Problems of unemployment facing current and future medical graduates

A selection of testimonials below to show the vast problem of unemployment among UK medical graduates that is unlikely to be resolved within the next few years! yikes.
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I am a PRHO with a career plan of attaining a vocational training service place and becoming a GP. After failing to secure a VTS scheme placement I applied for a large variety of jobs and have now resorted to applying for non-training posts.

With such a shortage of GPs, I cannot believe that someone such as myself who has always wanted a career in general practice is having such difficulty.
Sam Lad MB BS
London

I have met the person specifications for short-listing in every job I have applied for. I’ve had my CV looked at by consultants and deanery career advisers. I tick all the boxes: honours, prizes, international presentations, audit, publications and multiple outside interests. Not a single person has given me any feedback and I’ve tried extremely hard to find out why I am not shortlisted. I feel let down.
Name and address supplied

Where does the current situation leave our generation of doctors? Some friends have vowed to leave the UK once postgraduate exams are completed. Others have left the profession altogether, disillusioned. Some, like myself, have managed to battle on in our chosen careers. If something is not done soon, the NHS may face an exodus of junior doctors.
Rishi Talwar MB BS
London

I am completing my pre-registration house officer year and have not yet secured a senior house officer training post for August.

What is the point of spending hundreds of thousands of pounds to put me through medical school and then leaving me on the sidelines?

This is a waste of my talent, and I feel outraged and insulted by this joke of a system. I would like a career in medicine and I know I have the qualities and potential to be an excellent physician. The only obstacle in my way is the training system that should be on my side. It is preventing me from using my medical abilities to treat sick people.

I think Modernising Medical Careers is a sub-standard system that will fail miserably in the long run. The main point of the new training system is to save money and this will not benefit patient care.

As far as I am concerned, I am happy to take my abilities and talent overseas to either Australia or America where this MMC nonsense is not happening. I will gladly provide good quality patient care to the public overseas because clearly the public here will not benefit from me being a doctor.

So thank you, Mr and Mrs Taxpayer, for providing my medical degree but you will not reap the rewards. You have the new British medical system to thank for that.
Naveen Bhadauria MB BS
Kent

Disappointment, disillusionment and dire warnings: many junior doctors have been prompted to share their job-hunting experiences following reports in BMA News about the crisis shortage of senior house officer posts. Here is a selection of the letters received

Who are the politicians and civil servants who created this mess? They are paid large salaries yet provide incompetent planning that is ruining the lives of UK-qualified doctors who are so desperately needed by the country as consultants.

I would be suspended if I made such errors in my work. Why are huge sums of taxpayers’ money being wasted in creating half-cooked junior doctors who can be of no service to the nation?
Name and address supplied

This [job shortage] is a big problem and there are many juniors out there who could do with some support — I felt I was the only one when I applied for many SHO posts with little success. I was eventually fortunate enough to be selected for a foundation year two post.
Afshan Ghani BM BCh
Newport

I am completing the normal pre-registration house officer post in August and have a
job in Sydney for a year in A&E. I am extremely unclear about what will happen on my return.
Will I fall into the foundation year two even though I did not do foundation year one? Will there be any normal senior house officer posts available? Which will be more appropriate? Which will assist career progression the most?

Having spoken to my former medical school and the deanery, the consensus is a wait-and-see approach. A consultant surgeon has advised me to stay in Australia until the transition phase here has been sorted, so perhaps I’ll just soak up the sun in Oz and see.
Bhavesh Gohil MB BS
London

My CV is good but I cannot secure even a lowly trust SHO post. I am very disillusioned and angry that all my experience is not good enough. Some competition for jobs can be ‘healthy’ but incompetence in workforce planning will ruin the careers of many junior doctors.
Name and address supplied

Reply 1

Fluffy

Tell us something we don't already know!

There's no such thing as a guarenteed job. And it's certainly not the 'new problem' the media like to portray it as.