The NHS in crisis: Medical students do not want to work in the United Kingdom anymore.
Medical Students in England are Considering Leaving the country for Better Opportunities Abroad.
“I am really considering maybe moving to the US, or Canada, or even Australia to medical school just because I want to see my future and the NHS here, it just looks really bleak,”
Amna Ali, a second-year medical student at Newcastle University, said.
A lot of medical students from Newcastle University confirmed that they do not see their future in NHS anymore.
There are many reasons why it is so, such as bad treatment, underpayment, and generally poor working conditions, further leading to potential mental health issues, especially for junior doctors, which all medical students would become after their studies.
Junior doctors have been striking to “achieve full pay restoration to reverse the steep decline in pay faced by junior doctors since 2008/9” and “agree on a mechanism with the Government to prevent any future declines against the cost of living and inflation” since March 2023, but the situation does not seem to get any better.
As Esther Watson-Jones, a retired medical doctor, said:
“We used to have what was known as the best health service for everybody in the world. Anybody could get medical services, but that is not happening now.
“We have still got some of the best doctors, but to get appointments is so hard. And I think other countries have been good, like in New Zealand, they pay their doctors much higher than they do here. And so, a lot of people, because the qualifications are accepted will go to countries where they get treated better and paid better.”
Amna Ali also added: “Honestly, I have been thinking a lot since coming to medical school about maybe moving to a different country after I graduate just because of how badly they are treated. Because of that so many junior doctors are having mental health struggles, they don’t have time for family life, they are not being able to afford their rents, so I really am considering things like US Embley exams to practice medicine in America.”
However, the political situation further leading to ongoing strikes is not affecting only students’ future visions, but also hundreds of patients waiting for an appointment or surgery for months.
“The obvious impact that’s happening is the care is put on hold, and this still means that people’s procedures are pushed back, this still means that the waiting lists are not getting work through. The immediate problem is that this causes an increase in length of people waiting for care,” as Alfie McEvoy, a worker in the GP surgery on a year out of the study of medicine, said.
Esther Watson-Jones also confirmed: “The waiting lists have gone really long. And to get an appointment with your doctor or to have tests done at the hospital, you sometimes wait for months now, which you never used to have to do.”
