‘It’s falling apart around my ears’: a resident doctor on why he is striking

I think it’s fair to say that since 2019 it’s been a difficult time in the medical profession. Before Covid hit, we were already having reports of mass burnouts, there was already low staffing, people already leaving for Australia. Covid then obviously had a significant impact on everyone, not just doctors – nurses, healthcare workers, and patients.

Most of all, after that we’ve then had the issues of the pay erosion since 2008, and low staffing, as people know that they can get better terms, conditions and pay in other countries. So in terms of my day-to-day life, I am seeing the impact an NHS which hasn’t kept its staff and hasn’t supported its staff is having on patients every day.

I can make a big difference, but I’m in a system that hasn’t supported its doctors or nurses or healthcare workers for years, and now it’s falling apart around my ears, so my day-to-day life is disheartening I think would be the nicest way to put it.

If I see somebody and I know that they have an issue that might be solved, I have to tell them they’re going to have to live with it for 18 months because we haven’t trained enough people to even get the waiting lists down.

This month, I’m paying £462 for the GMC [General Medical Council], which is the regulator; my exams cost £500 a pop. Some people’s exams cost way more, just to stay in training and keep going. And there have been times where it’s been difficult to afford it.

The F1s [first year doctors] are the ones who are in the most financial issue, because they’ve just finished medical school, where they will have accrued up to or above £100,000 in debt. They are then working the first month and they get paid right at the end of it, so they are in dire straits financially at that point, and for that first year, they’re only paid £18.62 an hour. I know F1s who are having to take out loans in order to cover their rent.

I’m here because the government had the possibility of negotiating. They had the chance to make my life better, and they just keep kicking the can down the road, and at some point everyone needs to stand up and say: “No, you were elected to make our lives better. You were elected to make everyone’s lives better in this country.” And all that’s happened is a stagnation. I feel now that the only way to get them to listen is to strike.”