Junior doctor crisis, please read

[Jeepers]

Please have a look at this,

OT, my brother said they were planning to take about £250,000 away from his pension fund; never sure how much he exagerrates but obviously there is a pension issue too. I think instead of giving a pension based on your final salary it would be based over whole career which is ludicrous if you start on a pittance and only eventually and much slower in medicine than say law, you end up earning a reasonable amount. As a tax payer who has never worked in the public sector I suppose I should be in favour of good reforms but these don't seem well worked out. Given our father worked full time as a doctor to age 77 and will be lucky if he draws his pensions for 3 years in his current state of health I'm not sure why all this setting store on pensions actually was worth what he made of it.

I think changing the pension structure in the NHS is long term a very poor decision. As a young HP at the beginning of my career there is now very little incentive to work for the NHS. I might as well go and earn twice as much as a locum for 20 years contracted back to the NHS and then come back (if I feel like it) and get a final salary pension as well as a private one. Or finish up woring in education, or research - which the last 2 years have taught me is very nice. I've had my own desk, computer and amount of work that is actually achievable and earned about a 3rd more than I would have in the health service.

I can see older NHS staying as it's all they've known, but as the newer staff come through the NHS is going to have to learn about retention as well as recruitment.

(elloDave - agree, that is the single wors part of the job, telling people 'I'm sorry, bathing just isn't a priority' - well that and 'I'm sorry but we can't afford to install a closomat for you, do yout think your husband could wipe your bum?' grr )

I will be interested to see what my brother does. I have been puzzled by his rejection of most private work which is very well paid but that might be because of implicatons for his NHS salary. In the 1970s my father I think gave up part of his NHS salary for doing some private work. It was when he first started doing that and I was 10 we got the first holiday of our lives!

Yes , I think keeping a private practice going is a good thing, and means you are versatile depending on what ends up happening
Is he idealistically opposed to it ? some NHS docs are

"By moving out of London my brother has moved from the people in the SE who can afford to pay private doctors"

I'm not sure about this.

I'm in Notts/Derbys. Last time we had a private follow-up consultation with a consultant the waiting room was more packed than the NHS outpatient clinic ever is, the appointment lasted 10-15 mins - same as NHS - but cost £120 and the consultant was running late. That was to see a paed cons. We have moved back to the NHS.

Two years before, I had a couple of appts for myself. Both of those times, appts ran late, waiting room was packed etc. Car parking was hideous.

If you need in-patient care though - as my dad did once - the rooms are lovely and the dining area is great too!

There is demand for private care outside of London. We used BUPA as children in the NE. But I think it's less. I assumed but I may be wrong it would be harder to be 100% private as a consultant outside of London. It may simply be that financially at this point it's better he mostly does NHS work.

But there will inevitably be a larger number of people with private health cover in SE than say Devon for example.

I definately think you are wrong Xenia. the big hospitals in London often clean up on private practice whereas outside people demand more private care.

As for the NHS pension it is wrong to tamper with it as it is an incentive (one of very few now) to stay within the service.

AHPs should enable patients to understand their role by the way it is not up to patients to find out. If patients dont know what an AHP does I think AHPs need to up their own profile and this has sadly always been the case. I know as I ran major National programmes for AHPs and nurses.

What is AHP???

Allied Health Professional includes Occupational Therapists, Physios, Speech Therapists and loads of others.

I work in community OT and luckily in our area bathing is still a priority!!! they might have to wait 12-18 months for a flat floor shower but they do get it eventually....

I wait for the day our council says strip washing is fine as i am sure that day will come as most other areas seem to have this criteria,

the problem is wew are the face they see who has to break the councils news.

And every day i am gratefull to have a job in the nhs with the many reduncies around,

i long to train as a midwife but the number of stories i hear about not many jobs scares me

yes, agree gf, ahps do need to improve their media savvy,