I’m a Locum Doctor Who’s Supporting The NHS Junior Doctors Strike, And Here’s WHY

Mental health and well-being of doctors cannot be separated from politics. And the well-being of doctors cannot be separated from the quality of service NHS patients get.

None of us exist in a vacuum.

When doctors are inadequately remunerated for our time, this has catastrophic effects on the health service for everyone involved. It’s not even just about doctors being paid properly so that we can pay our bills.

(And by the way minimum wage is £10.42 – basic hourly pay for junior doctors is only £3.67 above this)

Here’s what happens when doctors don’t get adequately remunerated:

1️⃣ They lose morale

2️⃣ People slowly start to leave the service for better opportunities – other careers, medical careers in other countries.

3️⃣ This means less doctors and more gaps in the service – it’s hard to recruit new people (for the same reasons people left), and we continue to lose more staff at the same rate

4️⃣ The remaining staff end up each doing the work of several doctors (as a Locum who is often being called in to cover such gaps I can attest to the fact we are often understaffed)

5️⃣ Patients get worse – and sometimes downright unsafe – service, making them (rightfully) upset – some of them will take it out on us (and a lot of the media outlets like to fan these flames for clicks)

6️⃣ The morale of the remaining staff drops lower. They are overworked, underpaid and now the patients they are caring for hate them too

7️⃣ They end up taking more sick leave (for burnout/ mental health reasons)

8️⃣ Staff levels drop even more

🔁 🔃 🔁 🔃

And so the cycle goes … political decisions – including the issue of pay restoration – inevitably affect working conditions. Poor working conditions affect the wellbeing of doctors. And the well-being of doctors affects the quality of care delivered which affects our patients.

Over time, this system becomes unsustainable. We start to move towards a private healthcare system.
For anyone who doesn’t know what this is like, I recommend watching ‘Sicko’ – a documentary on American healthcare directed by Michael Moore.

If this happens doctors, just like everybody else who has ever needed healthcare, will struggle to be able to afford it. Unsurprisingly, many doctors are patients at some point in their lifetime. We can be those delivering as well as those receiving care.

An example – Last week I ordered 3 blood tests (same bottle) for one of my paediatric patients. The total cost came to £210… most people don’t have that kind of money.

Other examples:

🏥 An MRI costs between £250-395.

🏥 A gastroscopy costs £1,640.

🏥 Midwife-led hospital care and delivery of a baby costs £11,835. 

🏥 A knee replacement costs £14,670.

(figures taken from hcahealthcare.co.uk & oryon.co.uk)

I definitely can’t afford this. Can you?

We’re not just doing this for “doctors”. What affects doctors inevitably affects “patients” too.

We are not on opposite sides of the fence on this.

When doctors get sick and tired, patients stay sick and tired.

Supporting the doctors’ strike is supporting the longevity of the NHS.

If you’d like to help, please consider donating to the BMA strike fund which helps doctors who would otherwise be unable to strike (due to loss of income on strike days) to do so.

If you liked this, come and check out my podcast ‘The Fully Well Doc Pod’ with Emily Fulleylove, all about doctors’ wellbeing, here.