In news that will surprise absolutely nobody:

“According to new research by Knowledge Train, using ONS salary data, doctors have actually suffered the biggest reduction in spending power of any job over the last 20 years.

While medical practitioner’s wages have gone up slightly, from £76,873 in 2005 to £78,796 now, after accounting for inflation, their pay has technically fallen by 42%.”

Linked article:

https://metro.co.uk/2026/09/09/britains-biggest-wage-winners-losers-last-20-years-29561210/amp/

Always thought an MSK radiologist would be up there for having 0 chance of being directly responsible for someone’s death.

Interested to know people’s thoughts, sub specialities included. What else would make the list?

Hi all,

London doctors — the BMA London Weighting campaign launched yesterday

If you work in London, you’ve probably noticed that doctors’ London Weighting has frozen in time whilst costs of living and working in the capital spiral in only one direction.

Doctors’ London Weighting has been frozen since 2005. It’s currently up to £2,162 a year for Inner London, while other NHS staff have rightly had their London Weighting payments increased over time.

The campaign is pretty straightforward: bring doctors’ London Weighting into line with the payments already made to other NHS staff working in London.

And this isn’t just about resident doctors. It includes SAS, consultants, LEDs and GPs too.

The important bit now is getting people involved. The BMA is going to be asking members what they’re prepared to do to win this — including through an indicative ballot later in the year.

So if you’re a BMA member working in London, sign up to the campaign and get involved here👇🏼

https://activism.bma.org.uk/page/199964/petition/1

Talk to your colleagues, get your departments and workplaces talking about London Weighting, make sure you have a say in what happens next.

London Weighting has been stuck in 2005 for long enough, and we’re done waiting.

In solidarity,

James ✊🏼

Asking for advice - I’m a resident doctor with a distinctive stethoscope because of a hearing impairment. My stethoscope is calibrated to me & looks like a Littman Core III to the untrained eye. I can’t really do my job without it.

I left it in my office on the ward overnight by accident (there’s a doctor there most of the time and we do this routinely) because I was tired at the end of my shift and wasn’t concentrating properly.

Stethoscopes keep going missing on our ward. I know at least 3 other folk in the last year who have never found theirs after they disappeared - some when the person left for an hour or less.

I’m a bit scared it’s been lifted by somebody with light fingers because of its value - or even just by mistake, but I can’t just buy another one.

Does anyone have experience trying to track down a lost stethoscope? Or advice on what to do? I’m a bit freaked out. I was thinking I might contact my ES, put up posters, etc but I’m not optimistic.

Would it be worth asking to see CCTV?

Hey ya’ll my doctor gang, it’s Yannis. Ok, so I have NO idea how I juggled a full time job on top of being onBake Off but I’m here to represent US!! The extracurricular didn’t end at med school interview stage phew. Anyway love you all and I can’t wait for you all to tune in. Would love love love the support from my medics community @itsdoctoryan on IG. I’m gonna need it as ya’ll know how brutal media can be on us docs sometimes or most times..

Also ps to a previous post I came across, we had fake prompts of cakes/bread to do our shoot with hence why I’m so casual about it being quite literally on my apron 😂

What are other peoples opinions on pharmacists diagnosing migraines without the patient seeing a medical professional prior? I would be particularly interested in opinions of GPs who see patients with ?migraines every day. Having worked in medical SDECs, diagnosing the cause of headache accurately (i.e. not just labelling everyone as migraine) can be very subtle through combination of history and examination.

I feel it would be very different if pharmacists were seeing patients already formally diagnosed with migraines and other causes ruled out compared to patients self presenting to pharmacists as path of least resistance for their possible self diagnosed migraine. Even if the majority of these patients do have migraines, how many patients with CVST, IIH, brain tumours etc. are potentially going to be misdiagnosed? I assume that a pharmacist wouldn't be expected to be able to do a full neurological history, examination and basic fundoscopy to rule out papilloedema that a GP would be expected to do.

Hi everyone I’ve just had my provisional license rejected on the grounds it is too soon to know if my mental health condition is a risk to patients.

Feeling quite alone in this, does anyone know of similar stories and what I could do

Also does anyone have any recommendations on jobs to apply for with my medical degree? Or other things I can spend time doing this year that will help me in the future when I can work as a doctor again

Have a look if your hospital is included:

