Resident doctors’ focus on pay is doing untold damage to the NHS | Doctors

As a retired doctor, now 80 years old, I feel sad while I look at our doctors resident of struggling to put pressure on the government to increase their compensation package (Wes Street “ thought he had concluded an agreement to stop the doctors’ ”, on July 27). This behavior will have large -scale consequences, which are unlikely to be beneficial for doctors or the country.

Obviously, the action will lead to delays in treatment and probably unnecessary morbidity and mortality. This will make the NHS vulnerable to the pressure of those who promote its abolition. Already, he has alienated large sections of the population whose doctors have always been able to count before.

But the British Medical Association assured resident doctors that it is necessary for them to put their life forward the well-being of the public, to ensure that the NHS survives in the future. It is a false promise.

The engagement of doctors and nurses residents has always been an integral part of the success of the NHS, and there is no doubt that this has been at the heart of the incredible efficiency it has demonstrated since its creation. It was designed as a non -commercial organization.

There have always been areas of the world where doctors could gain more than at home. But for the most part, the NHS attractions won over the pecuniary advantages available elsewhere. I fear that by fixing their objective only an increased remuneration, the resident doctors of today lead the NHS to a change in all its philosophy, the ethics which made it a success. The BMA should focus on improving the working conditions of doctors, as Wes Streting offered them.
Robert Behrman
Cookham Dean, Berkshire

On Sunday, I canceled my subscription to the British Medical Association after being a member for 39 years, disgusting its insistence to continue the strike of resident doctors in pursuit of a salary increase of 29%, despite an increase of 22% in the previous two years.

It is difficult to know what is the correct remuneration rate for resident doctors, but no other group in the health service is looking for such a salary increase, and the strike decision seems to ignore patients, as well as all other staff members alongside whom they work. I believe that improving the working conditions of doctors and all other groups should be sought through discussions, as the government has proposed, not strikes.

Whatever the appropriate salary for resident doctors, they should be happy not to obtain the equivalent of £ 2 an hour, we were paid in the 1980s for each 60 hours per week, we had to be in the hospital in addition to our 40 -hour base week.
Professor David Cameron
Belhaven, East Lothian

I have a lot of sympathy for our resident doctors, even if I was on call on Sunday as a consultant. It is not only that remuneration was eroded, but also that the cost of becoming a doctor has increased, as is the cost of living in general.

Unlike most other well -paid professions, half of the doctors are women. The cost of childcare services has increased considerably since my day. There is no more accommodation at Bon Marché hospital. And the student loans system is misogynistic in principle, the interests accumulating during maternity leave.

Women earn less during their career, but end up reimbursing much more for their student loans as a group. And due to the forced itinerant lifestyle, most doctors get started on the scale of the accommodation quite late, to pay more and more unaffordable rents.
Marianne Gemmeke
Eastleigh, Hampshire

Wes Streting rightly stresses that 90% of resident doctors voted for a strike action, with a 55% stake (the strike of resident doctors undermines the union movement, explains Wes Streting, July 25). This means that a little less than 50% of all resident doctors voted in favor.

He does not emphasize that work is in power on the votes of 34% of the 60% that have proven – around 20% of the electorate. The results of the doctors seem more convincing as an opinion test, whatever you think of the Pay price.
Peter West
London