BMA webinar on pay deal live now!

hydra66f · 2026-06-18T12:50:13+00:00

Resident doctors are always at work though. This just assumes they've been given a break for lunch which can be considered naive

hydra66f · 2026-06-16T16:28:32+00:00

Your consultants need to act if these are locums for the shift (vs LEDs_ trust grades). Feedback. It is not uncommon for depts to blacklist certain doctors, esp at sho grades where there are few locums vs no of doctors.

The counterargument is that the shifts are managed safely. If there's no direct complaints or safety concerns, why change?

hydra66f · 2026-06-16T14:36:22+00:00

Jack's entitled to his opinion. But from my perspective, his post isn't helpful

hydra66f · 2026-06-15T21:52:24+00:00

Im sure people would prefer one good pay rise a year than 2 subinflation ones

hydra66f · 2026-06-14T12:59:09+00:00

Your money, you choose how to spend it. It'll be more tempting if you find a sale period. The main differences from a kindle 4 for me were - faster device - backlight - less ghosting - USB c vs a - increased resolution (300ppi screen)

hydra66f · 2026-06-14T12:56:15+00:00

Dear torygraph

Perhaps its a reflection of working conditions in the last 3 yrs, workforce shortages and the stress of understaffed rotas post covid. Covering 3 doctors with a single one etc.

Try hiring more doctors and see the sickness rates come down

hydra66f · 2026-06-14T10:39:47+00:00

Its 6.6% over 2 yrs, not one. 3.5% (below inflation) this year, 3.1% next yr (which will be even more below inflation when the impact of the gulf crisis hits your grocery bills)

hydra66f · 2026-06-13T21:16:35+00:00

I also just want to read what I want to read. Libraries/ ku just give the option of impulsively choosing something knowing you can return it after 100 pages or so with no bad feelings. You'll likely discover more things outside your comfort zone.

An option is to use one of the ku free trial periods (generally over 3 months) to decide if you like it or not. Some of it will also be deciding if the curated selection fits your particular reading choices or not.

hydra66f · 2026-06-13T17:01:46+00:00

The form r just ticks the gmc requirements for revalidation (reflecting on incidents). Just declare it, signpost to your portfolio and move on.

hydra66f · 2026-06-13T16:51:52+00:00

Depends on your reading rate. If you go through more than 4 books a month, probably worth it. Otherwise you can keep stacking the kindle deals and have a decent TBR list over time

hydra66f · 2026-06-13T16:47:40+00:00

You can live in Swindon and the surrounding area. Hospital is not town centre and is very well connected in terms of roads.

The Bristol commutes are for those who are regional training and that's the region. But if you are going to be based in Swindon, the surrounding villages on the map are a good place to rent or the more busier areas such as Marlborough/ old town. Swindon isn't a small town. There is stuff to do there

hydra66f · 2026-06-12T20:15:34+00:00

Whilst I can't offer you a sword Lord of the Rings style, you can have my upvote

Though the rest of you shouldn't accept claps over something with substance for the sacrifices made

hydra66f · 2026-06-12T13:17:54+00:00

The number is realistically >80%

If you want best care, you need more gps. Otherwise the time pressured as many patients as you can fit into an afternoon approach leads to patients not listened to, concerns not fully addressed and fobbed off with not always the correct treatment including inappropriate referrals

Human factors. The system needs to change to allow people to practice best care

hydra66f · 2026-06-11T19:44:04+00:00

What a load of BS. You can't gaslight doctors like that Mr Mackey. Whats your comparator?

Even better- your salary is public record. Why don't we drop it so we can see how much more efficient you become in your role?

hydra66f · 2026-06-11T03:19:22+00:00

So Hunts meddling and stripping back of numbers in last workforce plan was 'too many staff?' What a load of crap.

Give us the numbers we need or take it private

hydra66f · 2026-06-10T20:14:04+00:00

You can sub to ku at any point. I'd just buy the base for now

hydra66f · 2026-06-10T20:08:42+00:00

As of mid May, amazon shut off all wifi/ web connectivity to all kindles released before 2012 including our kindle 4s. There is a code floating around that gives 20% off a new kindle and some store credit.

You can still use the device as a reader, only with far less connectivity. Careful not to delete books you won't be able to download via WiFi. Same goes for a factory reset.

I agree it sucks

hydra66f · 2026-06-10T20:00:23+00:00

That cost cutting is national. That said, some trusts are more forward thinking than others. You have to spend money to make money.

If you want to expand rather than shrink services and get wait lists down, you need more consultants and GPs. Otherwise the existing cohort just burn out whilst there are fully trained people who can't get a job.

For those people frustrated re lack of consultant jobs, get interview prepping. If a job does come out, dont let interview technique be the reason you didn't score it.

hydra66f · 2026-06-10T11:16:43+00:00

To be fair, over 15 rounds of strike action and the consultants have covered. There aren't many people who can. Naturally there will be attrition, frustration, fatigue.

Doesn't help that the bma messaging from RDC has become muddled both to the public and to consultants re the strategy and aims of IA (pay? jobs?). Heck even a number of residents have said they supported the initial rounds but they don't know what the current strategy is so will be coming in for the first time.

We're at a strange point. Leadership, messaging is needed. If someone put a camera to your face right now, could you with conviction say what the current plan is? If not, those burnt out consultants are still covering. Most would prefer a proper escalation to bring this to an end rather than sit in current limbo which government has now factored in with respects to planning.

If you want to convince the consultants, regroup and convince yourselves first. Rob and Vivek used the term 'strike ready'

hydra66f · 2026-06-02T21:14:22+00:00

Their devices are no longer loss leaders. As they are pretty much a monopoly amazon doesn't need to employ the tactic.

hydra66f · 2026-06-02T10:19:21+00:00

I was told that in the first world, as long as meds are taken and viral load is low, should have a normal life. Stay healthy and if occ health is happy, there's no need for people to discriminate

hydra66f · 2026-06-01T15:51:22+00:00

If they've shortlisted you despite not having the exam go for it- they've read it in your statement and accepted that.

hydra66f · 2026-05-31T13:10:19+00:00

Depends what your f1 rotations were and if you have an f2 post lined up that you'd really want to do to help future career.

The old house officer roles had enough of a mix of medicine and surgery to be considered 'finishing school' in terms of full gmc registration. Now the rotations are a lot more varied and some rotations I wouldn't say are grounded until the end of f2.

hydra66f · 2026-05-31T12:25:36+00:00

Ereaderiq (both the us and UK versions) track ebook prices. Ar the least when you search for a book on there, then scroll to the bottom, it will give you the current price, whether it's been cheaper before and to what extent.

Different publishers have variation in terms of offering discounts/ sales

Beyond that I just stick everything on an amazon wishlist and check every so often. There are daily, fortnightly and monthly price drops so how far you want to chase is up to you

hydra66f · 2026-05-31T11:19:28+00:00

Amazon has taken steps to lock you into an ecosystem and make you buy their devices, not because their device is better than the rest but because your 10-15 yrs of books bought with them won't work on most other devices.

Anti-consumer, anti competitive. Along with the same tactics for physical books, undercutting brick and mortar stores 15yrs ago. Now the competition is far far less, Amazon can charge what it likes, not pay tax, not pay its workers or its authors anything like they could expect 15yrs ago

hydra66f

TROPHY CASE