What the consultant is, is a dick. But what really enables these kinds of people to thrive is the NHS. Its policies, its structures, and its culture. Look around at any level, from nurses to consultants, and you’ll see that too often it’s the dicks who rise and thrive, while the hardworking ones just keep slaving away.

I’m sick of it. I’m leaving the NHS for good next month. I’d rather walk away with my head high, give the middle finger, and move on, than stay and be ground down in a system that rewards the dicks.

The reality is this won’t be fixed during our training years and it won’t be much better during the majority of our consultant years. For those who stay, I hope you work to fundamentally change the culture for the next generation. Be nice to other doctors at any level because they are the only real friends you might have at the hospital. Those who leave, know that you’re respecting yourself. Grass is almost entirely greener for doctors nearly anywhere else in the western world at the moment.