Junior doctors: in their own words

12 Feb

Preparing to privatise: don’t miss this excellent 1 minute video summary, of what’s really going down, by a junior doctor yesterday on LBC.

(For a reminder of how many MPs gain personally from NHS privatisation, see this. Be aware though that this Mirror article does not include Labour front benchers – notably past Health Secretaries Alan Milburn and Patricia Hewitt, with a personal stake in medicine for profit.)

Elsewhere: with NHS Trust Chiefs distancing themselves from Jeremy Hunt’s claim that in imposing the revised contract he is acting at their behest, Rich Bowman – a second  junior doctor – responded on Facebook. I’ve reproduced his words exactly as written after an all night shift followed by picket line duty in yesterday’s near freezing temperatures.

Last night I was the sole doctor on site caring for over 100 patients who were acutely unwell with complications from their cancer. Some couldn’t breath, some were fighting overwhelming infections with literally no immune system, one had bleeding in their head, one had a blockage in their bowels. If I made a mistake because I was tired, any one of these patients could’ve died.

Every cancer patient in the south birmingham region has a direct line to call for advice or help. 11 new unwell patients arrived and I assessed and treated them too.

There was not a single manager in the whole hospital. Last night, I ran the oncology service for the whole south birmingham region from inside the biggest teaching hospital in Europe. Apparently I have no transferable skills to find a different job.

And then I stood on a picket line in the cold to save our NHS. But my shift wasn’t during the strike, it was just what countless other junior doctors do everyday.

I am 27 years old. I work 60 hours a week, for the 48 that I’m paid for, I earn £18/hour.
Apparently I lack vocation, I’m overpaid and I need to work harder.

Screw you Jeremy Hunt. We never asked for thanks. All we do is for our patients, how dare you try and turn them against us. All of this is your government’s fault. Well you’ve picked a fight with the wrong crowd.

Go on, announce imposition, and just see what the most resilient, driven, passionate, intelligent group of people in Britain do next. Bring it on.

As NHS Trust Chiefs distance themselves from Jeremy Hunt’s claim that in imposing the revised contract for junior doctors he is acting at their behest, Rich Bowman – a young man directly affected – responded on Facebook. I’ve reproduced his words exactly as written after an all night shift followed by picket line duty in yesterday’s near freezing temperatures.

2 Replies to “Junior doctors: in their own words

  1. “There’s none so blind as them that will not see!”
    I have two doctor friends on F/B , they totally support the actions of junior doctors having worked all those long hours themselves and experienced the all consuming tiredness that follows. They are incensed by the measures taken by this totally insensitive government.

    We need to support the junior doctors or they will leave – spelling disaster for the NHS.

    • Since you commented, I added the two paragraphs which now begin this post. The first includes a link to a short video clip on why this fight is important to the many MPs of all three mainstream parties, but especially the Tories, who stand to gain from a privatised NHS.

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