Facial aesthetics doctor passionate about education and safety. Ex surgical trainee (
#PlasticSurgery
). Stepping off the treadmill provides a new perspective.
I have just realised: the NHS gets junior doctors to perform extra work in their free time for ‘portfolio points’ that other employers pay staff to do.
Audit. Research. Teaching. Management.
We’re being exploited and calling it career progression.
Debating not going home for Christmas because I’m so sad my family are disappointed in me for taking a career break from the NHS.
Honestly the guilt for wanting to have a life is crippling. This expectation that doctors should sacrifice themselves really cuts deep.
‘Officials say the NHS is one of the world’s most efficient health services, spending less than 2% on admin, compared with 5% in Germany….’
BECAUSE WE FORCE JUNIOR DOCTORS TO DO IT, adversely impacting training. A good secretary/rota coordinator is worth their weight in gold
Before medical school- ‘I just find the human body fascinating, I love all of it’
SHOs- ‘I have like 3 organ systems I don’t mind’
Consultants- ‘I only like flexor tendons and don’t talk to me about the rest of the hand’
I am almost 30yo and honestly I am tired of being spoken to like a child by anyone in a hospital who is SpR or consultant.
If I ever quit it will be because we are spoken to so horribly by ‘seniors’- including those in other specialities.
Really not okay.
I know I’m a doctor, and this stuff shouldn’t shock me..
BUT
How amazing is it that the human body can grow another human inside it? Pregnancy as a bodily function BLOWS MY MIND 🤯
Ps. I’m not pregnant, I just think it’s really cool
I’ve never shared the full story about why I left the NHS
I’ll share the moment I decided to quit though
In theatre on a tricky list.. I had back problems and came straight from a clinic which was running late. An SPR who was mean to me all rotation decided to join the list..
Why are NHS staff so hostile towards eachother? Working in this system is hard enough without it. I am EXHAUSTED, not by the job but by constant anxiety and tiptoeing.
Clinical decisions are MUCH easier than navigating tricky personalities. They should teach this at Med school.
Being a trainee doctor is actually like being in a an abusive relationship (I’ve done both).
You convince yourself you aren’t able to leave (because what else would you do?).
You feel like you’d be a failure for ‘giving up’.
You accept bad treatment because you’re scared.
I’m sorry but being removed from ESR access to payslips as soon you leave a trust, and the only way to access payslips/p60 after this is if you pay them is unacceptable. What a terrible money making scheme.
Today in non NHS I made double what I do in an average locum shift, and only slightly less than I made on a salaried week as a surgical SHO.
As well as this, the manager brought me costa to my room to thank me for covering last minute sickness and offered to buy me lunch…
Plumber today ‘don’t tell me doctors aren’t well paid’ and proceeded to laugh/try to debate it with me as if I was lying.. as I paid him £95 to unblock my drain.
Public perception of this job is nonsense.
Consider this thread before you comment on strikes.
Doctors aren’t greedy, they’re fed up.
If the U.K. wants to keep the best doctors, there is a lot of work that needs to be done to make the NHS a more appealing place to work.
Culture is a huge part of that!! (
@OrthopodReg
)
If we recruit students into a 5 year vocational degree (which they pay for), we have an obligation to ensure they complete training to be employable at the end.
Ie. They should either be GMC registered at graduation/they get allocated FY jobs by default. This isn’t difficult.
Met a consultant (non surgical) who asked why junior doctors are so fed up at the moment.
Explained pay, inflexibility, how we’re treated.
Was told pay and conditions were worse when they were a junior.
Tone deaf. These attitudes make us feel unsupported.
Just don’t.
I very much feel we need to stop gaslighting junior doctors into believing they deserve the poor pay because of ‘pay progression’.
Consultant pay (for the level of responsibility) is laughable. The lifestyle isn’t what it used to be.
Keep going and we’ll lose everyone 🤷🏻♀️
The public hates doctors.
Twitter hates doctors.
Doctors hate doctors.
But society NEEDS doctors.. so maybe everyone should play nice and MAYBE so many wouldn’t want to quit?
The day the system treats ‘Junior Doctors’ like human beings, is the day that the NHS becomes saveable.
It isn’t just about pay. Pay erosion is however a marker of how much we’ve allowed treatment of Doctors to deteriorate with time..
Really not a fan of the increase of ‘influencer’ doctors/medical students. They just regurgitate the same nonsense that they’re told to, most don’t practice much at all.
If you want solid advice find the people on the shop floor who see patients all day everyday. 🤷🏻♀️
The announcement of my resignation from surgery has had an overwhelming response. Thankyou for all the love.
To be very clear. I am not leaving because of hours/pay.
I am leaving because I am tired of being treated like a child by HCPs and any doctor ‘more senior’ than me.
I have friends who say ‘now isn’t the time for a pay rise’- most of these either have family support/live with partners.
If I come back to NHS I can’t even afford to rent a 1br flat at 30, I’m single and I’ve have bad anxiety in flat shares.
