Junior doctors are cutting back on buying food and heating their homes as they struggle to cope with inflation and the rising cost-of-living, a survey has revealed.
More than half of the the 4,500 junior doctors polled said they have had difficulty heating and lighting their homes in the past year, while a similar proportion have had trouble paying their rent or mortgage.
The survey was carried out between November and December by the doctors’ union, The British Medical Association, which represents 160,000 doctors and medical students.
The BMA is balloting junior doctors on whether they want to strike over pay and working conditions from January 9.
Almost three quarters of junior doctors have had to take on extra shifts on top of their standard contracts over the past year, while half have needed to borrow money from family or friends, the BMA survey found.
Three in ten have used their overdraft for consecutive months to pay bills and a similar number have not repaid their credit card borrowing.
Junior doctors have suffered a real terms pay cut of 26.1% between 2008-09 and 2021-22, the BMA said.
The union is concerned that junior doctors are increasingly exhausted and burnt out after another of its surveys earlier this year found that 62% were suffering from a mental health condition related to or made worse by their work or study.
Concerns are being raised that more doctors will leave the NHS for better paid roles at home and abroad due to poor pay and working conditions.
Junior doctors in England went on strike in 2016 to protest against contract changes proposed by then Health Secretary - and now Chancellor - Jeremy Hunt.
Almost all of the medics - 98 per cent - voted in favour of industrial action in November 2015.
The NHS is already being hit by major strikes with nurses, paramedics and physiotherapists all having voted to take industrial action.
Earlier this month, GPs voted in favour of having a ballot for strike action because of the immense pressure and stress under which they are working.
The poll is understood to have been an unofficial attempt to “gauge sentiment” on future action and does not mean a vote on strikes is currently planned by the BMA.
Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, BMA junior doctors committee co-chairs, said: “Constantly worrying about how to pay our bills is leading many junior doctors to question their future in the NHS. While pay has fallen off a cliff since 2008, mandatory costs, including exam, Royal College and licence to practise fees, indemnity cover and even hospital car parking, have increased.
“Junior doctors put their lives on the line to care for patients during the pandemic but this contribution has been ignored and morale is plummeting fast as many face hardship at home and a raw deal at work.
“This Government needs to stop pretending that the pressures we’re seeing this winter isn’t a crisis of their making, stop ignoring our calls to meet with ministers and sit down and offer some reasonable practical solutions while there are still juniors doctors left in the NHS.”
Dr Becky Bates, a junior doctor in the East Midlands, whose base rate of pay is £14.09 an hour, said: “This is my first year working in the NHS as a qualified doctor and I could never have anticipated spending it so skint. I love my job and am proud to be a doctor but the state of my finances is a constant stressor.
“Each month, on top of the student loan repayments taken from my salary, I repay £400 of private debt I had to take on to cover my fees through medical school - debt I took on the basis of what my salary would have been five years ago.”
Dr Bates, who graduated from medical school with two overdrafts and three credit cards, said she couldn’t “afford to eat in August” and was forced to borrow a credit card from a family member.
She added: “I’ve started using my annual leave to work additional shifts in the NHS. I know I’m not alone in this. This simply isn’t sustainable especially when on busier rotas - we deserve rest too.”
