I totally support the resident doctors’ strike (Why the NHS doctors’ strikes look set to continue, 14 October). I am a retired consultant anaesthetist who worked in the NHS for 40 years. Throughout my career, I felt that I was totally underpaid for my work.
As a junior doctor in the 1970s and up until my consultant appointment in 1991, I was paid a pittance for working excessive, unsafe hours – often 80 to 100 hours a week. Accommodation and catering were minimal. Overtime was paid at a much lower rate.
Historically, various governments have failed to recognise our commitment to patients. We’re basically cheap labour. I feel that we have been taken advantage of for decades, and it’s about time that this historical abuse was recognised. A correct and up-to-date pay rise would go some way towards recompense.
Goodwill and a true vocation kept us going. Some of the consequences will never be known or acknowledged by the public or the various governments in power. We lost a lot of good people because of the high pressure and stress during this time. It won’t help me now, but I fully back the resident doctors.
After 40 years as a doctor, and eventually as a senior consultant, my final year’s salary, before tax, was just over £101,000. A bit pathetic, don’t you think? And I didn’t do much private practice – so little that it didn’t justify the time, effort and insurance. I can wholeheartedly say that my aim was to make all my patients’ lives better, every day. Most days, I think I did.
Elizabeth Taylor
Norton, South Yorkshire
• As a paediatric NHS consultant, I would like to state that I am not a member of the British Medical Association and would not consider striking. I believe I have an extremely well-paid job with a good work-life balance, and I am immensely grateful to be able to do the job I do. Unfortunately, no matter how many of us resign from the BMA, there doesn’t seem to be an alternative voice that is heard.
Dr Natasha de Vere
Wakefield, West Yorkshire
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