It’s money being spent which is being earned by the ISRO.
They want a pay rise though, not a pay cut …….
I agree that doctors should get paid more but then, so should nurses and the other other support workers in general.
That said, regarding doctors specifically, I would say the following:
- It is their choice to go into the profession and they are fully warned
- There are plenty of people who choose to make sacrifices throughout their life, never mind between 20-35, and without the reward at the other end nor the status that instantly comes
- There are plenty of people that have to make sacrifices out-with of their choosing
- I’m not overly convinced that becoming a doctor is as much of a vocation (borne out of compassion) as some make it out to be. One interpretation would be that only the rich are compassionate - doctors tend already to be relatively well off…
- I wonder if the hegemony of the NHS is the problem. Basically you have a huge entity that needs to be run and so layers and layers of management are added to try and “run” it, ironically, more efficiently. Smaller entities may have less baggage in that regard.
I’m also taken back to a conversation I had back in 1997, with my first boss, about doctors and he said that only those that cannot do anything else become doctors in his country (Netherlands before people ask). He went on to say that those that have a talent tend to (and should) use it.
2 Likes
Plenty of arseholes are getting filthy rich by actually harming society/people. Not sure doctors and their pay should be the problem.
And I say that as someone who had to regularly fight the urge to punch several doctors over the last year.
6 Likes
I turned my back on it over 20 years ago after working far too many hours and nearly killing a patient.
In my first two years I had to deal with a patient with aids trying to infect others (having 4 male nurses hold him down as I tried to take his blood), I had to remove a part of a babies backbone that had died before birth (being talked through how to do it on the phone). I had a knife pulled on me by a druggie.
I like to think of myself as being pretty mentally strong (I was regard as the best young doctor at the hospital) However I thought fuck it, I don’t get paid enough to deal with this shit and amount of responsibility. Mental and physical toll was immense.
I loved helping people. It’s extremely rewarding. I didn’t have a privileged background. Pay was not the main motivator.
Nothing but respect for nurses and doctors. In many cases it’s a terrible job, that takes years to qualify in order to do it. I for one am glad I moved into science !
9 Likes
Wow. I always figured you for a software employee especially seeing as you run this site.
Anyway , being a doctor is largely unrewarding in terms of the stress that the doctors have to put up on a daily basis. If you don’t pay them enough , Good luck finding doctors.
2 Likes
If I did the exact same job in the south of Ireland I’d be paid double what I earn in the north
1 Like
Got to say those consultant salaries listed seem a bit low? Can’t imagine 120k goes very far in London with a family. In Australia higher wage earners are notorious for negative gearing property (and to a lesser extent shares) which reduces their taxable income significantly. The equivalent ‘surgeon’ category in Aus is based on taxable income and sits at ~450k or about £225k after being reduced due to neg gearing. Most (aka more than half) the surgeons I know would clear 7 figures. Are the UK figures similarly masking actual earnings or are they just (relatively) much more poorly paid?
I’d argue the spread for pay across the various levels is enormous. I’d even bet it varies with where you work and of course NHS Vs private.
Now I am trying to save the world developing bioproducts (fuel, plastics, medicines etc) . From making trees grow twice as fast to bioplastics made from methane, to leather made from mushrooms. I have been quite lucky with the job I now do.
Creating TAN was more a labour of love. I figured out how to do it with a lot of trial and error, using forums, and YouTube.
11 Likes
And I’m sure every single one of my horrendous jokes makes you feel like it was all worth it.
3 Likes
it’s actually quite nice knowing that I was able to keep the community together after TIA….and I am sure there are members here that come on specifically for your jokes and gasbands drawings…not saying they have good taste but it’s what helps make a community 
6 Likes
Obviously many many examples of doctors/nurses doing fantastic work.
But opinions will be formed from personal experiences.
In the past 9 months I’ve seem my missus (suffering from severe abdominal pains) sent away from our practice by two separate GP’s, saying it’s not your appendix, we’ll get you an ultrasound scan within 3 weeks.
I came home from work and took her to hospital where she underwent emergency surgery to remove her appendix, 10 lymph nodes and half a metre of colon.
Her 8 day stay in hospital wasn’t great, for a number of reasons.
Still suffering abdominal pains recently, she had an ultrasound scan from which the technician informed her of a large cyst on her ovary, with a follow up with the GP to discuss the scan results in more detail.
That appointment was for the 14th August.
They rang that morning to cancel, and said she cant be seen until 6th September.
- Incompetent GP’s displaying lack of patient care.
- Uncaring flippant lazy ward staff.
- GP receptionists on fucking high horses making unqualified appointment prioritisation.
Based on MY experiences, NHS workers don’t have much of my sympathy.
I thought everyone was here for @The-AllMightyReds wisdom?
1 Like
I’m hearing stories of this lot quite a bit coming from the UK. Some of my relatives are doctors there and they were saying roughly down the same line.
I think what Covid-19 and the aftermath of that has shown is that the state of healthcare for most countries is fucked.
There shouldn’t be waiting lines to see a doctor. There shouldn’t be a 3 week schedule needed to get an appointment for tests. Most of these routine tests can be scheduled and undertaken well before meeting the Doctor.
Web-conferencing should take up quite a bit of the load away from the doctors. Schedule a web-meeting… It can be a meeting at a local health care center with a nurse to check vitals etc , let the doctor prescribe tests/medicines and if possible , get the tests done at the center and then schedule a follow up visit.
This was some of the recommendations my cousin was saying on how the NHS needs to be overhauled.
That said , I hope your missus is doing better
1 Like
I too saw it with my family, I had to go in with my wife to tell them exactly what tests needed to be performed (if I hadn’t she would not have got anywhere). My daughter was discharged only to be back on the ward in 24 hours (ward staff just wanting to free up beds). NHS has been reduced to a triage. No longer there to treat people, but to patch people up.
Where I differ, is that I see the staff are victims to this, not the cause.
No doctor wants to be providing the bare minimum in the shortest time possible. When the job is reduced to throughput, job satisfaction decreases. Its like getting a qualified chef to work in Mcdonalds.
5 Likes
All the problems in the NHS are down to excess demand from illegal immigrants and absolutely nothing to do with the incompetence of the government.
3 Likes
I blame small boats, wokeness and Jeremy Corbyn.
1 Like
You forgot trans people and teachers