Guy Rughani is a Foundation Year 2 doctor working in North London. He wrote this short letter to the BJGP.
Contribute to the BJGP at http://bjgp.org/letters.
I want to be a GP, but the government is doing everything it can to stop me.
Mr Hunt’s brilliant answer to the crisis in GP recruitment is to slash trainee pay by 30%, penalise doctors taking maternity leave or extra degrees and extend normal working hours.1 Morale amongst my peers about to apply for specialty training is catastrophically low. As a result, the majority of my friends are looking to move from the NHS and take a ‘Foundation Year 3: FY3’ because they perceive that their immediate future here is bleak. At a time in our careers when we should be optimistic and enthusiastic, it’s tragic that the state of the English NHS is leaving us so disillusioned. Scotland has dismissed the new junior contract, making a move North ever more tempting.
We need a strong positive message from senior doctors that there is a bright future in English General Practice, and a commitment from government that our incomes will be protected and our efforts valued.
1: BMA Junior and Consultant contract negotiations explained: http://bma.org.uk/working-for-change/in-depth-junior-and-consultant-contract/ddrb-recommendations-analysis-for-juniors#trainee“
The timing of these proposed contract changes has been the most incredible blunder on the part of the government. At a time when they are supposed to be encouraging recruitment into General Practice they propose to slash salaries for GP trainess. It makes no difference now that Jeremy Hunt has just given ‘assurances’ that pay for GP trainees under the new contract will be no less than currently as it is not clear what these assurances actually are and this leaves enough doubt and uncertainty that no FY2 doctor in their right mind would put in an application.
FY2s are only weeks away for applying to their chosen specialties and, for those who were thinking of applying to General Practice, I can only see two reasonable options 1) either apply for something else or 2) spend a year abroad or locuming in the UK and see what happens next year.
if we thought there was a GP recruitment crisis already, I suspect we’re about to find out what a crisis really looks like.