To wonder if the Doctors strike will still go ahead next week?

[Netcurtainnelly]

Does anyone know when it will be decided if the strike will be called off because of the flu next week?

What do you think about it?

interview letters only went out today for the first sitting of applications so hardly surprising people do not know.

If you go overseas you may not have a job to come back to and alot of jobs become available after the selection processes. The ignorance of applying for jobs on this forum is unbelievable

Of course pay matters — but what you’re describing is about basic dignity, retention, and sanity.

A junior doctor filling in notes on the floor because there isn’t a desk isn’t a “first world problem”, it’s a systems failure. Lockers, desks, safe storage, somewhere to sit — these are minimum standards in almost any professional workplace, yet somehow the NHS treats them like luxury add-ons.

The exam fees issue is another huge one that barely gets airtime. Most professions:
pay for exams
reimburse on passing
treat training as investment

In medicine, doctors are expected to personally fund mandatory exams that run into thousands — while already carrying eye-watering student loan debt and working antisocial hours. It’s not about prestige exams; it’s about being allowed to progress at all.

And the student loan interest point is spot on. We’ve created a perverse situation where:
doctors who stay in the NHS pay huge interest for decades
those who leave for Australia, NZ, or Canada often repay little or nothing. So loyalty is effectively punished. That’s not a recruitment problem — it’s a policy choice.

The training bottleneck is perhaps the most maddening part. The idea that we can have:
overflowing A&E departments
rota gaps everywhere
exhausted staff
and doctors reapplying for training posts with no guarantee of progression
…is genuinely absurd. You don’t tell pilots mid-flight they might not be allowed to finish training next year.

What your son is asking for isn’t unreasonable or greedy. It’s:
a functioning workplace
funded training
fair treatment for staying
and a system that doesn’t actively drive people away

If the NHS wants doctors to stay, it has to stop behaving like their commitment is infinite and cost-free.

This isn’t about strikes being “selfish.” It’s about whether we want a healthcare system staffed by people who are treated like professionals — or one that runs on guilt, burnout, and goodwill until it collapses.

And judging by the current state of A&E, we already know where the latter leads.

I’m at a point where I think anyone who gets a job outside the UK should go for it, take everything with them, and fully embrace the freedom.

Exam fees: Trainees in professions with paid exam expenses don't on average earn anywhere near as much. This is certainly true of accountancy and law, if you know of exceptions I would be interested to hear about them.

Student loans: Everyone else pays them. It is not as though anyone choosing to do a medical degree does so in the expectation that they won't have to.

"Trainee bottle neck": Let's face it, with only two thousand GP/consultant retirals per annum and ten thousand medical graduates (rising to fifteen in a few years) they should have seen that one coming too. Even so, the BMA misrepresents the shorter term situation for F2s, most of whom do not immediately apply for training posts but nonetheless are in training posts three years later.

"Overflowing" A/E departments: This is unrelated to trainee numbers, it is due to a shortage of beds and operating theatres.

Professionalism: The BMA had plenty of opportunities to get militant about loss of professionalism over the years but did not. Revalidation, Programmed Activities, mandatory training, cancellation of the SR grade, centralised OP bookings, and no doubt other things that don't immediately come to mind, all contributed to a loss of autonomy, efficiency, and standing of hospital consultants. Juniors put up with much worse in the past than they have to now but they could see that it would be worth it if they persisted. But they were also on the whole better educated, harder working, and less entitled, which probably helped; they certainly did not refer to themselves as "expert clinicians".

support reduction in the loan interest rate for all students not just med students

Sorry - there are not enough desks for everyone to have their own personal desk space and when you a re in theatres, cinic, ED then the desk would be redundant a big percentage of that time - so desk sharing makes sense. Can not persoanlly say I ahve seen a resident ont heir hands and knees filing in the notes unless theyd ropped them - lot of places have gone digital

Exam fees - sorry why does the govt / tax payer have to reimburse you - thye are tax deductible

Totally get the locker situation but doctors are not unique in the nhs - there is a shortage of lockers for all staff and it is a disgrace

Guaranteed a relatively well paid job for life from the age of 17 - er no, nurses dont, physios dont no one does so whay are doctors so different. No competition, tick the boxes and you get it - that breeds arrogance and complacencysomehting some of residents ahve an abundance of at the moment when they speal of other AHPS and staff

Deleted as I can't get the picture to share.

