CXRAndy
Shaman
Had to be done at some point. Best to start now
The Good News Only - thread...
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Had to be done at some point. Best to start now
BoldonLad
Old man on a bike. Not a member of a clique.
- Location
- South Tyneside
Yes, see it now
icowden
Shaman
For clarity, the resident doctors are people who have completed their medical degree (between 4 to 7 years) and then the two year foundation programme for general experience. They can continue working as foundation (Junior) doctors but would be expected to move on to specialist training in the area of medicine they want to go into - e..g general practice, hospital specialties including surgery, psychiatry, paediatrics etc), specialist registrar roles .
The Government upped the number of training places to deal with the shortage of doctors, however the specialist places are reliant on the number of Consultants who can only take so many junior doctors on. So if you let your consultant numbers fall by letting half of them retire without being able to replace them, then you end up with what we have now - loads of trained doctors who cannot get specialist training.
First Aspect
Veteran
Sure, none of which is solved by increasing the basic rate of pay, which is the issue they seem to be mainly striking about, again.
Pross
Senior Member
A surplus of doctors wouldn’t make an ideal argument for increasing pay.
It seems to be quite a standard technique in pay disputes. They know asking for more money won’t be popular (in this case especially on the back of getting the big rise they were after last year) so they chuck some other grievances in too. See also ‘safety’ as a reason with rail strikes and ‘working practices’ when there was the big fire fighter’s strikes.
cookiemonster
Guru
- Location
- Far away from the asylum
No. It's because they're being paid peanuts.
First Aspect
Veteran
But 30% more peanuts than a couple of years ago.
I fundamentally object to be honest. They have created a fiction of long term pay based on a selected relative high water mark in 2008. Regardless of this, it is nonsensical to argue that all jobs should have salaried fixed in stone in relation to inflation or other salaries over time. Lots of professions have become relatively less lucrative over time.
They also aren't factoring in pension, which has collapsed for most of the population as final salary schemed have evaporated, but not for NHS workers. I think it is worth at least 30% salary.
bobzmyunkle
Veteran
You've got to love this sort of logic.
AuroraSaab
Pharaoh
I sympathise but one aspect is that once established in their career drs pay goes up quite significantly and with a structured career path. Many jobs have a short pay scale with nothing to look forward to but tiny annual pay rises.
Ian H
Squire
I would quite like doctors to be paid well, especially as I seem to interact with them more often as I get older.
bobzmyunkle
Veteran
You must be one of the lucky ones.
Pblakeney
Guru
...or unlucky.
First Aspect
Veteran
Sorry but it is firmly in the category of "tough shït", besides us being fed inflated and misleading numbers in the first place.
First Aspect
Veteran
Most of them are paid well, and retire comfortably. As should be the case given the slog of qualification.
However the current grievances seem to stem from a perception that they are uniquely badly treated somehow.
If you consider that doctors are uniquely virtuous and an exception then fine. But you'll need to pay for it.
Personally I would compare them more to other professions, such as law, where too many people take law degrees in the hope of becoming a solicitor or barrister, only to find that at the end of 3 or 4 years, there are too many of them for the number of available training places for a £25k a year traineeship, which lasts a further two years After which they are in a competitive market. I have a secretary with a master's degree in law. (Who is useless!!)
Doctors in the UK are comparatively cosseted within the NHS, which is positive in some ways but must bring compromise. They are all welcome to go private. Where the market rate is slightly higher, but where they don't get NHS pensions, there are no guaranteed jobs and lots more competition.
midlandsgrimpeur
Well-Known Member
It's a tricky one. Of course they should be paid in line with training, skill level and the level of responsility. My main issue is that blanket pay rises assume that all Doctors are good and many aren't (as with all professions). I know the majority are excellent and go above and beyond. I would prefer to see some form of performance related pay to hold the poor ones to account.
