I'm currently signed off work with anxiety and depression. Not the first time. I hope it's the last.
I'm sharing this because it should be okay to share it. If I broke my leg I'd be tweeting about it. This still feels different, but it shouldn't be.
This boxing day, I am working.
SAS anaesthetists are keeping services running on labour suites, in theatres and in critical care all over the country.
We are often forgotten, but the NHS would collapse without its SAS doctors.
"They knew what they signed up for."
They've just worked through a once in 100 years pandemic, and pay has fallen 25% against inflation. Their crystal balls must be faulty.
"If they don't like it, they can leave."
Loads of them have. We could do with keeping a few.
Next?
It is bizarre to think that nurses and paramedics worked through a global pandemic. Some of them died from the COVID they caught caring for others.
People applauded them from the safety of their own doorsteps, and called them heroes.
Pay them their worth. Do it now.
Private sector wages apparently don't fuel inflation, only public sector ones.
Prices go up, private sector wages go up, but we absolutely must continue to keep the wages of doctors, nurses and teachers down.
Right.
In a hospital near you, there are sections of the building where the WiFi doesn't work and there is no phone reception.
Doctors are carrying bleeps where the screen is held together with sellotape and the battery is held in place with a rubber band.
Ceilings leak if it rains!
We've announced £100M funding to accelerate
#AI
in healthcare & life sciences.
👉 Helping us harness the latest tech to improve patient care and support NHS staff.
👉 AI tools are already having results – helping halve the time for stroke victims to get treated in some cases.
Speaking as a senior Anaesthetist of the next generation, I profoundly disagree with Dr Hilton.
Operating theatres are a workplace. All colleagues deserve respect and the ability to work with psychological safety.
It is indeed stressful, which makes this all the more important.
For those of you wondering how sexual harassment of female surgeons can occur *in theatre* - may I present to you a letter in today’s
@thetimes
Nowhere in any prospectus I read did it say “expect to be sexually harassed/assaulted”
This letter is shameful and shameless
Solidarity with my consultant colleagues, and my "junior doctor" colleagues.
The SAS doctors will once again rise to the occasion, as we often do.
All we ask in return is that you remember we exist and that you support us too. We are one workforce, after all.
Imagine you could go back in time to early 2020, and talk to doctors and nurses who were taking PPE drills and getting fitted for respirators.
Imagine if you told them in three years they would have to strike to see their pay match inflation and it still wouldn't do so.
Crikey.
A well-meaning colleague asked me today why I'm not a consultant.
I'm going to answer here, as I did earlier, because the question was meant kindly.
Firstly, I don't need to become a consultant for my career to be valid. I am delighted to be a Specialist.
I'm doing nights tonight, in a COVID ICU. I'm an anaesthetist who normally does obstetrics and eyes.
Regardless of lockdown or what "tier" you are in, if everyone could wear a mask, socially distance and stay home for a little longer, that would be great.
I know how he feels.
I think doing nights in a COVID ICU was a little "difficult" too, as is working in a collapsing NHS.
My reward for these is pay erosion. I suppose I did get a weekly round of applause for a bit, but that seems to have stopped now.
Chin up, Rishi lad.
🚨 | NEW: Rishi Sunak is finding being Prime Minister "difficult" over the last few weeks and doesn't feel like he's being rewarded for anything
[
@ShippersUnbound
]
The government has urged nurses to "carefully consider" the impact on patients.
Perhaps the government should "carefully consider" the impact of a decade of keeping the wages of the entire public sector down.
Solidarity.
Post-CCT fellowship, so this doctor is on the specialist register.
Basic pay offered here is less than the CT3 they will be supervising.
This country defies all reasonable explanation.
Best of luck in Oz folks, send me a postcard.
Blimey.
Therese Coffey talking about wholesale change to the way anaesthetics are provided in the UK, and the end of the era of physician delivered anaesthesia.
I don't remember reading this in a manifesto. I certainly don't remember voting for it.
Did you?