Now IS the time for pay restoration.
I often wonder what it’s like to do a job where all your weekends and evenings are free, and you don’t spend your time off still tired and trying to catch-up on sleep. 🥺
Looking at American match candidates and realising they:
1. Choose their hospital and stay
2. Do only the speciality they’ve chosen
3. Don’t have multiple applications post medical school and just GET TRAINED
4. Will finish training before me
U.K. we have a lot we could learn..
I’m usually fairly apolitical but dear god is
@wesstreeting
a bloody clown.
Does he ACTUALLY believe the NHS benefits doctors? Healthcare would still exist without the NHS.. and look at everyone leaving.
Turns out a labour government may not even a step towards saving the NHS.
So with PAs able to write discharge summaries and pharmacists able to do TTOs, why is this such a large % of junior doctor admin burden.
It sounds like we have solutions to fixing training/staffing if we really want them..
Really productive day
@barnshospital
for our 'Pharmacy Discharge Team' (formed to help facilitate patient flow during the
#JuniorDoctorsStrike
). 17 TTO's written by our Pharmacist Prescribers... 29 in total over the last 3 days. Equivalent to a full ward worth of beds! 👏
@OrthopodReg
Also:
I followed this up my deanery and was asked if I was sure I wanted to pursue things, because it may be damaging if I wished to return..
In the end it was too much of a challenge to escalate, so I left.
I miss surgery with all my heart but I don’t miss how I was treated.
This is my favourite tweet today.
A post CCT fellow being offered a poor salary in a London trauma centre, and the defence is still ‘but what about earning potential’.
🙄 10+ years of life sacrifice, exam, other ridiculous fees.
This is exactly why I left. It won’t stop.
@srturaga
Clearly the Fellowship position is underpaid, but surely the doctor can expect a higher earning potential where the assistant’s salary will be capped at 55k?
Given that the NHS treats sick people, it’s bizarre not understanding how people become unwell..
1. Don’t take 3 individual days off sick rather than longer periods- so don’t try to return until 100% better
2. Choose WHEN you can get sick- not near AL/special occasions..
1y ago I looked at my bosses and thought ‘do I want to be in their position in 10y?’ The answer was no.
Becoming a consultant should be light at the end of the tunnel. Poor pay and conditions for consultants affects JD retention too.
That’s why I support the
#ConsultantsStrike
I’m not going to pretend I’m an expect on coronavirus, because I’m not. Even as a doctor, I know I haven’t a clue.
The fact ‘celebrities’ are posting nonsense like this is ridiculous. Listen to the experts, because we missed our opportunity last time.
FAO FYi1s: as a new F1 I made a drug error. I panicked and thought I was going to lose my job. I told my consultant who told me not to worry, told me about a worse mistake he made once, and reassured me the patient was fine.
1. ASK for help/advice
2. It’ll all be fine in the end
HEE really need a better system. I have paid a LOT of money for conferences and courses in recent months, but I have no dependants and can afford to.
Being reimbursed doesn’t help ‘accessibility’. Some people can’t afford to pay the cost and be reimbursed 8 weeks later.
Pay and conditions for NHS junior doctors is abysmal.
I started medical school in 2013 with the dream of being an NHS plastic surgeon (loved burns). This year I left my training post and gave up on that dream.
How many motivated doctors are you willing to lose?
#DoctorsStrike
Does anyone else get a post exam anticlimax? It’s intense suddenly feeling a bit lost/lacking purpose.
I avoided making plans to allow me to recover this weekend, and now just feel really sad and lonely.
Does anyone else think that Boris saying ‘doctors and nurses would have to choose who gets to live, and who gets to die’ only fuels the public’s belief that we were letting people die the first time round? (We weren’t, for the record)
Today most London surgical CT2s should be celebrating passing ARCP.
Instead there is upset because those marking portfolios decided to change the goalposts ON THE DAY and have now said another sign off is needed.
Trainees are infantilised because nobody is held accountable.
Why are the British public so selectively pro human rights?
It’s odd taking a stand against Qatar and their views on homosexuality when nobody kicked up half the fuss when it was Russia.
Now it’s a Muslim country everyone throws a tantrum and it is disgusting.
That one day really concreted my decision to leave.
After a horrible experience in that hospital (including in another department), I was broken and couldn’t continue.
Sadly the reason many of us choose to leave is when the bad outweighs the good, and when humanity dies..
Remember when we were told Gold Duke of Edinburgh award was good for our CV?
The last time I mentioned it in an application was in my personal statement 10 years ago. 🙃
Public service announcement:
Can everyone please stop riding electric scooters. They are just plain dangerous.
Thanks in advance from your local plastic/ orthopaedic/ maxfax surgeons 🙏🏽
Can I just say massive 10/10 to
@StGeorgesTrust
Surgical Rota department- just got my Rota today from October to January.
