Being a medical student battling against the dwindling morale of our senior workforce is trying at the best of times.\r\n\r\nCombine that with Health Secretary Wes Streeting\u2019s remarks that junior doctors are \u2018moaning minnies\u2019 and \u2018juvenile delinquents\u2019 and it becomes downright insulting.\r\n\r\nIt certainly does nothing to bolster confidence in our future profession.\r\n\r\nRecent political commentary and social media coverage have painted a bleak and often misleading image of doctors, particularly those early in their careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is difficult to reconcile the public\u2019s expectation of unwavering compassion with the ease with which the same workforce is publicly belittled.\r\n\r\nAs representatives of medical students and soon-to-be doctors, we are deeply concerned by public comments made by figures such as Mr Streeting that risk further erosion of public confidence.\r\n\r\nWhile we recognise that recent developments \u2013 including UK graduate prioritisation for training posts and progress on pay \u2013 suggest that collective action is beginning to have an effect, a pressing question remains: how can the Health Secretary undo what has already been said?\r\n\r\nFor those of us lower down the chain, and the next cohort to inherit this rhetoric, the impact of his words has been hard-hitting.\r\n\r\nHere are some reflections from members of the DAUK medical student committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWes Streeting’s comments are damning to the medical profession and certainly do not help the public’s increasingly unfavourable view of doctors.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt is saddening to see that doctors are not as respected as they once were, but obvious to me why so many doctors plan to emigrate.\r\n\r\n\u201cEven some of my medical student peers have decided they are going to leave the NHS due to the continued poor offers that the government has proposed.\r\n\r\n\u201cI am worried about joining the NHS workforce but I am hopeful that the situation may get better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs a medical student, comments dismissing the concerns of resident doctors make me anxious to join the workforce.\r\n\r\n\u201cI worry about joining a system where I will be undervalued and makes me question how sustainable a career in the NHS will be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs a medical student and aspiring future resident doctor, undoubtedly our patients should be the core focus.\r\n\r\nYet this does not negate the necessity of the resident doctor workforce needing to be supported, and so requires an improved relationship between politics and healthcare that is not currently present.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn my final year of medical school, with friends already working tirelessly as junior doctors, Mr Streeting\u2019s remarks could not be more insulting.\r\n\r\n\u201cThey trivialise genuine concerns and make it harder for the public to see doctors as what they are: professionals trying to keep patients safe in an overstretched system.\r\n\r\n\u201cEver resilient, the medical profession and healthcare workers will continue to work, deliver care and advocate for an NHS our patients deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs someone who will soon be joining the resident doctor workforce, it is disheartening to hear tactless remarks aimed at them.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt is equally unfortunate to see such resistance to cooperation or compromise.\r\n\r\n\u201cPatients benefit from the collaborative efforts of medics and politicians; the current standoff is unproductive and can\u2019t continue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DAUK’s members are all volunteers. They campaign and speak in the media about issues facing doctors in their own time. Please support our work by joining DAUK<\/a> or donating to our GoFundMe<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Being a medical student battling against the dwindling morale of our senior workforce is trying at the best of times. Combine that with Health Secretary…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[391],"tags":[731,708,647,720,393,683],"class_list":["post-1467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-students","tag-alyx-douglas","tag-maya-machesney","tag-medical-student","tag-medical-student-committee","tag-medical-students","tag-wes-streeting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dauk.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}