As government passed registration of PAs/AAs by the GMC today one particular clip really intrigued me:
@theresecoffey
here talks about having 1:3 supervision for AAs 🤔
We have to also remember she was health secretary - she’s seemingly marking her own homework here.
"Graduate and evacuate"
"F3 and flee"
"CCT and flee".
When these things have become common enough to have their own catchphrases, we really are in a world of trouble as a profession.
I'm a Specialty Doctor Anaesthetist, and I am fully vaccinated and boosted.
I trust the evidence, and the actual experts. Vaccines save lives, both by reducing severity of COVID infection, AND by freeing up beds and staff for people who are sick with something else.
Did I hallucinate the pandemic?
Less than three years ago, we applauded key workers for putting themselves at risk.
We are now calling those same doctors, nurses and teachers greedy for wanting their pay to keep pace with inflation.
We live in deeply unserious times.
Writing in The Sunday Times,
@SteveBarclay
calls on consultants not to strike, highlighting their six-figure earnings and bumper pensions + new pay rise this week.
But strike is about longer term decline in pay value, drs are unlikely to heed his words:
This week's strikes are about money, because neither claps nor vocation pay rent or buy milk.
The typical newly qualified junior doctor has a LOT of student debt, the interest on which keeps pace with inflation, while their salary does not.
Solidarity.
#ThisIsGoingToHurt
If you are struggling, talk to someone. Medicine can get to you, and it can feel like the end of the world.
CALM: 0800 58 58 58
Samaritans: 116 123
Alternatively, I'm always here. My DMs are open. I've been there too.
I send occasional emails after close of business on a Friday too.
I never get a response before the next working day. For the BMA JDC, I think the next working day is now Thursday.
Best hope you weren't after anything important.
I’ve written to
@BMA_JuniorDocs
inviting them for formal pay talks on the same basis other health unions accepted, including calling off next week’s strike.
Let’s have a constructive dialogue to make the NHS a better place to work and ensure we deliver the care patients need.
@flea333
My 6 year old son, Ben, is getting really into music, and drew this today after watching a few videos.
The labels are:
"There drummer"
"Jhon Friscanty"
"Red Hot Chily Peppers singer"
"Flea"
Yours was the only name he spelled right. Thought you might like it.
I am reminded of an old quote.
“Women are not dying because of untreatable diseases. They are dying because societies have yet to make the decision that their lives are worth saving” - Prof Mahmoud Fathalla
Maternity services need staffing and funding.
This article infers that every doctor on a trainee payscale will become a Consultant, in several places.
Firstly, this has never been true. Salaried GPs exist, and few earn £100k, SAS Doctors exist too. Morning.
Secondly "future earning potential" buys no milk and pays no rent.
I like the president of the Australian Medical Association.
He is also pretty spot on here.
Stamping out dissent, when it comes from your country's doctors and nurses, suggests something has gone pretty badly wrong somewhere.
We don't grow on trees.
@ollieburtonmed
Ollie, I really don't know anything about Mr Hunt, but it strikes me that the UK health care workforce has absolutely given its all during the pandemic - now saying doctors and nurses are the 'enemy' to be 'defeated' must feel like a monumental slap in the face...
@thomaswoodcock
Roshana is a trainee orthopaedic surgeon, not a consultant. She is a tireless campaigner on behalf of junior doctors, and does most of this in what little free time her training affords.
I reckon she has earned her holiday.
The bottlenecks currently faced by doctors mean the "typical" time taken to become a consultant is a lot longer than a decade.
Some of this is by choice, but much of it isn't, and there is no guarantee of seeing the next stage of training.
We don't all become consultants.
.
@SkyNews
Junior doctors can train for up to TEN years, not 8 as you’ve just reported.
Like this:
Medical school. 5-6 years.
Then:
FY1 - 1st year
FY2 - 2nd
CT1/ST1 - 3rd
ST2/ST2 - 4th
ST3 - 5th
ST4 - 6th
ST5 - 7th
ST6 - 8th
ST7 - 9th
ST8 - 10th
I've been seeing a few "wasn't the pandemic funny?" type tweets this week.
I'm not there. I remember the night shifts surrounded by COVID and the fear.
