Why it now sucks to be a med student
16th February 2016
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You worked hard for years at your A-levels, moaning to your friends about how easy they had it studying Sociology and History whilst you were suffering through Biology and Chemistry. You put in that extra effort needed to secure those top grades whilst the rest of your mates were out discovering the benefits of being finally old enough to legally get drunk in a pub.
Well done you did it! You got accepted onto the Medicine degree you'd been hoping for - surely all the hard work will mean once you finish you'll be rewarded with a good life.
After all NHS is one of Britain's most famous brands and is an international hallmark of the post-World War 2 establishment.
Jeremy Hunt, however, begs to differ. On the 10th February he decided to force his new contract for Junior Doctors onto the NHS after months of negotiation with the BMA failed.
Last week doctors walked out of their jobs in protest as part of the third national strike against the contract.
This led Mr. Hunt - the Conservative Health Secretary - to decide that the best course of action would be to impose the contract upon the NHS, which was met with immediate scorn from across the political spectrum.
When the contract is imposed on hospitals in August the conditions of Junior Doctors will become deplorable.
Saturday will be seen as a normal working day, working till 10pm will be classed as 'normal hours' andall this comes at a time where NHS staff are already beginning to feel the strain put on them by the Tories devastating cuts.
One Junior Doctor told me how he currently gets paid to work 9am to 5pm, but in reality he works 8:30am to 7pm and sometimes stays as late as 9pm. The 25-year-old first year Junior said to me that if he took the actual hours he worked into account he'd be earning around £9 an hour - just over a quid more than you earn at Tesco. The contract is also aiming to remove many of the safeguards that stop hospitals from overworking their already overworked Juniors. Working nights and weekends are going to shift from being viewed as extraordinary to just plain ordinary.

One Junior Doctor told me how he currently gets paid to work 9am to 5pm, but in reality he works 8:30am to 7pm and sometimes stays as late as 9pm. The 25-year-old first year Junior said to me that if he took the actual hours he worked into account he'd be earning around £9 an hour - just over a quid more than you earn at Tesco. The contract is also aiming to remove many of the safeguards that stop hospitals from overworking their already overworked Juniors. Working nights and weekends are going to shift from being viewed as extraordinary to just plain ordinary.
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