Save the NHS!

Just by chance I had a late appointment to see my GP 18:45. He looked a bit tired and I commented "long day". He said he'd been in since 7:00 ish and basically they were 1.5 GP's down on what they should have and it meant they had to cover the hours between them. That had been going on for 18 months. In the previous 6 months they'd only been able to interview 3-4 new GP's and none of them were suitable for one reason or another. He recons the shortfall in GP's is crippling, they can't cover normal hours let alone 24/7. Also the number of people choosing to become GP's had fallen dramatically. His comments where "can you blame them" The workload is bad enough, but add it to all administration/practise management it's not a job people are still aspiring to do. Even if they qualify there better positions abroad will less hassle that pay considerably more.

Re the NHS pointlessly spending money. I briefly worked in the imaging/X-Ray dept. I was nattering to a radiographer and he said they needed additional cover for the weekend. He lived on the doorstep and offered to do the hours needed at what would have been overtime rates. I can't remember the exact numbers but circa £250-300 ish. His manger said no as there was no extra money in their budget. Instead they used a locum consultant to cover the hours who travelled up from Milton Keynes for the weekend, paid for his travel and digs and that cost almost £1700. But that came out of a different budget so that was acceptable. Madness....
 
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Moses said:
I wonder what proportion would actually do it. I know they can earn more in eg. Australia, but the realities of leaving all their friends and family, and being so far away that it's very costly for anyone to visit, would surely put off quite a few people. And I wonder what proportion of that 1600 figure are actually considering it, versus what proportion are doing it to try and make it seem like they're considering it, if that makes sense :p.
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It's primarily a protest so the number is unlikely to be anything like that currently. However it's worth remembering that junior doctors are highly motivated, have skills that are in demand overseas, are used to changing jobs and cities every 6 months and have seen many of their university colleagues who did easier degrees go on to earn far more than they ever will.

I personally would move, but I have family in NZ so it's no big deal for me.
 
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It's one of those situations that needs to have to smoke and mirrors taken out of it....

I've just left a company that had transferred me 100miles away and was paying mileage, hotel, all meals, and paying overtime just to drive up there and back every week!

I was quids in but why they couldn't find some out of the 1000's of unemployed people locally I don't know?

I'm currently studying to hopefully become a Physiotherapist. I used to work in finance so wasted money really annoys me! Great if you just wan to take the mick but not good for anyone long term....

I think this is where privatisation would be good - it would show them where to cut costs and save money really quickly. I bet they would save millions just on basic common sense.... HOWEVER I don't think it should be privatised but the people in charge need to use less BS and open their eyes to the facts.... No facts = no truth.

An example of what I mean:-
At the moment I am on the sick because a car hit me when I was on my pushbike that hard I couldn't even sit up, let alone stand up. I have been told it's really bad bruising (Coccydynia?) but I'm worried that I was hit that hard it might have chipped bone off my coccyx as bum is still numb to the touch 2 months later....
I requested an Xray against GPs and Solicitors advice because like I said to them - if they were wrong and I have chipped a bone, you can't do anything but it changes my medical advice quite a lot.... and it would save money on repeated journeys back to the GP and Hospital and hopefully avoid serious injury to my back which would cost the NHS a lot of money to fix (if they could! Bit of bone floating around coccyx ready to cut the spinal cord freaks me out!)....

Stick me in charge - we'd have a pukka medical system and long term sick would go down.... (The Last Leg - get disabled people to work on disability benefits and they'd soon spot the ones taking the mick and you'd save all that money AND it gets disabled people into work nearly all of them want to!)

Vote Dan! :D
 
My wife and I, along with quite a few friends were planning on heading down to London on the 17th but just realised I'm oncall that weekend!:(

Met up with some old med school friends at the weekend and it looks likes it going to be good turnout.
 
Moses said:
Of course, but moving jobs/cities in the same country is very different to moving abroad, especially if they don't have family there/it's the other side of the World. It's not as though this new deal is suddenly going to make everything awful and only now are jobs abroad attractive... Aus/NZ/etc were significantly better in terms of money and work/life balance before this, no?

How often do people actually move city? I'm only au fait with the training of one doctor in detail (my brother's girlfriend), but she's in London so has been working there for the last few years since leaving uni. How small does a city/hospital/whatever have to be before someone has to move city during their training?
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Scenario: tomorrow you get told that you are having a 30% pay cut and normal hours will be 7am till 10pm Monday to Saturday. You might be single and flexible and thinking about your next 5 - 10 years in training before you specialise. You might have children and a mortgage and now screwed over. What would you do? Yes, some will have family ties but moving abroad suddenly sounds appealing.
 
Moses said:
Of course, but moving jobs/cities in the same country is very different to moving abroad, especially if they don't have family there/it's the other side of the World. It's not as though this new deal is suddenly going to make everything awful and only now are jobs abroad attractive... Aus/NZ/etc were significantly better in terms of money and work/life balance before this, no?

How often do people actually move city? I'm only au fait with the training of one doctor in detail (my brother's girlfriend), but she's in London so has been working there for the last few years since leaving uni. How small does a city/hospital/whatever have to be before someone has to move city during their training?
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Doctors rotate around the hospitals in their deanery, these usually consist of a large tertiary hospital or two and a number of smaller district general hospitals. You change jobs every 4 or 6 months depending on your level. Everyone needs tertiary and general experience so there's a constant rotation. The longest I've spent in one city is 18 months but have changed 6 monthly as well.

Early on most people either change rental properties with each move or live in the hospital accommodation (which they pay for). Later on when you're settled then commuting is the norm. Soon becomes a ball ache when you do 13-14 hour shifts with an hours drive each way.

Aus and NZ have been becoming more and more attractive for a while, several colleagues I know have left since qualifying. This new contract represents the largest change in doctors working lives since the MMC shake up. It won't devastate the workforce if it goes through but it will cause a substantial increase in people going elsewhere.
 
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The tories have hammered and upset doctors, armed forces, civil servants, nurses, public sector workers and local government, surely enough for a coup already
 
Looks like it was a good turnout today. As for Jeremy Hunts response, it was quite frankly appalling and laughable to sugest this is a good deal for junior doctors. I've worked damn hard to get where I am and know I've got quite a few tough more years but this leaves such a sour taste in my mouth and feels like such a kick in teeth.
 
Some junior doctors will work 90 hours a week under this deal for £22,000 per year.

To put that into perspective, that is about the same as the National Minimum Wage.
 
Moses said:
You're wrong - either misinformed or lying...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/nhs...d-and-why-are-they-threatening-to-strike.html

Buy hey, I bet some of the junior doctors believe that kind of rubbish :o.
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I don't see how your article proves him wrong?
Those figures of £30k and above are after several years of work (as the article says) and includes the supplement for working out of hours (which is being removed). There is a penalty if.you change speciality. And this doesn't include the fees we pay to continue to work.

Did you actually read the article??
 
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