![\"LONDON,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SEI_267221275-7eee.jpg\")
\n\t\tDoctors move constantly between crises, putting out one fire only to be pulled towards the next (Picture: Getty)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tDoctors move constantly between crises, putting out one fire only to be pulled towards the next (Picture: Getty)<\/p>\n
When I step into A&E, it\u2019s like operating in a war zone.<\/a><\/p>\n Trolleys line corridors that were never designed to hold patients. Curtains are pulled to create the illusion of privacy and dignity. And every spare corner has been repurposed, every metre stretched beyond what it was built for.<\/p>\n Doctors move constantly between crises, putting out one fire only to be pulled towards the next.\u00a0<\/p>\n Decisions are made quickly, often with incomplete information, because there is no time to wait for ideal conditions that never arrive.<\/p>\n We resident doctors, the backbone of the NHS, deserve to be rewarded fairly for this. <\/p>\n \t\t\t\tSign up for all of the latest stories\t\t\t<\/p>\n Start your day informed with Metro’s News Updates<\/a> newsletter or get Breaking News<\/a> alerts the moment it happens. <\/p>\n Instead, poor working conditions, unstable contracts with worsening terms, mass unemployment and pay that has been systematically hollowed out since 2008 mean that many of us now earn less in real terms than doctors at the same stage did over a decade ago.<\/p>\n To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web Working in the West Midlands as a resident doctor was once a privilege, but it\u2019s now a real challenge \u2013 and the cracks are on full show, especially among my cohort of colleagues.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s why I, and many of my resident doctor colleagues, are striking this week.<\/a><\/p>\n And for that, we\u2019ve been made public enemy number one by Health Secretary Wes Streeting. Instead of negotiating fairly, we feel he\u2019s thrown fuel on the fire.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Throughout this winter \u2013 and sadly many before it \u2013 the troubled way of working that has defined my residency has continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite the physical and mental exhaustion, I didn\u2019t even question it.<\/a><\/p>\n That is, until a colleague of mine had been broken to the point of tears and confessed that she, and everyone around her, were existing in a hypnotic, zombie-like state. She pointed out that we\u2019re utterly neglecting our physical needs while being martyrs to a healthcare system ripping at the seams.<\/p>\n For resident (formerly junior) doctors, finishing on time is rare, short breaks are a luxury and on particularly bad days, there isn\u2019t even any time to get a sip of water all day<\/a>. This is the reality observed by all my colleagues.<\/p>\n The initial excitement and uncertainty of starting medicine I once felt have long since passed, and what remains is an acute awareness of how difficult and unstable the work has become.<\/p>\n \t\t With chronic underinvestment in the NHS and no meaningful workforce planning \u2013 by either the previous Tory Governments or, it seems, under this Labour administration \u2013 the service, it seems to me, has been reduced to a minimum provision model that routinely fails patients and staff alike.<\/p>\n Even though the current political environment is hostile, with politicians from all parties hurling insults at doctors, the charge being led by Wes Streeting is particularly disappointing.<\/a><\/p>\n His resistance to negotiate on pay is as harmful as it is unhelpful. He suggests that these strikes have come \u2018at the moment of maximum danger\u2019 branding them \u2018self-indulgent, irresponsible and dangerous\u2019, but when the scale of the deterioration has become impossible to ignore, he should surely want to help those of us on the frontline.<\/p>\n He should choose his words far more carefully.\u00a0<\/p>\n Because there\u2019s nothing indulgent about the chaos I experience daily.<\/a><\/p>\n I now see late diagnoses of cancer and other serious conditions with alarming regularity. One case I will never forget was a young woman, ten days after giving birth to her second child, sitting in a busy hospital when she was told she had a large brain tumour. Her prognosis was poor.<\/p>\n I am left feeling that I have failed in my mission to improve lives. But this failure is not personal. It sits squarely with those in power, while we are left to deal with the consequences.<\/p>\n To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web The rate of burnout among junior doctors is profound, I find it deplorable that 79% of trusts told NHS providers they had concerns of staff burnout. <\/a>Compared to the general population, doctors are more likely to suffer from depression, anxiety, and insomnia.<\/a><\/p>\n As well as a significant erosion in pay, doctors today are asking to simply be there for their patients: to have secure employment. The BMA has surveyed doctors across the country and found 34% of resident doctors had no substantive employment after August 2025, with the figure rising to 52% with the newest qualified doctors.<\/p>\n The next time you can\u2019t see your GP, or you\u2019re waiting double digit hours in A&E, waiting over a year for a specialist appointment, maybe you should ask yourself whether secure employment for doctors sounds unreasonable. Our unemployment crisis is a public health crisis.<\/a><\/p>\n As for our salary, \u00a322 per hour is actually nothing short of a bargain compared to most other developed countries.\u00a0<\/p>\n Don\u2019t forget, the cost of actually being a doctor in the NHS \u2013 indemnity fees, registration fees, trade union fees, examination fees and portfolio fees \u2013 tallies up to thousands of pounds every year. If we can\u2019t pay those fees, we can\u2019t help and believe me, we want to.<\/p>\n The government says \u2018there\u2019s no more money for resident doctors\u2019, but paying us fairly is an investment that pays for itself many times over.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t Resident doctors are striking not just to restore our pay and fight for secure employment, but to create the working conditions that we \u2013 and ultimately our patients \u2013 deserve<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Government, and the Health Secretary in particular, need to reel in the insults, and finally fund an NHS that works for everyone.<\/p>\n Without resident doctors, that\u2019s impossible.<\/p>\n The show of solidarity across the country has been excellent. Now, it\u2019s time for the Government to act.<\/p>\n In truth, the NHS is on a knife edge and this self-described \u2018zombie cohort\u2019 of junior doctors could really do with an injection of new life. I reinforce the point that professional wellbeing is inextricably linked to public health: the two are inseparable.<\/p>\n We cannot have good healthcare without a well-staffed, replenished NHS.<\/a><\/p>\n A version of this article was published March 15, 2023.<\/p>\n Do you have a story you\u2019d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Ross.Mccafferty@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n Share your views in the comments below.<\/p>\n Arrow Arrow Arrow
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\n\t\tI am left feeling that I have failed in my mission to improve lives (Picture: AFP)<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tWe cannot have good healthcare without a well-staffed, replenished NHS (Picture: Wiktor Szymanowicz\/Future Publishing via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
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