Medics off to Oz as pay dwindles in Tory Britain
JUNIOR doctors say leaving the NHS to work in Australia is increasingly attractive.
We spoke to fed-up strikers outside St Thomas’ Hospital in Central London.
Among them was trainee anaesthetist Ada Zenbrzyzka, 27, who works at Whipps Cross Hospital in East London. She told the Mirror: “We’ve had a 26% pay cut since 2008. We’re not doing a quarter less work. Rent is increasingly going up and I can’t keep up.
“We’re seeing more colleagues leave to go to Australia and New Zealand.
“Most junior doctors have £80,000-£100,000 of debt after five and six-year degrees, then they’re being paid £14 per hour.”
BREADLINE
In December a survey found four in 10 junior doctors planned to leave the NHS as soon as they could find another job.
In July last year the Nuffield Trust reported a shortage of 12,000 doctors and 50,000 nurses.
George Dovey, 28, a junior doctor at St Thomas’, said: “Our working conditions have got harder. I am very much just above the breadline. I spent last night looking at jobs in Australia.”
BMA industrial relations officer Daniel Pebody, with the strikers, said: “More and more we’re seeing junior doctors go to the likes of Australia. They are also paid more in France. The money is there to pay for this.
“This government has wasted more money on corruption and fraud. Look at what they spent on PPE contracts to their cronies.”
Dr Hugh Adler, 35, a senior registrar at Royal Liverpool Hospital, said: “We want to stop this exodus and haemorrhaging of staff, particularly junior staff.
“They could go to Australia and work fewer hours for more money.”