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

Junior doctors pay tax too.

Dh and I have commented before that we pay our own salaries. Pisses me off when people pull the "I pay your wages" crap. So do I!

@Teateaandmoretea 6th largest GDP in the world. That makes us quite a rich country. we need to stop wasting money in the wrong places

The ‘care’ we received in hospital was so poor, I think I would rather take my chances or die than endure it again. All of the medics I know have private healthcare.

The nhs is not fit for purpose. It’s been exploited for years worldwide. I remember when people used to fly in for free hip replacements and other costly operations. It can’t serve the needs of 70 million people cradle to grave. It’s mathematically an impossible feat with an ageing population.

Idiocy is indeed the word although on the other hand could be quite clever use of dog whistle tactics that work very well on large swathes of the voting population: "NHS is not fit for purpose", "foreigners flying in for free hip replacements and other costly operations"...

FWIW I've always received excellent care from the NHS, but maybe it's because I'm a foreigner!!! 😱

To pay for conservative mis management. It's the cumulative effect of 13 years with the last few being revolving door ministers who (use Johnson's terminology) spaffed it up the wall.

Last time I worked it out, Johnson alone cost the country several billion. Add in Truss etc...currently your tax is mostly paying off interest on government borrowing. The interest has increased as confidence in our government decreased at an international level.

coffeeaddict77
Labour have said that they will negotiate

Why don't Labour hurry up and negotiate with junior doctors in Wales? There's a three day strike planned later this month;

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-67867428

jasflowers
look what happened in Scotland

This?
19 December 2023
New income tax band in Scotland will hit everyone earning over £75,000

Scottish income tax bands...
Higher (42%): £43,663 - £75,000
Advanced (45%): £75,001 - £125,140 ...

https://news.sky.com/story/new-income-tax-band-in-scotland-will-hit-everyone-earning-over-75-000-13034074

Is your expectation that Labour will resolve NHS dealing with aging population issue just by coming into power, or do you think they might need to do something - if so, what?

I hope you have no need to ever go see a JD again as you view them as part of a “terrorist union”

for that matter, hopefully you never need to see a senior dr who was once part of this cohort.

how very short sighted of you.

It’s a silly argument, the ‘private healthcare’ one. All UK-trained private consultants have trained and worked in the NHS first for several years. So decimating the junior doctor population will of course eventually affect how many private consultants are available here. We will see that effect within the next decade, when private care becomes harder and harder to access.

Or private healthcare will be staffed by a significant number of foreign consultants trained abroad.

You don’t need to be a genius to see this is where we are headed when the consultants of tomorrow are heading abroad or to drug companies.

I don’t think the people maligning junior doctors realise what the outcome of this could be. Just like with teaching staff.

Death and pain, human fodder?!

Have a word with yourself.

The Government is the problem here, not the doctors and nurses- the pay needs to be higher and the conditions should be better. If nothing changes then people simply will not sign up to this career full stop!

Is this really true? That a single person living in London cannot feed themselves on 55K?

Are you saying people won’t die? Because you are mistaken.

And what about the tens of thousands left in pain because their operations have been cancelled again?

You should have a word with yourself!

This militant strike action IS causing unnecessary deaths.

I would rather people earning over 75,000 pay more tax than not have any doctors.

Like most people, I support the junior doctors.

"However a lot of nurses and paramedics are now diagnosing and treating patients and making similar decisions to yourself"

That's just not true in terms of my current job. Nurses and paramedics have their own skills and I'm really not someone who sees Drs as all powerful but no, it's completely different.

And when a patient is referred to me from A&E they have often been seen by another very junior doctor there. Yes, it's alarming but we do have an enormous amount of responsibility - particularly for the pay

Everything @ParisParody says is so true. It is shocking how many are too stupid and/or indoctrinated to see what is really happening here. So many newly qualified doctors leaving in droves and who can blame them. What the idiots don't realise is that doctors are clever, highly educated and sought after in other roles in society and treated better abroad. They don't HAVE to stay here and put up with this rubbish and many won't.

Most people don’t support them though.

Blackmailing the British public isn’t the answer.

So what is the answer?

@Mummyford I agree. I have medic DC. My DH and I worked hard in City law and management consultancy (for much higher pay) but never as hard as they consistently do and never ever with such high stakes. I am so proud of their mettle but also wish they had chosen a much easier path. Ungrateful Idiots like the ones on here infuriate me. Far too stupid to even understand the issues.

Intelligent people do support them though as the alternative is no more doctors in the UK. They don't have to suck it up and can get jobs elsewhere.

If you think they are so useless and shouldn't be paid a decent salary why would there be so much pain and deaths from them not working for a few days?How much pain and suffering do you think there will be if they all leave their jobs and there are no more doctors in the UK.

Do some locum work? Pay is brilliant.

That's not the question I asked you - when are Labour going to negotiate with junior doctors in Wales? You said Labour would negotiate - there's a three day strike planned for 15th Jan.

I would rather people earning over 75,000 pay more tax than not have any doctors.

Not just people earning over £75,000:

Scottish income tax bands...
Higher (42%): £43,663 - £75,000
Advanced (45%): £75,001 - £125,140 ...

Your sympathy or lack thereof is of little to no relevance sadly. You're not a junior doctor yourself and I'll bet you don't know any exceptionally well. The doctors are telling you what they're experiencing and are leaving in their droves making an unsafe system that we will all have to access at some point or other. Don't think your opinion (which unfortunately isn't based on anything at all) is more relevant than those who are living the harsh reality of being a doctor on a daily basis.

The thing people don't realise is the expenses. Some of the really expensive items weren't tax deduct able either.

I paid over £7000 in exams and courses one year, which because of my salary I actually had to earn about £12k to pay for.....