Horrible to see the unpleasant posts about resident doctors. Their pay went from £14 to £18 an hour. A cleaner where I live is at least £20 an hour...not looking down on cleaners before another strange post surfaces. Just saying...

I always thought cleaners only made NMW??

Not where I live minimum £20 an hour in private homes.

A lot are self employed so need earn extra to cover the expenses of that.

Who is better off financially at the end of the day?

Most cleaners don't have a medical degree and £100k of student debt accruing 8% interest to pay back.

But I think the earning potential overtime probably makes the doctor better off?

Question for accountants/lawyers/actuaries etc - how many exam resits are typically permitted?

The anti resident doctor vibe is a result of their unrelaistic demands and the arrogant entitled attiude of some to their colleagues in the NHS.
The anti PA, management, older consultants, nurses,physios, nurse practitioner, international medical graduates rhetoric whihc has been spewing outof the BMA and their spokespersons mouths is repulsivea nd has turend alot of people against them.

They quote working conditions of the 1990s and 2000s of 80-120hr weeks, 2\3 days weekends, no access to food,no study leave, no protected teaching time and exams with a passrate of 20% into their current day working life and nothing could be further from the truth. If you were a consultant who lived and worked through the shit of the 19802, 90s and 2000s for a lot less pay then listening to resident doctors who have no clue what a 24 hr on call is, have protected time, study leave do an average of 40-44 hrs per week - but claim to be exhausted and cliam neurodiversity if they fail a professional exam then you may be a little cynical

F1s earn on average £43,000 and cleaners earn £23,000.

But the BMA and their pawns are strangers to reality.

Self employed cleaners earn far more than £23k a year. They need to stop working for tight fisted clients.

Oh wowza. Yeah of course the doctor is better off

What annoys me is that they assume we’re so thick that we’ll believe them

That is comedy gold. Not every one that wants to be a doctor can be one.

Well, this may be true but overwhelmingly because of poor educational or life opportunities. These resident doctors are overwhelmingly from cossetted middle class backgrounds;

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/feb/27/only-5-of-uk-medical-school-entrants-are-working-class-data-shows

And this is a powerful factor in the public having lost all sympathy for them. They're now seen as greedy and entitled snowflakes on the whole. The public perception of nurses and paramedics is in stark contrast to that. The comment above about reality is absolutely spot on.

So much ignorance on this thread . The NHS is in an utter ( deliberately politically orchestrated ) mess following legislation like the 2012 H&SC act .
The public have never paid proper attention to what doctors have been telling them is going on for years & I personally don’t blame them if they no longer care if you think they’re ’disgusting’ .
An example : One medical school in this country accepted 80 undergraduate in 2018 .
Only 5 are still working in the hospital system . A further 5 are GPs .
The rest have left Medicine and / or the country .
I worked in the NHS for years . Wouldn’t dream of doing so now .

This .

It certainly isn’t based in reality.

medicine has always been a difficult and under appreciated job

the whole mess needs looking at again
reward loyalty , improve training and support but make it clear at interview what the reality is -

Unfortunately they have been sold a dream but the reality is pretty horrible - the money isn’t going to fix this for most

also there is a myth being a doctor makes you rich - it doesn’t so if you want to live the life of your wealthy parents and friends - that’s not going to happen - I think this is one of the biggest causes of dissatisfaction - we need a broader demographic of recruits

Doctors career average salary is still the highest in the public sector. If doctors want a job that is higher paid they shouldn’t have taken that career option, but if you are whining that being a doctor hasn’t made you ‘rich’ I think you need to readjust your expectations.

Housing takes up a lot more of a young persons income than it ever did before. Are there any people under say 35 who feel ‘rich’ regardless of what they earn? If a doctor doesn’t feel rich, no one does.