care work as the specialised and skilled profession it needs to be, and pay care staff accordingly, the future looks bleak for us and our ageing population.

The Labour party have said they will negotiate which is more than the Tories are doing. Junior doctors were much better paid under the last Labour Government, before the Tories trashed the NHS.

No one wants to comment on the end game. Interesting.

Nope. Labour have categorically ruled out negotiating this pay demand or any other at 35%.