We didn't all have the same pandemic.
For anyone interested:
Only 20,000 or so doctors in training are under 30
27,000 are aged 30-34
More than 15,000 are aged 35-39
Almost 5000 are 40-44
More than 1500 are 45-50
About 500 are more than 50
The "trust" doctors, on the same pay scales, are typically older still.
The perpetual infantilisation of the medical workforce must stop. When we people get it, people are
#juniordoctors
well into their 30-40s, & 50s (like me). This article by
@gabyhinsliff
shows why the term must be ditched. Being a doctor despite age requires maturity beyond years
What makes a senior doctor?
I still frequently hear
#SASdoctors
described as "middle" grades, or as working at "registrar" level.
If experience counts for anything, I have just started ST14. I'm not a consultant, but nor am I lesser for not being. I am
#SASbyChoice
.
@ClareGerada
@Dr_BellaR
We don't all get to a consultant salary. We don't all live to see retirement. We don't all get to see our pensions.
Future earning potential doesn't buy any milk, or pay any rent, and makes the assumption we will all have the future you have had, Dr Gerada. We won't.
“Women are not dying because of diseases we cannot treat. They are dying because societies have yet to make the decision that their lives are worth saving.” Prof. Mahmoud Fathalla, UN
#oaanewcastle2019
I started at my new job at
@SFHFT
at the beginning of January.
I've got a locker, clogs, an ID badge, a parking permit, AND I've been paid today, AND it seems to be for the right amount.
These things make me very happy.
I am very fond of the Christmas hermit crab, but I have no idea where we got him.
If anyone else has any other
#InexplicableBaubles
feel free to quote tweet this with your own. Help me make December 23rd all about random tree ornaments.
This isn't even the first survey to find this, this year.
Unless we start treating healthcare professionals like the valuable resource they are, we won't have many left.
I'm very pleased to have just accepted the position of SAS Advocate at
@SFHFT
.
I will be one of two Advocates, starting shortly, representing and supporting the wellbeing of SAS and LE doctors within the organisation.
There are currently a number of international medical graduates working in the UK, on annually renewing, one-year "Trust doctor" contracts.
They don't have the protections of a national contract, many have no pay progression, and they often no recourse to speak up about it.
Just a reminder, again, that SAS doctors exist. My twitter feed is full of talk about how consultants will cover for doctors in training during the strike.
Something tells me a lot of SAS doctors will be covering these out-of-hours rotas, rather than just consultant colleagues.
Solidarity, again, with my junior doctor colleagues on strike this week.
If I could ask a small favour in return for carrying the SHO bleep, could people please stop saying that a junior doctor is anyone who isn't a consultant.
The SAS doctors and the GPs would beg to differ.
I correct people if they assume I am a consultant. I also make a point of not attending "consultant meetings". I try to get the language corrected to be more inclusive. It is hard work, but I do it.
Consultant is a title which is earned, and I'm not one.
I'm proud of what I am.
Medtwitter, say congratulations to my dear colleague
@fozzakalabozza
, who has just had confirmation that his CESR application in emergency medicine was successful.
He has been with us doing some anaesthetic bits, and I am delighted for him!
@totallytigers
@DavidAinsNHS
@SFHFT
1/ This is a tweet far all the clinical directors in anaesthesia, the DMEs, and the medical directors.
At the moment a large number of doctors are stuck between core and higher training in anaesthesia.
You can offer them a career.
I was on holiday during the second strike.
I'm not a junior doctor, but apparently that is a minor detail.
If any journalists want to write a story about it, crack on.
Solidarity with the doctors who have voted for strike action. There is power in unity, and in a union.
However, for the sake of my sanity, can people please stop tweeting that a junior doctor is anyone who isn't a GP or a consultant?
You are annoying the hell out of me, again.
@pjsouthall
@MUDITA14
We were trying to shield a family member with cancer in our home, and I was going to work and looking after patients with COVID.
I was frightened I would die, but I was more frightened I would give her COVID and she would die.
The fear was real. It shouldn't be forgotten.