People underestimate what a difference knowing your Rota makes to your quality of life 🌟
It’s all fine when it makes good PR for the hospital, but god forbid a female doctor should:
1. Wear their hair down
2. Wear a non-wedding ring
3. Wear ANY jewellery that another member of staff will lecture them on 🥹
Hearing that medical students are being told off for their clothing literally makes my blood boil. As a student I was told..
My dress was ‘too low cut’ - it was just a normal V neck and I have zero cleavage so was nonsense.
Another dress was ‘too pink’ - is that even a thing?
My friends are all having the same issue with dating- men in their mid 30s ‘still working out what they want’ or ‘not ready for anything serious..
I’m not sure who needs to hear this, but if they’re so uncertain at this stage in life they’re unlikely to ever be certain MOVE ON.
Controversial opinion: A-level PE would probably have been more useful for medicine than Maths/Chemistry/Physics.
There is LOTS we could have learnt about metabolism and anatomy if it was structured appropriately.
Dear new F1s,
I’m proud of you all for standing up for yourselves. This is the change we need to see, in order to be paid properly and our time respected.
There is no pride in doing unpaid work and disregarding your personal life.
I learnt that lesson a little later.
Today I was at a conference, and in the questions section after I was approached by a biomed student who wanted careers advice.
In conversation she said many of her peers have applied for PA courses ‘because it’s easier than medical school’
🫠🫠🫠
Well done U.K. 👏🏽 what a mess
Since leaving I read damning comments this consultant put in my portfolio when I reported his behaviour to the deanery. There were occasions where he humiliated me in front of staff by reprimanding me like a child..
He bullied a friend of mine in a similar manner previously..
We could make the NHS better partly by being kinder and more supportive of eachother.
Civility does save lives, and it also retains staff.
The importance of hard work and spreading positivity is honestly one of the most valuable things I have learnt in my OOP so far.
The level of dissatisfaction on my timeline from junior doctors is scary. It just feels like everyone’s really to explode.
It’s so sad and so scary. Where do we predict the NHS will be in 5 years?
SpR on call spent about an hour talking me through facial anatomy, which lacerations can result in which deeper injuries, and taking me through a CT facial bones. THIS IS THE ENTHUSIASM I LIVE FOR.
As for the SPR, she continually made my life more difficult when on call. Even in clinics or lists she belittled me and made me feel stupid. I cried everytime I worked with her.
I’ve blocked her on all social media but it hurts that this treatment just happens..
Who would be interested in education on alternative careers for doctors? I find many feel a bit lost/scared to explore options, often not realising transferrable skills.
Many only OOP when they’re utterly burnt out, maybe experience elsewhere would actually HELP retention?
‘Simple nickname’ is an interesting way to describe this. It’s easy to claim innocent when you’ve been called out.
I come across lots of people in the private sector who are deliberately vague, calling themselves ‘medics’.. 🫠
#TipsForNewDocs
a good nurse is worth their weight in gold- but the ethos that you should suck up to EVERYONE is really unfair.
Some people will never treat you with respect, and that’s not your fault. (More likely if you’re young and female).
There. I said it.
My SHO colleague looked at me in despair and, later in the case, the SPR tried to belittle me when I was performing my part of the case.
I left that day and made plans to leave.
Realising that things weren’t going to get better in how I was treated, I gave up my dream..
Part of the reason I wanted the break was more free time to see family and friends. More flexibility to attend special occasions. Now I feel too guilty to go home for Christmas? So strange.
The fact that SHOs are now ‘central doctors’ just seems insane to me.
Someone was probably PAID to come up with that ‘solution’ (to a problem that doesn’t exist).
Looking for people who’ve left medicine for alternative careers and are happy with the move? DMs open
(Will share any particularly useful info here too)
This time one year ago I loved surgery and couldn’t get enough.
Right now I’m considering if surgery, or even the NHS, is sustainable for me in the long term.
I’ve discussed my concerns with a number of people, some more supportive than others.
What a difference a year makes.
Honestly, my experience in both the NHS and in the private sector is that the public don’t value doctors. Is this because we’ve allowed ourselves to become devalued for years?
Stand up for yourselves. It’s gotten out of hand..
For context, tonight I arrived at my Christmas party and the London boss said ‘we need to pin you to one place, at least 5 managers tonight have begged to make you resident at their clinic but you can’t be everywhere’.
Tell me when you last felt appreciated like that? I’ll wait.
I got the best news I could have hoped for today. My Grandad doesn’t need anymore chemo (because it worked) and can continue normal life on only immunoglobulin therapy for his lymphoma.
Modern medicine keeping him alive for the last 30 years 🥰 couldn’t be more grateful.
… taking into consideration doctors in the NHS are so poorly paid AND treated so horribly, it’s unsurprising many are leaving?
I love being a doctor and loved NHS plastic surgery. Burns/hand trauma/skin cancer, I loved all of it.
We will lose those who recognise their worth.
It’s my 30th birthday on Tuesday, and quite honestly this is not what I expected.
I have never felt more burnt out/frustrated at medicine. It’s very difficult to believe that I spent my 20s working so hard, and the light at the end of the tunnel keeps moving further away.