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(The following item was written by just
one of many, many hundreds of equally depressed junior doctors, many of
whom, including this one, will not only be leaving the NHS abut also
leaving medicine, this year. The sheer incompetence and arrogance
of the Secretary of State for Health, the Chief Medical Officer and the
Prime MInister for presiding over this utter stupidity is virtually
criminal. It is, of course, typical of the Blair/Brown
newLabour governments, their attitude and their competence. The
only losers, apart from the vanishing British doctor, will be the
patient Not that that troubles this
government. When will the country be able to give a huge
sigh of relief as they disappear into history? I leave you to read
on - David Roberts [Ed])
I and I'm sure many of my fellow doctors
will be leaving the NHS this year. I myself am leaving medicine all
together.
When I started my medical degree I was naive in the extreme with a
romantic notion of doctoring that in my experience most medical students
still have. I was going to help people, be respected by my friends and
patients for what I did for a living, enjoy job security and be
adequately rewarded for what I did. I have been a doctor now for 3 and a
half years and all my idealism has been crushed out of me. The respect
of my friends is still there, as for patients- most seem to respect the
internet or the tabloids more than us. Job security seems absent
although I still feel predictions of mass unemployment are unlikely to
materialise. I've certainly never felt under-paid but then with EWTD and
the political agenda seemingly very anti doctor at the moment who knows
what the future will hold. Over supply of doctors and centralisation and
privitisation of services will I'm sure lead to lower salaries.
The last year was tough for most junior doctors not to mention their
families. My wife has a good career in a major town and so I applied to
there and the 3 closest "UOAs" (a geographical region covering
most of the South East of England). I was a strong candidate according
to my supervisors and colleagues but didn't get shortlisted anywhere.
The feeling of rejection was hard to take and impacted on my work- as
much as some might have "tried tried and tried again" I became
rather apathetic and negative about the future. Even when I secured an
FTSTA (hrough the guaranteed interview we all received) my prospects
still seemed gloomy. Surgery has always been competitive but seeing only
8 ST3 posts for the whole country this summer does not inspire optimism.
Even post specialist training many will struggle to get consultant posts
and in the NuLabour "consultant led service" will they still
be working nights well into their 50s and even beyond? So not only were
my prospects bleak but the light at the end of the tunnel is ever
fading.
I started looking outside of medicine and I have been offered a
wonderful opportunity with a top consulting firm. The interviews were
tough but fair and extremely thorough. The job offer was made on the
same day as my final interview and I had very little hesitation in
accepting. The financial package is better than my current one but more
importantly they see their employees as an investment for the future-
THEY pay for my training! The HR manager who has been dealing with me
tells me that she loves dealing with former doctors as we are always so
grateful that in the private sector our training is paid for by the
company. I will have regular appraisals and if I perform well I will be
promoted as I deserve- meritocracy so lacking in many parts of the NHS.
Yes I'm sad to be leaving some great colleagues and a job that has both
tremendous highs (to go with the recent soul-destroying lows) but on
balance I am relieved not to be entering into the mad scramble for jobs
this year and for the first time in a while I am optimistic about the
future. I'm on nights at the moment, being ordered around by
"Outreach Nurses" and hassled by A&E to meet their 4 hour
targets.
I'm a doctor till the end of March then I become a Consultant- just not
the kind I thought I'd become. And to be honest- I can't wait.
(11/1/08)
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