In a few years, we will look back at how we treated the 50,000 IMGs, and 26,000 UK graduates currently without training numbers, and wonder what we thought we were doing.
The Medical Council of New Zealand has made it easier for PLAB-passed IMGs to get registration.
This has opened another route for the IMGs to leave the UK if they feel they are not getting fair treatment.
Retention is vital, but how can we retain our existing medical workforce? A thread.
1. Pension taxation. This issue is driving senior doctors out of the workforce, or making them reduce their hours. It is absolutely unacceptable that this issue remains unsolved.
Happy Christmas, everyone.
My 11 year old daughter has got me a mug that days "DAD" on it, and when you put a hot drink in, it changes colour to reveal the word "SMELLS".
She is very entertained by this indeed.
Ho ho ho.
Saying goodbye to a pet is hard.
We've known this little ball of fluff longer than we have known our children, and many of our closest friends.
Night, Fluffy. You have a good sleep. We'll take care of things from here.
First payday after changeover, and my timeline is full of doctors who haven't been paid.
Sometimes I genuinely believe that medicine is a prolonged hazing ritual, an elaborate practical joke I haven't yet been let in on.
The Times have gone with "mid ranking medics".
The BBC have used "specialist doctors".
The secretary of state has gone with "specialised doctors" and "special specialty doctors".
The term you're all after is "SAS doctors" folks.
You're killing me. Crikey.
This is your occasional reminder, that if you have 4 years postgraduate experience, 2 in a specialty, then you meet the eligibility to become a Specialty Doctor in that specialty.
If you are outside of training, this is the nationally negotiated contract for your work.
1/4 The GMC website lets you analyse the data for registered doctors. It is fascinating.
We are almost at a point where SAS / LE doctors are the most numerous group of doctors.
This is an article everyone needs to read.
Medical culture persists in the name of tradition, causing immeasurable harm.
Can you imagine the strength required to succeed in a system that tells you "you’re not one of us" and treats you this way?
@WhistlingDixie4
@ObserverUK
The contempt with which we treat foreign graduates, at the same time as being profoundly reliant on their labour, is about as British a thing as I can imagine.
As you say, there has to be a better way. We need every doctor.
Secondly, there have been times in my career where I did want to be a consultant, but I couldn't see how to make it happen.
As a trainee with a young family, I had to make a choice about what mattered to me more, and I chose my life and my family. I would do so again.
After a splendid interview yesterday, I am very glad to have been offered a job as a Specialty Doctor Anaesthetist at
@SFHFT
.
Looking forward to new challenges (and shorter commutes).
@parthaskar
@DrSdeG
I am increasingly of the opinion that anyone labelled "troublemaker" should immediately have their viewpoint heard at the highest level in an organisation.
Time and time again people get into trouble for trying to do the right thing.
@MissBethanEJohn
This has really resonated with me.
I resigned my training number after 5 years as a trainee. I'm still an anaesthetist, still trying to carve my own path, hoping that I made the right decision.
It takes courage to choose not to do what is expected of you.
Wowsers.
Quite a few tweets about how if doctors didn't rotate, they would be treated with more consideration by employers.
A lot of SAS doctors would disagree, I'm afraid. There are some big documents demonstrating this.
@Brozapine
Because there has never been a more noble aspiration than healthcare based on need rather than means, and free at the point of use.
It is currently not a great employer, but its founding principles are something I would defend to the end.
Someone kind this week suggested I am "equivalent" to a consultant.
This was kind, but it isn't true. Consultant is an earned title, and I'm not one.
Being a Specialist means I am a senior, experienced and independent SAS doctor, an expert in my own niche. This IS what I am.
If I do ever manage to become a Specialist, I'm going to request that my badge says Specialist (SAS) Anaesthetist.
I think it would be nice to have my badge reflect my professional group.
A reminder to anyone suggesting that more international medical graduates is the reason that there aren't enough foundation places, that you are incorrect.
The data exists, and your immediate assumption that this might be the case without checking that data reflects a bias.
Crikey.
The NHS is going to have to up its game. A lot of IMGs in our workforce are in short-term LED roles, without meaningful job security or career progression.
