The grim reality facing junior doctors

The NHS is facing the biggest crisis in its history. GP surgeries are breaking under pressure, waiting lists could top nine million by March 2024, and there’s a huge shortfall of staff. Many medics are opting to simply throw in the towel. Having recently qualified as a doctor, I can’t say I’m surprised.

For junior doctors, stress, burnout and bullying are quick to take a toll: seven per cent of medics leave within the first three years. This bucks the expected trend: that people are at their most vitalised nearer the start of their careers. For medicine, the evidence suggests otherwise.

Clinical placements reveal harsh realities early on, acclimatising trainees to the most appalling parts of the job, even before they have the chance to fully understand what it’s like to be a doctor. This week, the health service committee cited bullying, sexism and harassment as reasons for doctors leaving medicine early. It drudged up a multitude of memories from my own experience training to be a doctor, so I can’t say the findings are especially shocking.

On my first day of hospital placement, fresh-faced and bright-eyed, I received a jarring introductory talk as my foundation year doctor told me matter-of-factly about how she already knew of three suicides attempts by colleagues across the UK.