Resident doctors synicsl strike again

[uneffingbelievable]

The resident doctors have once again announced a 6 day strike to co incide with a bank holiday weekend.

Whilst I support fair pay and working conditions I have lost all sympathy with them. This is not poverty when you are being paid as a whole package 40-95000 gross on a 44 hr week depending on your seniority.

The arguments about lack of jobs did not stack up with more jobs going to home graduates than IMGS despite the hysteria and a huge number of home graduates not even bothering to apply.

They are coming across as tone deaf and entitled or am I missing something.

NHS Staff Earnings Estimates shows what people have really been paid (in the first set of tables). I guess porters are unspecified in the hotel property and estates group. If anyone wants to play the "who would you rather have look after you in a life and death situation" card, look at F1s vs midwives.

digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-staff-earnings-estimates/august-2025

And LEO data indicates how well a medical degree compared with other degrees before doctors' pay rises.

https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/fast-track/7b7ffc28-f161-410b-fff2-08ddaa5c7a14

With competition ratios of 80-140:1 for graduate jobs in general, it is unsurprising that pupils with indifferent academic results often develop a fleeting "passion for medicine".

@mumsneedwine Doctors do make pension contributions but for a much shorter period than, say, many self employed people who get 0 contribution from the state. This is many SME owners. Doctors get around 28% from the state. It’s outrageous really that those who employ millions of people get nothing. The suggested input for them is 20% of earnings. If you don’t make a loss of course!

If you own a company that is doing well enough to employ lots of people you are very likely earning enough for that company to pay into a pension scheme.
Doctors can only work for the NHS so that's their employer - yes it's more generous than most, but what has a pension that they can't take until late 60s got to do with their pay when they are 23 ?
No one has offered to reduce pension contributions and give more take home pay. Why ? Because the current doctors are paying for the huge pensions if the old consultants - the pension used to be amazing, but less so for current doctors in their 20s.
Wes should offer reduced pension contributions as younger doctors would love it - they just want more money in their pockets now. To fund extortionate GMC, exam and royal college mandatory fees. Oh and indemnity.

Doctors do not get enhanced pay on bank holidays. Agenda for Change staff do.

Good to see the usual UK doctor haters turn up as soon as I post 😂. I shall expect the usual patronising, derogatory remarks very soon.

No one has ever said it's a bad career. But they are badly treated and the pay is 28% lower than 10 years ago, using the data that the government use to fix student finance loan rate.

PS isn't UKGrad prioritisation an awesome development ! Well done Wes on that.

(pokes bear with large stick)

’Doctors can only work for the NHS’ ???

News to my surgeon. I was in too much pain to wait for an NHS opening. Luckily most of the excellent surgeons at my local NHS hospital also work privately.

How can we trust anything you present as fact, unless you provide a source?

Main thing would be to get rid of the NHS monopsony on doctors.

They have to work for the NHS for a bit, then they can go private.

Thanks. A rather different statement.

Not many other 23 year olds have the responsibility of being the first port of call for dozens of very sick people in the middle of the night.

"A bit" doesn't need to be very long. Private hospitals need junior doctors too.

Doctors also pursue countless occupations outside the NHS at all points post qualification in the pharmaceutical industry, occupational health, biotech, forensic medicine etc.

To say that doctors only have one potential employer, the NHS, as stated earlier, is very silly.

The first port of call is usually a nurse.

Being a RMO in a private hospital is a mug's game. No training, no career progression.

The statement made by mumsneedwine was all encompassing, made in reference to pensions. It was not specific to RMOs.

Ok …… first port of call when a doctor is needed

Nonetheless, it puts food on the table if you are doing a postgraduate degree.

This splitting of hairs is silly and isn’t going to make any converts.

The ‘doctors as heroes’ brigade could consider the military. If saving lives is heroic, what about risking and quite possibly losing your life on the basis of policies enacted by your democratically elected leaders?

Resident doctor salaries compare well to military salaries, including combat pay. The military pay uplift for 24/7 duty appears to be just under 15%.

Entry into the SAS, from the regular Army only, is vastly more competitive than entry to medicine, the training can literally be lethal, the pay lags resident doctor pay, the working conditions are infinitely worse, and I think members if the SAS would find the kind of talk around resident doctors’ specialness and salary toe curling. The same is true of regular military.

Focus on the legitimate issues if you want the public on your side.

mums and purple - what are you two on.

Yes alot of FY1 jobs do not have an on call element - why? because the F1s were saying they found it too stressful and did not want to do it. so some areas stopped it in response to their feedback. Some jobs - public health do not require an out of hours element - are you advocating we pay them for work not done aswell. They wanted the more diverse jobs instead of the tradiational medicine and surgery six months - and those jobs do not always ahve unsoocial horus. You can not whinge for change and when you get the change you wanted then whinge about the change means you get paid less.

Deaneries do not pull jobs because the hospital teach trust doctors aswell as trainees. I have never seen a consultant send a trust doctor away and say I need ott each the trainee first because they are in a deanery post - utter utter bollocks and please provide evidence

Yes the CESR route is much harder than having a numbered post - which is why I admire the tencity of those that do it

Very few FY1s and 2s do 70 hour weeks every week of their rota - i think you will find that when they do a week of nights 1 week in 8 or 10 or 12 then they do but the rest are nearer to 40 hr week mark. They would not get through the GWS process.

Bit like ladybird not getting that US residents got paid roughly the same as UK resident but for doing double the average hours which meant the US residents were actually on a crap deal.

Once again too many people believing the absolute rubbish that is being touted as justification for threatening death on the British public

They have to be consultants so a "bit" is more like 10 years +

What are you trying to suggest? Please explain. Very juvenile expression.

There really are some posters with very unpleasant views. Envy is an ugly emotion.

Resident doctors declined the Agenda for Change.

If anyone is worried that for 8 or 9 statutory Bank Holidays some porters may make similar money to F1s, because of choices made by the BMA, I am speechless.

I presume the statement I quoted was an attempt to rally the troops and possibly an attempt to gather sympathy. It may work on the first count. I would love to place a bet on the second.

Who is envious of whom?

When @mumsneedwine misidentified me as a medical doctor I corrected her quickly because in my world that is not a compliment.

What am I suggesting that some posters beleive everything that is said about peoples jobs and tsaking some things with a pinch of salt might be a good idea.

Yes medicine is a hard career to undertake and sometimes things are bad but resident doctors are not being flayed alive and worked to the bone every day of the week. Like all jobs there are good days and bad days.

In 1998 100-120hours per week every week was the norm, in 2008, 70hrs per week for 3/4 weeks was more normal, now it is the odd week not every week.

Why pick 2008 - why not go back further and why choose an index which no one else does- oh yes because the other index shows about a 5% discrepancy!