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

@TwoUnderTwitTwoo is your DH’s business still in a medical field or something completely different?

Agree. Brits hate doctors because we hate to see people making something of themselves and would rather spend our days fighting like crabs in a bucket than go out there and have to do the hard work to make our lives better.

Glad that the business has been such a success. The NHS is a waste of your husband’s talent.

I agree but it is the only way to get the government to listen. No doctor wants to do this to their patients, just like no nurse did, train driver did, or teacher did but striking was the only option left open.

I think that what people fail to understand about these strikes is that it’s not for a pay rise, it’s just for restoration of pay to 2008 levels? It’s not even about the pensions - that ship sailed long ago. The UK is haemorrhaging doctors (either leaving for other careers or going abroad) because the pay and the conditions here are so so bad now. A few days of strikes are an absolute last resort to try to stop the brain drain which has is contributing to how totally run down the NHS is and why the waiting times are so long to see a GP or hospital specialist.

Has no one here heard the boiled frog analogy?

What's your current salary?

I ask because while starting salary is low it fairly quickly increases so if you've been a junior doctor for a while you're not on entry level.

If you'd like an opinion on whether you should be pain more, what are you paid and for how long qualified?

Taking mat leave does not mean you don’t go up the pay scale. Also, surely your student loan is low as 20 years ago course fees were far lower than now. We can only compare salaries if we use the full time equivalent gross salaries. My net salary is about £10k per year, but my FTE gross is £41k.

Also I'm pro the strikes, very very much so, however there's. A difference in thinking the role should be better compensated and thinking you can't support a family on a salary.

it depends very much on your expectations of what your family need so if you want to privately educate 3 kids then no on a new junior drs salary not ideal.

If you want to be able to feed 1 child, clothr and afford the odd luxury like anyone else then yes, you should be able to afford that on a full time straight from uni salary.

This just isn’t true. Brit’s clap for the NHS and doctors are high status.

What most people don’t like is that Doctors are deliberately striking at the worst time of the year for health service. It’s so disruptive and hurts the poorest and most vulnerable the hardest.

Student loads are deducted from your salary. On m6 your salary is still £41,333.

Totally unrelated…!! It is, however, closely related to a broad interest that he’s had since he was a boy and a bit niche to the part of the country we’re in.

if the business didn’t work (or doesn’t work any more) then he still has plans C, D, E etc… he was working on a masters programme at one stage to try to make a sideways step into a healthcare-related industry, but I think he’d struggle to work like a young graduate now. 🤞

@Soontobe60 It "holds" you on M6 in essence. My student loan is still silly as had take the full amount, even back then.

Claps don’t pay the bills and put food on the table.

Make no mistake, it’s the government that’s put us in this situation, not doctors.

It's junior doctors striking, consultants often pick up the slack. So don't assume all operations or relevant services will be cancelled.

The NHS will continue to lose doctors if they are not paid what they are worth and given good working conditions. They will take their training and skills and will piss off abroad or to the private sector.

Then 'ordinary citizens' (which includes doctors, nurses, I might add) will have even longer to wait for operations.If doctors and nurses continue leave for the private sector or abroad, the NHS will fail and the British public will no longer get mostly free treatment.

Depends on your salary. My friend is a junior doctor and he’s on track to make almost £100k in this financial year.

@C0untDucku1a Where are you getting these figures from?

Nurse and midwife here. Just wanted to
post to say I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this. Do you think things will get better down the line? Or have you looked at any other options just to give you some breathing space? Full solidarity with the strikes 💪🏻

What hurts the poorest and most vulnerable the hardest is already happening and will only continue to get worse if doctors pay and conditions are not improved. The NHS is unable to retain talent because of how it treats its doctors and that is painfully obvious where I am, maybe less so to you if you are in London. If you are wealthy then it won’t matter that the volume of doctors in the NHS is so low, because you can pay to go private.

Going up the pay scale year on year isn’t automatically given anymore as far as I remember (?)

Are you a journo?

@CliffsofMohair You are absolutely correct.

Oh don't be such a dick

@HK3444 this thread has been derailed by talk of junior doctor strikes, but you’re not the only one. People here have been quite cruel without understanding your circumstances, where you are geographically, family support, family background etc. YANBU. I hope things improve for you.

OP, I'm so very sorry you are in this position.
I think it's terrible how much time Dr's spend studying, the additional fees you need to pick up to practice, and the responsibility that you take on, for £14ph.
It needs to change.
Please forgive me if this is a stupid thought, how long until you can take on work out of hours for places like 111? They pay better. Can you switch how you're working to get more money for your hard earned degree?

It isn't fair, and I doubt any of the people who are saying you're paid above average would shoulder the responsibility or have studied for 6 years to be paid, and treated the way you are by the NHS.

It's quite normal to start off on a lower salary and to earn more as you get more experience. This is true for most professions.

Brits hate doctors because we hate to see people making something of themselves and would rather spend our days fighting like crabs in a bucket than go out there and have to do the hard work to make our lives better.

I don't agree, I think Brits "hate" doctors because they and the NHS are so stretched that we can no longer see a doctor in a timely manner, expect them to listen to us, order tests or provide treatment quickly or with care. GPs work ridiculous hours and the endless posts about A&E waiting times and hospitals cocking things up tell us that the NHS is on its knees (which means doctors and nurses are on their knees). I have been on hospital wards where nurses just literally don't have time to care. The junior doctor strikes over pay and (mostly) working conditions remind me that my life would absolutely not be better if I was a doctor. In fact, until I realised that OP must have started training 7+ years ago when things were different, I wondered why on earth they'd done this to themself