TSR Med Students' Society Part IV

Not at all. I fail to see how this is an important issue in the midst of economic recession where entire countries are financially collapsing, unemployment is high, and then you get doctors saying that £68k isn't a big enough pension?! The public are never going to support this.

We're not saying that £68k isn't a big enough pension (and it's worth pointing out that not that many people will actually receive that much). We're saying that they're fed up with being trampled over. Doctors have been shafted for years, from the horrific hours of pre-EWTD hospital work, via the MTAS debacle, the removal of free accommodation for F1s (effectively a 30-40% paycut), the Health and Social Care Bill where our concerns have been totally ignored, the systematic belittling of our profession by politicians and the media for years...and now this. We are fed up that a pensions deal which has been renegotiated multiple times (and apparently, though I wasn't working at the time, they were told in 2008 that there would be "no more changes"), which is self-sustaining and a net contributor to the economy, which, although generous compared with the private sector is less than that of the civil service and other equivalently paid/skilled public sector jobs, has now been altered and dictated to us, with no negotiation or options for compromise. A lot of people will lose out on a lot of money, and the idea of having to work until 68 in order to get your full pension entitlement is frankly dangerous. Just wait until a patient dies because a 67 year old doctor couldn't save them/made a mistake - but it will all be blamed on them, and not the government that forced them to work till that age.

To be honest, I don't know for sure why we have finally decided to strike over this and not any of the disasters that have gone before, and I think it would have been better to ballot and strike with all the other unions back in November, but I think it's totally right to make a stand and point out to the government that we're fed up of being treated like crap, and want to be treated like the professionals that we are.

We're not saying that £68k isn't a big enough pension (and it's worth pointing out that not that many people will actually receive that much). We're saying that we're fed up with being trampled over. Doctors have been shafted for years, from the horrific hours of pre-EWTD hospital work, via the MTAS debacle, the removal of free accommodation for F1s (effectively a 30-40% paycut), the Health and Social Care Bill where our concerns have been totally ignored, the systematic belittling of our profession by politicians and the media for years...and now this. We are fed up that a pensions deal which has been renegotiated multiple times (and apparently, though I wasn't working at the time, they were told in 2008 that there would be "no more changes"), which is self-sustaining and a net contributor to the economy, which, although generous compared with the private sector is less than that of the civil service and other equivalently paid/skilled public sector jobs, has now been altered and dictated to us, with no negotiation or options for compromise. A lot of people will lose out on a lot of money, and the idea of having to work until 68 in order to get your full pension entitlement is frankly dangerous. Just wait until a patient dies because a 67 year old doctor couldn't save them/made a mistake - but it will all be blamed on them, and not the government that forced them to work till that age.

To be honest, I don't know for sure why we have finally decided to strike over this and not any of the disasters that have gone before, and I think it would have been better to ballot and strike with all the other unions back in November, but I think it's totally right to make a stand and point out to the government that we're fed up of being treated like crap, and want to be treated like the professionals that we are.

So, on call with cardiothoracics and a guy ended up getting his chest opened up in the cath labs. Surely not a common experience, crazy stuff.

Lol. That sounds pretty cool, cardiothoracic surgeons have amazing jobs and I wish that I could be one but that type of surgery to way too hardcore for me.

So, on call with cardiothoracics and a guy ended up getting his chest opened up in the cath labs. Surely not a common experience, crazy stuff.

We're not saying that £68k isn't a big enough pension (and it's worth pointing out that not that many people will actually receive that much). We're saying that we're fed up with being trampled over. Doctors have been shafted for years, from the horrific hours of pre-EWTD hospital work, via the MTAS debacle, the removal of free accommodation for F1s (effectively a 30-40% paycut), the Health and Social Care Bill where our concerns have been totally ignored, the systematic belittling of our profession by politicians and the media for years...and now this. We are fed up that a pensions deal which has been renegotiated multiple times (and apparently, though I wasn't working at the time, they were told in 2008 that there would be "no more changes"), which is self-sustaining and a net contributor to the economy, which, although generous compared with the private sector is less than that of the civil service and other equivalently paid/skilled public sector jobs, has now been altered and dictated to us, with no negotiation or options for compromise. A lot of people will lose out on a lot of money, and the idea of having to work until 68 in order to get your full pension entitlement is frankly dangerous. Just wait until a patient dies because a 67 year old doctor couldn't save them/made a mistake - but it will all be blamed on them, and not the government that forced them to work till that age.

To be honest, I don't know for sure why we have finally decided to strike over this and not any of the disasters that have gone before, and I think it would have been better to ballot and strike with all the other unions back in November, but I think it's totally right to make a stand and point out to the government that we're fed up of being treated like crap, and want to be treated like the professionals that we are.

So, on call with cardiothoracics and a guy ended up getting his chest opened up in the cath labs. Surely not a common experience, crazy stuff.

Not common, but not unheard of. It doesn't often end well.

...

We're not saying that £68k isn't a big enough pension (and it's worth pointing out that not that many people will actually receive that much). We're saying that we're fed up with being trampled

I'm not disagreeing that doctors have every right to be pissed off with how successive governments have treated them, but it's badly timed and it's the wrong issue to be making a stand over.

I think the strike is going to be an absolute disaster in terms of public opinion. I understand that this may be the final straw in a long list of problems thrown at doctors by the government, and that there may be many good reasons why a cut to doctors pensions may not be justified. However, they have absolutely picked the wrong issue to complain about in a recession. If anything I think highlighting how much consultants/GPs earn at the moment will make people even more angry, not sympathetic. I think we will get very little public support.

It's only going to be a disaster if we let the public believe all the abusive propaganda the government is trying to throw about this. If we get some sensible accurate information out there, we stand a chance of being understood. You'll never get full public support over a strike, but giving up on it at this stage is a bit defeatist.

It's only going to be a disaster if we let the public believe all the abusive propaganda the government is trying to throw about this. If we get some sensible accurate information out there, we stand a chance of being understood. You'll never get full public support over a strike, but giving up on it at this stage is a bit defeatist.

Do you know if there are plans to get sensible, accurate information out there?

I feel uncomfortable knowing that The Sun is Britain's most read paper (and others like The Daily Mail can't be far behind) and I doubt that's (or many others are) going to portray things in a sensible, accurate and balanced way. Further public animosity seems almost certain from where I'm sitting.