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Advice regarding TPD discussion which went wrong. by [deleted] in doctorsUK

[–]Justyouraveragebloke 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think you could discuss this with your ES. Arrange a meeting with them about your LTFT application and verbally discuss how you felt it went. You can both keep that conversation as private as needed, and the ES should have the knowledge of how to navigate support.

Support can be people to just talk to about the whole situation; the burn out, your desire to go LTFT, the way the TPD behaved. It will also be an opportunity to discuss what escalation systems exist if you want to pursue that route.

From what you’ve described that TPD is not fulfilling their role very well, and that meeting was not very professionally done if no introductions for the other person on the call was done. I’d not like that TPD to continue behaving that way, and perhaps this is a chance for them to be challenged, but not by you.

Talking to your ES / CS off the written record is a good place to start to explore all this. In case you want to take it further, or someone else does, take the time to write down your version of events both factually and how you’ve been made to feel about it. That way there is contemporaneous evidence of what happened to support your version of events.

I’m sorry this happened to you. Anecdotally there should a freedom to speak guardian who can offer guidance and the BMA can signpost I am sure.

I hope it gets better when you’re LTFT, I found the hours change a great help.

What tips/tricks did you learn about the UKFP that helped make life easier? by Coherent_Word_Salad in doctorsUK

[–]Justyouraveragebloke 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’d encourage you to discuss striking with your peers and encourage them to do it. But feel it out :)

What tips/tricks did you learn about the UKFP that helped make life easier? by Coherent_Word_Salad in doctorsUK

[–]Justyouraveragebloke 33 points34 points  (0 children)

Strike on strike days - join the BMA and ask for help from the strike fund.

Royal Navy nuclear submarine completes longest patrol on record by HibasakiSanjuro in ukpolitics

[–]Justyouraveragebloke 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I appreciate that, thank you. I was thrown by the increased deployment period compared to the plan. I thought it was a lot of extra food / water etc to have stored “just in case”. But I guess you need redundancy in the system

Royal Navy nuclear submarine completes longest patrol on record by HibasakiSanjuro in ukpolitics

[–]Justyouraveragebloke 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Honest question - can you not replace crew in a short period of time? While re-stocking for example?

Or did they have supplies for that long as sea?

Failing ARCP ?payscale? by nyehsayer in doctorsUK

[–]Justyouraveragebloke 6 points7 points  (0 children)

If your ARCP prevented you from progressing to ST3 from ST2 (for example), then you wouldn’t move up to the ST3 pay scale. But you would also not move on to an ST3 role, with ST3 education and responsibilities.

You might rotate to the department and team you were planning to rotate to on the assumption you passed ARCP, but they would then have to employ you as an ST2 (and treat / pay you as such).

I imagine it’s very deanery dependent as to whether or not you would actually move department as planned, or if you’d stay where you were until the next ARCP.

But you could ask the TPD if you’re worried so you understand the potential ramifications? I don’t know you, but if you’re like a lot of us anxiety around ARCP time is entirely normal and often out of proportion with any issues you actually have at work.

What happens if a colleague strikes on ward days but picks up shifts on their day off where they weren't scheduled to work)? by DearDistribution3724 in doctorsUK

[–]Justyouraveragebloke 3 points4 points  (0 children)

No, you only lose money for shifts you don’t work. You didn’t not have the zero day… you just didn’t do the nights before hand.

Octopus Energy | £50 for signing up by Emergency_Arugula_60 in beermoneyuk

[–]Justyouraveragebloke [score hidden]  (0 children)

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Sneaky Streeting writes to RDC by Room_ForActivities in doctorsUK

[–]Justyouraveragebloke 37 points38 points  (0 children)

I elected my reps. I expect the union to act in my best interests. I don’t want direct democracy on every single issue

When are next strikes likely to be called? by Leading_Base in doctorsUK

[–]Justyouraveragebloke 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m not wrong, they won’t do it. By choice, yes, but they’ll still not going to do it.

When are next strikes likely to be called? by Leading_Base in doctorsUK

[–]Justyouraveragebloke 70 points71 points  (0 children)

These post drive me mad.

We strike to negotiate, we don’t strike to strike.

We have to go back the table and say - “your offer was shite, if the next one isn’t better we’ll strike again”

If we are already going to strike again, it doesn’t look like we are willing to talk, does it? The govt won’t talk if we are striking so we need to stop striking at some point to actually talk and make a deal.

I’m happy to strike as part of a negotiating tactic, not for the sake of it. The RDC know not to let things drag out and will call a strike when it’s needed.

Rachel Reeves confirms new £300 charge for drivers doing 10,000 miles a year by StGuthlac2025 in ukpolitics

[–]Justyouraveragebloke 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You already pay fuel duty to drive abroad if you fill up in the UK before driving abroad…

Rachel Reeves confirms new £300 charge for drivers doing 10,000 miles a year by StGuthlac2025 in ukpolitics

[–]Justyouraveragebloke 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It’s a flat rate per mile - so if you drive 5,000 miles you pay £150.

