Newly qualified doctors face ‘recurring cycle of debt', BMA warns

Leader Live

2 days ago

Students from poorer backgrounds are hit hardest, the union claims, as it calls on the Government to address the funding gap and make a career in medicine accessible to people from as many backgrounds as possible.
Students in their final undergraduate year, along with those in the later years of a post-graduate medical degree, get a reduced student loan alongside an NHS bursary.
This leads to a £3,674 drop in funding on average, according to the BMA.
Sophie Mitchell, deputy co-chair (finance) of the BMA's medical students' committee, told the PA news agency: 'A lot of people are using these loans in previous years to either pay their rent and to live off.
'Losing out on a significant portion of that is meaning that students are struggling.
'We've got people maxing out overdrafts, we've got people maxing out credit cards.
'We've got people going into very significant debt just to actually finish this degree.'
The average medical student faces 12 months of this reduced funding.
However, some post-graduate students, along with those on six-year degree programmes, face up to three years, Ms Mitchell said.
Some are them are also faced with relocation expenses ahead of starting their first job in the NHS.
'The issue with that is most academic years or final years start in around the middle of August,' Ms Mitchell said.
'You are then having this reduced rate of funding until you then get paid at the end of August the following year.
'I know that a lot of my colleagues have had to get loans to pay their rent, or they've had to get credit agreements so that they can pay their rent.
'Also then having to relocate to a new place where you're getting this reduced rate of funding has been a struggle for a lot of people.
'A lot of my friends were already graduating, maxing out their overdrafts, and then they've had to get overdraft extensions to help them live until they get paid at the end of August.
'It's creating this recurrent cycle of debt that people are really struggling to get out of until that first paycheck.'
Ms Mitchell said she knows of new graduates stewarding football matches or taking zero hours bar work to get by.
She added: 'We have people working behind bars.
'We have people stewarding.
'One of my friends is actually working for Uber at the moment, because it was the only work that she could get that meant that she could get some employment in the area that she's in.'
Ms Mitchell is heading the BMA's Fix Our Finance campaign alongside co-chair Henry Budden.
'Quite a common thing that we've heard about the campaign is 'every student gets a job, why are you guys complaining so much?',' she told PA.
'But I think what people maybe aren't so aware of is actually how intense our course is.
'You're training for that role that you're about to start.
'You're in hospital Monday to Friday, nine to five.
'Some universities make their students do night shifts.
'Some universities make their students also do weekends on top of this.
'And then on top of that placement, where you're learning to be a doctor, you're also having to revise for your exams.'
The BMA is calling on the Government to ensure medical students receive full student finance maintenance for the entirety of their course.
The union claims this would cost the Treasury £24 million and just 0.12% of Student Finance England annual lending.
Ms Mitchell and Mr Budden warned the 'situation isn't sustainable' and 'does nothing to help those from poorer backgrounds or improve participation in medicine'.
'Medicine is longer than many other degrees for good reason; because we want to ensure doctors working in the NHS have the best possible training,' they added.
'It is only right then that they should receive the appropriate funding to see them through the entirety of their course.'
A Government spokesperson said: 'NHS bursary grants were uplifted from last September for the first time since 2015 and will increase again by forecast inflation this year, but we know there is more to do to support future NHS doctors.
'The 10-Year Health Plan explicitly acknowledges that the cost of studying medicine is a barrier for working-class students.
'We are determined to break down these barriers and ensure the NHS workforce reflects the communities it serves, which is why we're exploring options to improve financial support to students from the lowest socio-economic background so that they are able to thrive at medical school.'