The strength of feeling of anger within the healthcare profession is so strong that those not planning to take industrial action are reluctant to speak out. I want the public and my colleagues to know that I will be at work, not because I support the new contract, but because I do not support striking […]
Category: Junior doctors
Henry Murphy: The Moderate Doctor
Jeremy Hunt recently told Twitter that “Moderate doctors must defeat the militants,” quoting the title of a Times article about the current war between the Department of Health and the BMA. My first response was to sit back and enjoy a flurry of hilarious responses (the reason I look at the @Jeremy_Hunt Twitter page so […]
Ahimza Thirunavukarasu: Thinking about empathy
I’ve thought a lot about empathy recently. As a junior doctor on a psychiatry rotation, this is unsurprising, as interacting with people with acute mental health problems on a daily basis requires more patience and understanding than any of my previous roles. But it is one of the reasons I’ve enjoyed the rotation. I’ve learnt […]
Global Health Curriculum group: A changing world and what it means for medical training
This month the BMA released a report on the need for pre and post-graduate medical education and training to adapt in the face of a rapidly “changing world.” We are pleased to see recognition of the need to update postgraduate competencies. However, as doctors in training who are dedicated to the integration of global health into current […]
Richard Smith: The Catch 22 of health strikes
Junior doctors are clearly extremely angry. Some 15 000 junior doctors recently protested against changes in their contract. As there are about 55 000 junior doctors in England, that’s the equivalent of about 16m of the general population protesting a change. That would be a revolution. But why are junior doctors so angry and what should they do about their […]
Patrice Baptiste: Exploring doctors’ mental health
Since my last blog (“Mental health issues among medical students“), I have been thinking about how mental health issues affect doctors. If such issues arise among medical students who have not yet stepped into the working world, what about doctors who have dedicated decades of their life to the medical profession? Through looking into this […]
Patrice Baptiste: Mental health issues among medical students
I was extremely saddened when I read the Student BMJ’s article on a survey of 1122 medical students, 343 of whom were suffering with mental health issues. Several astounding figures captured my attention. Firstly, 80% of the 343 students stated that the support they received was poor, if they received any support at all. 167 […]
Alex Langford: Tips for new doctors
It’s been six years since I qualified from medical school and over a week since my final shift as an SHO. Between those points, I learnt a thing or two about being a junior doctor. Before I ascend to the heady heights of registardom and forget it all, I want to pass along a few […]
Martin Kaminski: A word of advice to future house officers
Once again the NHS approaches the first week of August, specifically changeover Wednesday—when freshly tempered medical school graduates throughout the UK auspiciously start their first days working as bona fide junior doctors. But we often forget that changeover day also marks the no less important occasion when many doctors in training become ever so slightly […]
Stephanie Rimmer: Foundation training fears
Having recently graduated from medical school, in a few days’ time I will start my first ever job as a doctor. That title alone, which I worked so hard for, now completely terrifies me and feels totally unjustified. How can I have spent the last five years studying, to lead me up to this point, and yet feel […]