The job takes over your life... and I’m done

BEFORE last July I was a full-time NCHD [junior doctor] in a training programme, but I left because of the horrific conditions.

I’m based in Dublin at the moment, doing the occasional bit of locum work as I stepped away from full-time work to decide on my future in medicine.

Last July, when my contract for a standalone year’s work had finished, I just didn’t renew it. There was something about committing another almost decade of my life to a system that had really worn me down that I just couldn’t follow through with.

For me, the biggest problem was the complete invasion of my personal life by working hours. On any given ‘normal’ day, you had no idea when you’d get home. Often I’d be stuck in an hour or two later, all while skipping lunch.

Rotas are frequently not available on time, so those in charge of them obviously don’t care if NCHDs can plan their lives around being on call.

Teams are threadbare, especially on call, so those responsible for hiring don’t care.

Trying to get annual leave is a nightmare. Give HR advanced notice you need a certain week off? They’ll roster you on nights for that week. This happened to a friend of mine who gave them three months’ notice for their wedding and honeymoon.

If you’re rostered on call during the week (which we always are) then too bad, you need to find someone to swap that shift with you, it’s not our problem.

Sick? Okay, you can be off, but you’re clearly not a team player and are a disappointment to your colleagues.

Next, we deal with rotating through hospitals, which all NCHDs have to do if they want to specialise, and involves being sent wherever the training bodies decide.

I’ve been sent all around the country, completely isolated from my partner, friends and family, for months at a time.

You’re always looking to rent in new locations, packing up every few months after just getting settled. It’s even worse for those with children, who often spend months apart from them.

There is a complete lack of respect for NCHDs’ lives, the stresses we go through, the effort we put in, the responsibility we carry.

Meanwhile, they just ignore every single term in our contract, from hours to pay. They lie about 24-hour shift compliance like it’s second nature to them, and for what?

Yes, our gross wage is high compared to standard wages, but we are working crazy hours, often in at all hours.

We have to sacrifice everything for our careers, it’s beyond unhealthy.

There’s almost a culture of treating NCHDs terribly, from hospital-level to HSE level and even within our own training bodies, which really should be advocating for us. The culture of mistreatment is present at all levels. In all honesty, as cliched as it might sound, all I want is just to be treated properly and be given a little bit of respect.

I have a decent level of training but I’m not sure I want to inflict any more of the Irish NCHD life on myself. I still enjoy clinical medicine, just not to the extent I’m happy with it taking over my life.