cousinbebop

Yes! We had a lady bring us some tea and hot dogs which was nice. It was a lovely gesture. Most protests should be finished now, but I've no doubt there'll be more in the future....

Just under £23,000

Not entirely true. This is normally around a baseline and then we are paid another sum for on call work. A doctor just out of medical school can expect to take home something in the region of £25-28K, based on what specialities they are doing.

No we don't. Let me use myself as an example. When I'm on call during weekdays, I work during the day, during the night and then the following day also. For weekends I am on for 48 hours. Some of this time is spent seeing patients, other times giving advice, other times operating. I cover 3 different hospitals and am responsible for all of their ENT problems out of hours.

Under the old system my banding is 1B - meaning that I am paid my salary (approx £35K + 40%). This normally comes to around £50-55K/year. In my opinion, this does not reflect the amount of work and responsibility we have but I don't mind. I accept that.

Under the new system, I will only get paid for times that I am literally in the hospital and not for all the other responsibilities. This will mean that overall I and looking at a potential pay cut of £12-14K.

Why do you prefer the current contract, what aspect of it is superior with regard to preventing overworking of doctors?

It's not a perfect system either. There are big problems with staff shortages and workforce planning. Three years ago, when I was a Senior House Officer (approx intern equivalent) doing Plastic Surgery, it was not unusual to work a 12 hour day and then realise that there was no one on to do the evening shift. This happened routinely. You therefore had no physical choice but to continue working because otherwise there would be no one to cover your post for the next 12 hours.

The new system is even worse. The bit about breaks is just a distraction - no one takes breaks when work is busy. On a bad day, you're looking at 15 hours of solid work - and that's not even on call. And then you'd be expected to work Saturday. And because these hours are now all social hours, your pay takes a plunge. It is the most demoralising aspect of it. The government are doing the equivalent of punching you to the ground and then pissing on your head while you're still on the floor.

Way ahead of you mate.