Junior doctors’ prospects are brighter abroad

SIR – My son has just completed his medical degree at a cost of around £100,000.

He will complete his two foundation years here but will probably move to Australia or Canada in year three. The reason for this is that, as a first-year junior doctor working 26-hour weekend shifts, his income is little more than £100 per day. Locum doctors recruited for these shifts receive about £400 per day. Is it any wonder that newly qualified junior doctors have little incentive to stay?

Consideration should be given to removing tuition fees for medical students on the condition that they work here for a minimum of five years after graduation. This would help the government with both recruitment and retention of medical staff. Des Evans

Manton, Wiltshire

SIR – The Royal College of Nursing suggests that providing bursaries will encourage school leavers to apply for a nursing degree, but it doesn’t explain why such a degree is necessary in the first place.

In the Seventies I taught Higher

National Certificate physics in a night school. Every one of my pupils was better prepared for industry than someone with a BSc and four years of lolling around campus.

A trainee nurse should have five GCSEs, compassion, common sense and a willingness to learn. On-the-job training, split between the classroom and wards, should be free and last three years. Nurses could then sit the state-registered exam and, after a year, decide if they want to tackle the extra training needed to specialise. At this stage a degree might be relevant. Dr John Cameron

St Andrews, Fife

SIR – It is time to stop contracting out nurse training to universities and re-establish hospital-based training schools.

Trainee nurses would become part of the ward establishment – and they would get paid. That was the system when I trained, and there was no shortage of nurses or entrants. You can spot the downturn following the introduction of Project 2000. Ken Orme

Liverpool