Anyone with relatives or friends working in the NHS knows that it is managed extremely badly. The clearest objective evidence of this dreadful management is the fact that doctors are leaving the NHS in large numbers. In the BMJ Opinion Article Why are Doctors Quitting the NHS it says that in 2011 almost three quarters of what used to be called Senior House Officers in hospitals (FY2) progressed further in their careers but by 2017 this had dropped to 42%. Over half of junior doctors had dropped out [Note 1].
When I was a Post-Doc in a Medical School last century almost all Senior Housemen stayed in the profession. In those days they had squash courts, free parking, free accommodation for being on-call, a bar and subsidised canteens and clubs. Now they have almost none of these facilities and are charged market rates for parking and accommodation. A rapacious management has reduced Doctors to an exploitable resource that they divide and rule with the ruthlessness of authoritarian dictators.
Many of the reasons for doctors leaving the profession are covered in the GMC document The State of Medical Education and Practice in the UK. The punch line of this document is that we are at high risk of doctors leaving clinical practice in unprecedented numbers. Within the next three years, many are considering reducing their hours (around a third), going part time (a fifth) and/or planning to leave UK practice and work abroad (a fifth).
Yes, 20% of UK doctors are planning to emigrate to escape the NHS.
Central government has attempted to correct the loss of doctors by increasing the number of training places but the losses mean that they must recruit from overseas. In 2018 half of new joiners were non-UK graduates, up from 44% in 2012. I feel sorry for these foreign doctors who are enticed to come to the NHS. Most can have no idea how bad it is for doctors.
Worst of all the media, especially the BBC, have been covering the appalling management and consequent retention disaster in the NHS as evidence of how important it is to permit large scale migration of medical staff to the UK. The journalists do not bother to find out what is actually happening but instead use the NHS to bolster pro-migration policies.
What really makes me angry is to see relatives being exploited mercilessly, being left in charge of large parts of hospitals past the end of their shift in the knowledge that they are so dedicated that they will not simply go home. They are not thanked in return for this dedication, instead the management will often spring the surprise of a week of night shifts on them as a reward.
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As an aside it is amazing how the population are entirely unaware that Austerity was prolonged by adherence to the EU Stability and Growth Pact. Don't believe this? Click on these links: Parliamentary Report on EU Excess Deficit Procedure in the UK and History of the EU Excess Deficit Procedure with regard to the UK.
Note 1:
'In 2017, 57.4% of Foundation Year 2 doctors did not enter higher-training posts and 9000 doctors quit the NHS entirely. [1] In 2011, when career-destination surveys were first conducted, 71.3% of FY2 doctors progressed into higher training-posts. By 2016 this had dropped to 50.4% and last year the rates had plummeted further to 42.6%. [2] The rate of decline is near exponential. Added to this is a growing culture of quitting both across the specialties and across the generations. [1]'
When I was a Post-Doc in a Medical School last century almost all Senior Housemen stayed in the profession. In those days they had squash courts, free parking, free accommodation for being on-call, a bar and subsidised canteens and clubs. Now they have almost none of these facilities and are charged market rates for parking and accommodation. A rapacious management has reduced Doctors to an exploitable resource that they divide and rule with the ruthlessness of authoritarian dictators.
Many of the reasons for doctors leaving the profession are covered in the GMC document The State of Medical Education and Practice in the UK. The punch line of this document is that we are at high risk of doctors leaving clinical practice in unprecedented numbers. Within the next three years, many are considering reducing their hours (around a third), going part time (a fifth) and/or planning to leave UK practice and work abroad (a fifth).
Yes, 20% of UK doctors are planning to emigrate to escape the NHS.
Central government has attempted to correct the loss of doctors by increasing the number of training places but the losses mean that they must recruit from overseas. In 2018 half of new joiners were non-UK graduates, up from 44% in 2012. I feel sorry for these foreign doctors who are enticed to come to the NHS. Most can have no idea how bad it is for doctors.
Worst of all the media, especially the BBC, have been covering the appalling management and consequent retention disaster in the NHS as evidence of how important it is to permit large scale migration of medical staff to the UK. The journalists do not bother to find out what is actually happening but instead use the NHS to bolster pro-migration policies.
What really makes me angry is to see relatives being exploited mercilessly, being left in charge of large parts of hospitals past the end of their shift in the knowledge that they are so dedicated that they will not simply go home. They are not thanked in return for this dedication, instead the management will often spring the surprise of a week of night shifts on them as a reward.
-------------------------------------
As an aside it is amazing how the population are entirely unaware that Austerity was prolonged by adherence to the EU Stability and Growth Pact. Don't believe this? Click on these links: Parliamentary Report on EU Excess Deficit Procedure in the UK and History of the EU Excess Deficit Procedure with regard to the UK.
Note 1:
'In 2017, 57.4% of Foundation Year 2 doctors did not enter higher-training posts and 9000 doctors quit the NHS entirely. [1] In 2011, when career-destination surveys were first conducted, 71.3% of FY2 doctors progressed into higher training-posts. By 2016 this had dropped to 50.4% and last year the rates had plummeted further to 42.6%. [2] The rate of decline is near exponential. Added to this is a growing culture of quitting both across the specialties and across the generations. [1]'
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