How many weekends do you work as a dr

A*my

15

How many weekends do you work as a doctor each month? At junior level and then at consultant

Reply 1

A*my

OP

15

Thank you. So the majority of weekends you get completely off?? All of Saturday and Sunday. Why do so many drs complain about missing so many family events? Just curious.

Reply 2

A*my

OP

15

Thank you very much for your reply.

So that’s the same with foundation year doctors? As long as I have one in every few weekends off, that’s fine lol. Thought it was worse than that tbf.

How often are on-calls? And I’m also still slightly confused about what oncalls actually are. Also as a FY doctor are you often alone whilst on call, is it a lot more responsibility?

I don’t understand how doctors work all day and then are on call the same night, are you meant to sleep during that time unless you get a call? Or are doctors supposed to have special powers where they don’t need sleep?

Do foundation year doctors/ junior doctors usually find it ok to have days off in a row. for example a week or 2 off to go on holiday? Or is that usually difficult to negotiate with the rota?

Sorry for all the questions.

Reply 3

A*my

OP

15

Thank you very much, that’s very kind of you. Yep I have no doubt being a doctor is a very very difficult job and I admire you all. Just thought there were more weekends for some reason! You say they work 4 or 3 nights, how often are these? Eg. 4 nights every month or...

Also how often do you get out on time? And if you’re late out, how much by lol? It seems very rare for a doctor to actually finish at 5.

Reply 4

A*my

OP

15

Thank you so much for answering all my questions!

Just thought of one last question. Sorry to be a pain. Is it true that doctors in their first few years/ foundation training get sent round to loads of different hospitals or even cities? when you rotate round specialities every 4 months, do you also rotate round hospitals?

Reply 5

A*my

OP

15

Great. This has really filled me in a bit more. Thank you!

Reply 6

Democracy

20

Original post by A*my

Thank you. So the majority of weekends you get completely off?? All of Saturday and Sunday. Why do so many drs complain about missing so many family events? Just curious.

Very specialty dependent as already stated. In my current job I work every other weekend (A&E) i.e. one on, one off.

Re missing family events: you can't book annual leave when you are scheduled to be on call or doing nights. The best you can hope for is that another doctor is able to swap with you, but this is not always practical or possible as there needs to be adequate cover.

NHS admin can also be somewhat...cumbersome (I'm feeling charitable tonight), so even if you do arrange a swap and request it in plenty of time, it may still be completely disregarded - which then leads to stories of doctors being scheduled to be on call on their wedding day despite having requested it off months beforehand.

Reply 7

A*my

OP

15

Thank you for the extra info :smile:

Original post by Democracy

Very specialty dependent as already stated. In my current job I work every other weekend (A&E) i.e. one on, one off.

Re missing family events: you can't book annual leave when you are scheduled to be on call or doing nights. The best you can hope for is that another doctor is able to swap with you, but this is not always practical or possible as there needs to be adequate cover.

NHS admin can also be somewhat...cumbersome (I'm feeling charitable tonight), so even if you do arrange a swap and request it in plenty of time, it may still be completely disregarded - which then leads to stories of doctors being scheduled to be on call on their wedding day despite having requested it off months beforehand.