What if your boss asked you to work fewer hours, for 50 per cent more pay, surrounded by great coffee, great beaches and great weather? A third of UK junior doctors have answered ‘bonza!’ and are already planning their move to Australia. This comes as the NHS struggles along, with shortfalls of 12,000 hospital doctors and 50,000 nurses. NHS medics are, unsurprisingly, not happy: the first day of a 72-hour junior doctor strike has begun in England.
While ‘wellbeing hubs’ open in crumbling NHS hospitals, with yoga balls gathering dust and free biscuits going soft, Australia has some solid, cost-effective measures that truly support staff
Junior doctors voted last month overwhelming in favour of industrial action, with 98 per cent of voters opting to strike. Over the next three days, NHS England has warned patients there will be ‘major disruption’ to services. Meanwhile, dissatisfied doctors are increasingly choosing to work elsewhere and Australia has in recent years seen a huge influx of UK-trained medics.
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