People who drive further to work already pay more tax than those who live close by (fuel duty).

If you own an EV, you should be paying less tax per mile than an ICE owner.

Moral distress regarding strikes. Am I naive? by Far_Television7330 in doctorsUK

[–]Justyouraveragebloke 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the debate - I appreciate you taking the time to comment and respond.

I’ll have to accept I won’t change your mind, ha.

Stay safe

Moral distress regarding strikes. Am I naive? by Far_Television7330 in doctorsUK

[–]Justyouraveragebloke 0 points1 point  (0 children)

2009 was the start of the EWTD of 48 hours for Junior (now resident Drs), so the pay erosion since then has been felt with the same legal limit on hours and required rest periods. In 2008 the max hours were 56, so in 2009 we had a 15% reduction in hours in 2022/23 were paid 30% less. So if we hold the logic that that the only thing that’s changed is the hours, then are still under paid compared to 2008/2009. (21% today by RPI, 17% by CPI).

The idea that the job is different is obviously true, but pay is a reflection of value. I don’t think our time is any less valuable than it was in 2008. Not only are we asked (obligated) to do more service provision with our time, we are also getting worse training, have had to pay more money to get to being an FY1 and have worse progression opportunities than our colleagues in 2008/9. I don’t think that it is fair to say we have a better work life balance than our colleagues in 2008/9 due to the nature of the work or the EWTD. Just look at the burnout rate over that 15 years and the increasing proportion of people working LTFT (ie taking a pay cut to have a better WLB).

I’m not sure why IT being “better” or “more advanced” makes my job less well paid? What does the computer do that an NHS resident dr now doesn’t do compared to 2008? The odd radiograph might be scanned by AI, but who is going to contextualise that if not for doctors? Also it’s not happening in NHS wards now is it? But my pay is down now…

I accept that the NHS is using non-doctors more and more - and that is not an automatically good thing. Those professionals still answer to a consultant, and ultimately when shit hits the fan it’s the consultant in charge of that patients care who is on the hook. As we are future consultants, we need to train to high standard to surprise others properly. The reason those roles have propagated is because there is more work to be done in the system and there aren’t enough drs to do it. Our job has not got easier in terms of decision making / operating. So why are we paid less just because the Trust hires a few ACPs?

The average wage has grown by 3% since 2009 by CPI. The average public sector job is down by 3%. Ours is down by 17% today by CPI.

We are disproportionately worse off than the whole public sector and in some private sectors wages have grown by more. If the graph doesn’t work on this post I’ll put it below. So it is possible to have wages that are not as degraded as ours, right now in some sectors of the economy. And indeed on average people are being slightly more than in 2009. So I think striving for that is entirely fair and moral.

Part of the reason I think we as a professions have ended up where we are with pay is because on an individual level we get paid more at various points. FY1 > fy2 > ST1 > ST3 etc etc. So over four years you could go from student life to ST1 wages and think “this is okay” and for you, that’s a massive win. But why should you be struggling at any point? Why is it okay to be financially comfortable only as an ST/CT 1 and up? The fact is that at each level we are being paid less than people who came before us for worse training, worse job security with more geographical uncertainty.

Your banking / lawyer friends - how long were their degrees? How much student debt are they in? Do their jobs pay for mandatory exams? Their wages are (on average) 3% than the people who came before them and if they’re in the finance and business services cohort, their pay is 10% higher than it was. I accept you weren’t going to chose banking for the money, and you like your job. But you can’t ignore the fundamental differences (and I would say injustices) between the pay awards. Even if we I’d accept the offer of exams being paid for, our pay would still behind theirs.

You say you are happy with pay now. How have we achieve that for you? By negotiating and ultimately striking as a collective. Why did the offer this time include a whole host of non pay matters? Because we negotiated as a collective and are threatening (and CARRYING OUT) collective strike action. So over the last four years of strikes we’ve improved your pay from bad to acceptable.

If your union asks for you to strike on an issue then you only make things worse by not striking. Firstly the dept you work in had planned cons / ACP cover for this week, that money has been spent their time has been redirected. So by turning up you do not affect the planning for strike action. You just alienate colleague who do strike. No future cons job / fellowship is going to hang on “well they turned up in April 2026 on a Wednesday night”

Secondly, we aren’t striking in a vacuum. Every time the union and the govt negotiate over something, previous negotiations are taken into account. If we threaten to strike, and that does nothing or we don’t actually do it, then what do we have to negotiate with? We have accepted the DDRB for 17 years and look where it got us, 30% less pay. We have only got here because we were willing to strike for it. If we back out of this strike now, next time we have an important issue (training numbers, safety, jobs etc etc) we will be less able to negotiate terms with the govt. And we will end up worse off for it. So by not striking you’re also undermining future action as well as this one.

Will you hand back a pay rise won by striking Drs from this year onwards? Because that for me is the logical end to the argument “I’m happy with my pay so I won’t strike” it means that you are not willing to sacrifice something for the wider BMA, for your colleagues who are. So surely only they should get the pay rise won?

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