To think the junior / resident doctors are greedy, selfish, entitled & lazy?

[SpottyAlpaca]

So the resident doctors are out on strike. Yet again. Patients are being inconvenienced & treatments delayed. Yet again.

They have received a pay rise of 28.9% over that last 3 years, which is by far the highest increase of any group in the public sector. Very few people in the private sector, who ultimately pay the doctors’ salaries, have received anything like as much. Very few of their patients will ever earn as much as a resident doctor. Yet still it’s not enough and they are demanding even more.

Doctors do an important job and deserve to be paid properly for it. But the BMA’s current approach is completely unreasonable and deluded. They talk about “pay restoration’ to 2008 levels but that’s completely unrealistic. The country is poorer now & simply can’t afford it. AIBU to think they should get back to work?

This is something that that needs fixing but demanding even more money after a pay rise isn’t going to sort that, it will make it worse!

Of course they will earn more than most of their patients, it is unlikely that most of their patients will have spent 5 years studying and taken up loans of potentially £80k to earn their wage. The job isn’t of less value just because our government are not particularly good at making appropriate use of the money we give them.

That's no different to many others student debt though. My DS has at least£60k over a 3year course

If your DS borrowed 60K for a three-year degree, they must have qualified for a full maintenance loan due to parental income level. The equivalent for a medic in the same position would be 100k debt for a five year course. Further, medics have increased restrictions on their ability to do part-time jobs while they are studying due to longer terms and placements etc. So yes, it is different.

Once ai has advanced enough to be truly intelligent, as opposed to the internet hoover it currently is, doctors won't be needed. There'll still have to be skilled practitioners to perform the physical tasks like surgery, chest drains, endoscopies, anaesthetics etc., but the bog standard GP and resident doctor will become obsolete. Paramedics and ANPs can carry out what's recommended. Perhaps Consultants to oversee particularly complex cases. Most doctors are poor at diagnosis now anyway, instead relying on diagnostic imaging, blood tests etc. to reveal what the problem is rather than properly examining patients.

Teachers spend 4 years training for a whole lot less salary.

I think this is true. Due to the shit show of online booking and crappy telephone appointments it’s getting close to self diagnosing over the internet being more useful than gp appointments. It’s quicker and you can start treating before a gp lowers himself to see you. Then you can just deal with pharmacists if you need meds that AI directs you to.

As has been said, so what? Millions of people have almost a six figure sum in student debt. THEY are not demanding a ludicrous and farcical pay rise of almost 30% though!

Yes of course. So it's actually no different. 20k per year for however long your course is.

Psychiatry for a start is money for old rope. They do little more than pull up and prescribe names of potential medication that anybody could pull up off the internet themselves.

If it’s that easy, why aren’t you a doctor?

😂😂😂😂 it’s hilarious

Don’t have a private education.

Pay doesn't affect how busy they are. I don't believe anyone strikes to get the day off. I support them.

They're paid less in real terms now than they were in 2008. Are they worth less now? You'd think with an aging and incredibly unhealthy population medical professionals importance would've gone up.

But as I say, it's about priorities and our government (and much of the population it seems) would rather our taxes go to subsidising big businesses and the wealthy.

Most doctors haven't had a private education

Is that just doctors or many other people also?

It is very different because it adds up to a lot more.

I'd have a lot more sympathy for the doctors if their trade union the BMA wasn't offering it's staff a maximum pay rise of 2.75% and they're having to go on strike to try an get a better offer.

Fully support them - it's not a race to the bottom, and too bad for all the people here who think they should shut up and just put up with increasingly degraded and demanding work conditions with ever-diminishing pay.

We are talking about specialists who undertake very long training and take on huge debt with a huge level of responsibility - they have leverage and are right to use it.

They have not read the Room this time. Not much support from the General public or other Health Care Professionals who are in the same situation. They need to choose their battles and now is completely the wrong time.

And to all those who say 'let them be replaced by AI and good riddance because they are crap at diagnosis', I hope you enjoy your empathy-free and just as error-prone AI medical care when it comes. Be careful what you wish for...

I support the junior doctors. Also, OP, people in the public sector also pay tax and therefore contribute to their own wages.

Some doctors are more diligent than others, I suppose.

The BMA has been taken over by militant zealots who seem to want a return to the days when junior doctors were given free accommodation and treated more like gods, without any of the negatives involved in that.

They hate the fact Allied Health Professionals exist, missing the days when nurses knew their place. Meanwhile, cultures have changed permanently and people can see the BMA propaganda for what it is.