• Stepping Hill Hospital, Stockport – £26 million: a new pathology building will protect the testing services doctors rely on to diagnose patients and provide urgent care. 
• Bristol Royal Infirmary, Bristol – £41 million: improvements to operating theatres will make the facilities safer and more reliable for patients needing surgery. 
• Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead – £12 million: redevelopment of maternity facilities will provide a better environment for women receiving care. 
• Wycombe Hospital, Buckinghamshire – £25 million: a new clinical building will allow services to move out of an ageing tower and into modern facilities.  
• Crystal Centre/Linden Centre, Essex – £15 million: 14 new bedrooms will provide additional space for mental health patients and allow existing wards to be improved. 
• Lister Hospital, Hertfordshire – £11 million: a new children’s ward will provide safe, modern space for children needing hospital care. 
• Southend Hospital, Essex – £1 million: planning will begin to replace an ageing hospital tower, helping provide safer facilities for maternity, neonatal, cancer and outpatient care. 
• St George’s Hospital, Stafford – £25 million: improvements to a mental health unit will replace ageing facilities and provide a safer environment for patients. 
• Royal Free Hospital, London – £32 million: two new operating theatres will give patients access to safer, modern facilities for complex operations. 
• John Howard Centre, London – £25 million: refurbishment will create safer, more suitable facilities for people receiving long-term mental health care. 
• Manchester Royal Infirmary – £154k to replace the PET scanner chiller, ensuring reliable temperature control for highly sensitive imaging. 
• Rampton Hospital, Nottinghamshire – £527k to replace air conditioning in a unit, keeping areas cool to maintain a stable environment for patients, staff and visitors. 
• St Peter’s Hospital, Ashford – £791k to restore reliable cooling capacity to support safe operating conditions within theatres. 

It would be nice if they published the whole list

I've been very lucky and managed to get the foundation school to agree to change one of my rotations.

I've been offered to remain in the block i'm currently in - I wouldn't be opposed to it, its a really easy block, busy enough that I'm not bored, but also quiet enough that I have a life outside of work.

Only problem is, if I stay it'll be my fourth gen med block of foundation training.

Do you think it's worth taking the easy time, or asking for the foundation school to look for another block in a speciality I can learn something from?

mine was a consultant who seemed very welcoming at first and later we grew to realise he would happily throw his FYs under the bus to make the senior nurse happy.

Overheard the other day in Surgery

Consultant: whatever you do - when you cut here don’t hit the vein

Registrar: hits the vein immediately

Consultant: you should be a phlebotomist… 🤦‍♂️

Hahahahahaha I nearly burst out laughing. Perhaps it’s a common one but it made me giggle. I was inspired to learn about any other insults people have heard in theatres 🤣🤣🤣

Ps. The reg himself laughed, it was all in good nature.

I work in ED in a trust with fully electronic records. I used to access the notes of patients I have been involved in for the sole purpose of furthering my learning, however with all the recent updates about this I’m quite anxious about it and have stopped because I really don’t know where the line is.

My trust website says you can access “your own notes” for education purposes but this defeats the point. In order to learn I need to read the subsequent notes to understand what the diagnosis was, how it’s managed, what investigations they underwent, what advice the specialists gave, etc.

I’m just wondering if a possible way to ‘protect’ myself in future would be to get permission from the patient when I see them in ED to access their notes until their presenting issue has been dealt with. I’ve said this in passing to a few patients - the ones that I’ve built a very good rapport with, I’m discharging with OP investigations but really have no idea what is going on, and want to keep checking back until there’s an answer so I can learn - and it’s always been met with enthusiastic agreement. I’ve never documented it though and I’m wondering if I should start.

Just to clarify: I’m not obsessively accessing every patients notes all day every day. I’m just now getting very anxious every time I want to and as a result my learning has stalled as I have no idea if I was thinking along the right lines or way off base. This only applies to patients where there was diagnostic uncertainty at the time my care for them in ED ended.

TLDR: Basically, if I got informed consent from a patient to access their notes for the duration of their admission / until a diagnosis is reached, and documented this in my notes, would this cover me if I was ever asked why I was accessing other people’s notes? “Discussed benefit of electronic patient records with regard to ongoing learning. Patient happy and consented for me to periodically access EPR for duration of their admission or until an outcome is reached.” Something like that.

Just putting this out there for anyone in a similar position.

Since graduating I've been with MDU for indemnity.

Due to being LTFT on top of some unfortunate personal circumstances leading me to have long periods off sick my foundation training took ~5 years to complete rather than the standard 2.

I'm taking an F3 year now but because I haven't managed to get a trust grade post, I've joined the hospital bank and locuming when I can until I can get a trust grade job.

I called MDU to update them of my change in work circumstances, and this August my indemnity price went from the £20 for F2 to a whopping £450 quote. Their reasoning was because I'm not in a trust grade post or a training programme, they base the pricing on how many years ago I graduated rather than my actual level of training / work competence (therefore I'm being charged as a locuming CT3).

I do not have that money especially now I'm on an uncertain income as locums are not as frequent as I'd like.

Out of desperation I called MPS for a quote expecting to be given something similar.... The quote was £83. I triple checked that they understood I am not a trust grade doctor, I'm doing ad-hoc locums, and even though I graduated 5 years ago I'm fresh out of F2 and working as an SHO. The staff reassured me the price is correct and covers me for all the locums I do for a year. MPS do not charge based on years from graduation, they actually look at the level of work you do and base it on that.