We have to recognise how important these doctors are to our workforce, because they are.
The Medical Council of New Zealand has made it easier for PLAB-passed IMGs to get registration.
This has opened another route for the IMGs to leave the UK if they feel they are not getting fair treatment.
It is disappointing, but perhaps predictable to have reached this point.
SAS doctors have covered the industrial action of our consultant colleagues, our locally-employed colleagues, and our colleagues in training.
Hopefully you can do the same for us now, folks.
Solidarity.
Now’s the time for us to make good on our promise and begin preparing for our first strike action.
While we prepare to strike, we’re continuing talks with Government and are hopeful a deal can still be reached.
Read the update and get ready to strike 👇
I can't help feeling we will see more of this in the coming months and years.
The decision to head to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the USA and others used to come after a little experience in the NHS.
Anecdotally, I suspect more graduates will never work in the UK.
Hi
#MedTwitter
! My name is Nawaz Safdar and I’m a final year med student at the Uni of Leeds
@LeedsMedHealth
. I’m applying
#InternalMedicine
during
#Match2024
and would love to connect with you! I love endurance running but as of late my mouth’s been more active than my legs 🌯
I have a lot of opinions. I am very confident about some of them. I am never THIS confident about anything.
This is a journalist arguing with surgeons about whether in fact they are doctors or not.
I love this app.
The majority of international medical graduates on "junior doctor" contracts, potentially eligible to strike next week, are not in formal training programmes.
These "locally-employed", "Trust doctor", "clinical fellows" are the most marginalised group in the medical workforce.
@VictoriaAtkins
"Specialists" are one small group within the SAS workforce.
The group you have made an offer to are "SAS doctors". It really troubles me that you are getting this wrong, as it suggests you have no idea who you are talking about.
I really hope that isn't the case.
I am begging you all to stop calling SAS and LE doctors "non-training grades" especially at conferences about education.
You are reinforcing the culture that says these doctors shouldn't be receiving development opportunity.
If nothing else, you look daft.
It is always a privilege to be a Labour suite Anaesthetist.
Making births safer and more comfortable seems like a very honourable reason for a sleepless night.
Best of luck to all the new doctors starting tomorrow.
You are no more or less prepared than any generation before you. Getting through your degree in COVID times makes you all amazing, as far as I'm concerned.
Deep breath. Ask for help as you need to. We have got your back.
If you need more permanent colleagues, to progress and develop in your organisation, Specialty Doctors have:
A medical degree ✅
Four years experience, working as doctors ✅
Two years experience in your specialty ✅
SAS Doctors are the solution you are looking for.
Multiple staff members apparently spoke up and were silenced.
The NHS needs meaningful whistleblowing protections, and actual investigation when someone speaks up.
Can you imagine being the person who suspected this was going on, and had to then apologise for suggesting so?
I would like to send my deepest sympathy to all the parents and families affected by the horrendous case of Lucy Letby.
I have ordered an independent inquiry, which will seek to ensure the parents and families impacted get the answers they need.
1/3
I have voted, and I have voted in favour of industrial action.
If SAS doctors are the only group unprepared to stand and be counted, we will get exactly what we are given, and I am tired of waiting for crumbs.
I'm sure I am not alone.
“It feels demeaning.”
#SASdoctors
are highly qualified and valuable members of the NHS team, but we are not treated fairly.
Here’s why we urge SAS doctors in England to vote YES in our indicative ballot.
#FairPayFullyValued
If anyone is in any doubt, I wholeheartedly support junior doctor colleagues, in any industrial action they take in line with the law.
As it was 6 years ago, retention of the workforce is the bigger patient safety issue.
We don't have enough doctors, and we need medical school places to keep pace with demand.
However, even with the tap wide open it is tricky to fill a colander.
We don't just need doctors in five years time, we need them NOW. Retention has to be the priority.
The Tories failed to train enough doctors over 13 years.
Now patients are told to get on their bike to see a GP.
We will double medical school places so patients can easily book appointments to see the GP they want, in the manner they choose.