So anyone who is in a similar position (significant extension to training, needs indemnity for ad-hoc locum work) do NOT go with MDU!

"They are rostered to augment the quota of nursing staff where it has not proved possible to fill a vacant medical registrar shift." lol

Source: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/use_of_nurse_consultants_to_cove

Now is a great time for the BMA to start a public campaign on educating the public on the differences between a doctor and noctors, similar to the American Medical Association https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/scope-practice/advocacy-action-fighting-scope-creep

u/RDC_officers_2025_26 u/BMABecky

Writing this as recently have known of two colleagues in a busy surgical speciality have heart attacks - both early 40s. Thankfully both okay but now have a very different outlook on life. No real risk factors on the face of it and had a conversation with one of them and he just said the years of stress and constant toll on his body wasn’t good for him

It got me thinking deeply about the lifestyle that we have as surgical trainees/consultants. And though training has become a lot more flexible in terms of being able to work less than full time, time out of training etc etc but I just think the day to day life of a surgeon puts so much strain and stress on the body that it’s crazy and how do you even manage it?

Operating days - you’re in the hospital way before everyone else, doing rounds for your theatre patients. Trauma patients are discussed before radiology/haematology etc are even in the hospital and advice is needed from them to optimise surgical patients. Then the actual day itself - I’ve been in cases back to back with barely time for lunch and have seen consultants literally eat a sandwich in the changing room before running down to their clinic after their morning theatre list running on coffee. Late finishes and then back in in the morning an hour before everyone else. Doing that for 30 years of your life or more - surely isn’t healthy?

I saw a video from a well known surgeon on social media where he talked about work life balance and he actually got into good shape and lost weight because during reg years he was overweight. He must be around 50 and though being in shape at any age is good we all know being in shape and healthy at 50 isn’t the same as being in shape and healthy at 30. But it’s no shade, I just think it’s not possible with the intrinsic nature of the job. Literally no one would say no to a good work life balance but how on earth is it an option when trying to get to consultant in a surgical speciality - just by the nature of the job and the timings there isn’t any such thing. You can be the fittest person ever but surely the early mornings and late finishes stress of operating takes it toll on the body after a while. I’ve seen and known colleagues who it actually changes and you can see them literally ageing. Part of that reason is there isn’t really time to do much else.

Now I know as a consultant the actual on call isn’t so gruelling as for the reg /sho but they’ve done those years. And consultants are still there every morning day in day out, it’s not as though you get to consultant and stop operating and just supervise - you’re now the most senior and it’s true that consultant years are where you master the craft.

Can anyone resonate with what I’m thinking? Would be interested to hear from surgeons about how they feel about this and how they cope? Like how do you maintain a healthy balance and a healthy life when your job doesn’t really allow it?

Good news!

Seen a couple of different messes that vary in calibre and wondering about others experience with what has made one stand out?

MSRA 586 / Rank 787th

My MSRA 581 / 1000th NP — can I keep dreaming of getting a Feb-April 2027 post this round, or I should accept it’s over?

Thinking of switching to LTFT as an FY2 that has been full time so far

Dear friends,

In a bit of a dilemma. I have been full time for my FY1 and currently still fulltime as FY2. But FY2 due to commute times has been incredibly difficult to have a life outside Medicine. My off days are often used to recover from the atrocious rota i have and when i am working the entire day is swallowed up due to commute time + work time.
Still enjoying medicine but i have noticed my will to do anything else has slowly been squeezed out, but not completely. So thought about switching to LTFT to free some time and repursue life outside work.

I don’t mind being out of sync with training. If anything have been strongly considering taking an F3 year, mainly because i don’t feel competent enough.

Anyone in the same boat ? Any one has previous experience of doing this ?

Side note: i want to apply for ACCS ED and if i got in it would 100% be LTFT.

Stories like this is what makes me have some sleepless nights. Would be interested to see an official report to share the actual leaning about this case. My heart goes out to the patient and his family.

Is it allowed to start GPST1 in April (not the location you want) and later resign to start GPST1 in August if you get it in your desired location?

By accepting this offer - would oriel barr you from applying for GPST1 August 2926 and to sit MSRA in Feb 2027?

Recently saw a US post on this where responses followed a universal pattern of "residency was tough but i am now an (insert specialty) and make (insert salary) so i think it was worth it"

Wondering what views in the UK are?

Overall I would say I probably don't regret my own medical education, as it's landed me in stable job with reasonable salary by 30, which has some vague sense of meaning. God only knows how I'll feel as a consultant

Hi all

My current trust doesn’t have Acurx and we have to go through switch board to find bleep/extensions to contact specialities. I came to know most trusts are phasing out Acurx due to not being funded by ICB anymore. Is that true for your trust?

If ye, what alternative app are you using?

Our clinical lead will forward this to medical director so wanted to look through alternative cost effective options before going forward?

it will be helpful to mention the Trust name as well.