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‘I've wanted to be a doctor my whole life but after seven years of training I can't get a job'
‘I've wanted to be a doctor my whole life but after seven years of training I can't get a job'

Telegraph

time16-07-2025

  • Health
  • Telegraph

‘I've wanted to be a doctor my whole life but after seven years of training I can't get a job'

After seven years of medical training, gruelling hospital shifts and more than £100,000 in student debt, Dr Luke Craddock can't believe he is now facing unemployment. The NHS is chronically short of staff, and his training has cost an estimated £250,000 – yet when his contract ends in early August, there may be no job for him. The 26-year-old from Nottinghamshire, whose lifelong goal was to become the first doctor in his family, is devastated. 'It's completely demoralising and depressing,' he says. 'I feel exhausted and betrayed. After seven years of training, it's hard to accept that I'm now facing unemployment when the NHS desperately needs doctors.' Dr Craddock is one of thousands of junior doctors finishing their Foundation Year 2 placements this summer with no job to go to – at least not in medicine. A shortage of specialist training posts, the next step on the ladder to becoming consultants, has left many newly qualified doctors scrambling for a dwindling number of non-training roles and locum shifts. Some are leaving the profession altogether, while others are relocating abroad, where their skills are in high demand. The crisis stems from a surge in medical school places without a corresponding rise in postgraduate training posts. Meanwhile, overseas recruitment has soared since 2019, when medicine was added to the shortage occupation list and rules prioritising UK candidates were scrapped. According to a workforce report by the General Medical Council (GMC), in 2023, 27 per cent of all graduate doctors in specialist training came from abroad, up from 18 per cent in 2018. Amongst those training to become GPs, more than half obtained their medical degrees outside the UK. 'In addition, there are unsuccessful applicants reapplying in subsequent years, causing an ongoing and worsening bottleneck effect,' Craddock says. He's desperately hoping it's not the end of a dream he's held since his teenage years – a dream he's worked relentlessly to achieve. He secured his place at medical school through a foundation programme for disadvantaged students, a fiercely competitive route with 17 applicants for every place. 'Getting into medical school felt like a long shot, but I was fully committed and thankfully, the work I put in paid off,' he says. 'I was the only student in my sixth form that year to secure a place at medical school, and one of only a handful ever to do so.' His father, an ex-miner, and his mother, a community nurse, were immensely proud when he received the news that he'd won a place at Nottingham Medical School. 'It's a moment we'll never forget,' he says. Not only did he have to work hard to complete an exceptionally challenging degree, but he also supported himself financially by taking summer jobs cleaning student accommodation and mentoring junior medics. Last year, he devoted all his free time to preparing the portfolio required for specialty training – a demanding mix of audits, teaching, research, leadership and exams, most of it completed outside regular hours. He hoped this would be enough to secure at least one of the three specialty training posts he applied for, including internal medicine and histopathology. Competition for posts has always been tough, but when he started medical school, these were specialties he felt he had a decent chance of entering. Since then, however, competition has risen exponentially. The British Medical Association says more than 33,000 doctors applied for fewer than 13,000 specialty training posts this year. Craddock was among around 20,000 unsuccessful applicants. 'Despite knowing the system is broken, with so many doctors who have strong portfolios still missing out on training posts, I can't help but feel like a failure,' he says. 'It is a heartbreaking waste of talent and taxpayer investment, and it is hard not to feel like the current system is pushing us out.' After years of burnout and carrying responsibility for patients' lives, Craddock has started considering jobs outside medicine. 'As I approach 27, I want stability,' he says. 'I want to settle down and start a family. But with no job security and no clear path forward, it's hard to plan anything at all.' With so many newly qualified doctors out of work, even temporary non-training jobs are drying up. Senior house officer positions – the stepping stone between foundation training and specialty training – are scarce, and competition is fierce, with many posts attracting hundreds of applicants. 'I love my job and do not want to stop working as a doctor,' Craddock says. 'However, my contract finishes at the beginning of August and if I do not find employment as a doctor within a month or two, I will have to look at other sectors.' As more early-career doctors are forced to delay or abandon specialty training, the pipeline of future consultants is narrowing. According to NHS figures from 2023, nearly half of current consultants are expected to retire by 2035 – just as patient demand continues to rise and waiting lists hover near record highs. It's likely patients will feel the effects, too. 'If we had more doctors, patients would receive better care,' Craddock says. 'If we had more specialists, waiting lists would shrink more quickly. We still have one of the lowest numbers of doctors per capita in Europe, so we need more doctors.' In response to mounting pressure, the Government's new '10 Year Health Plan' for England promises to prioritise UK-trained doctors for training posts and limit overseas recruitment to just 10 per cent of new hires by 2035. An additional 1,000 specialty training places will be created over the next three years in high-need areas. Craddock welcomes the announcement, while also acknowledging the vital role of overseas-trained doctors in keeping the NHS running. 'It doesn't make sense to continue recruiting doctors trained overseas if we cannot first guarantee employment for doctors trained in the UK.' So far, the Government has offered no timeline or details on how the changes will be implemented, and Craddock believes they will come too late for his cohort and those completing medical training in the near future. For now, he and thousands of others remain in limbo. 'Many doctors, myself included, face an anxiety-filled wait to see where we stand,' he says. 'I honestly don't know what I'm going to do.'

Concern over resident doctor wellbeing as medics prepare for key strike talks
Concern over resident doctor wellbeing as medics prepare for key strike talks

The Independent

time14-07-2025

  • Health
  • The Independent

Concern over resident doctor wellbeing as medics prepare for key strike talks

There is a 'real concern' over the wellbeing of doctors in training, the medical regulator has warned. The General Medical Council (GMC) said that the proportion of training doctors who are at 'high risk of burnout' has doubled since 2019. It comes as the Government and the British Medical Association (BMA) are set to sit down for key talks to try and avert strike action later this month. Ministers have insisted that they will not budge on pay, but are willing to work to help improve the working lives of doctors. The BMA announced last week that resident doctors – formerly known as junior doctors – in England would walk out for five consecutive days from 7am on July 25 amid a pay dispute with the Government. Some of the GMC's 2025 national training survey may be discussed during the crunch talks between the union and the Government this week. Findings from the poll of more than 50,000 doctors in training across the UK include: – 61% are considered to be at moderate or high risk of burnout. Some 20% are deemed to be at high risk of burnout.– 21% of doctors in training do not feel confident in approaching a more senior doctor to discuss concerns they have about the medical treatment a patient is receiving.– 26% believe their training is affected because rota gaps are not dealt with properly.– 28% said they experience micro-aggressions – including negative comments or oppressive body language – from colleagues.– 39% said they do not feel they could raise concerns about discrimination at work without fear of adverse consequences. Writing the forward of the report, Charlie Massey, chief executive and registrar of the GMC, said: 'Profound challenges remain for healthcare systems across the UK. In particular, wellbeing, and its knock-on effects for patient care remain a real concern. 'While down on its 2023 peak, the proportion of trainees at high risk of burnout has doubled since 2019, now standing at a fifth of that cohort. Half find their work emotionally exhausting to a high or very high degree, while a third said their work frustrated them to a high or very high degree.' He added: 'That large numbers of trainees feel uncomfortable raising concerns with their senior colleagues is deeply troubling, and points to an environment where patient safety continues to fall victim to unhealthy culture.' Professor Pushpinder Mangat, medical director and director of education and standards at the GMC, added: 'Our data and workforce insights can support governments and organisations across the UK as they look to drive improvements to ensure that every doctor can thrive.' On Monday, Health Secretary Wes Streeting told the House of Commons' Health and Social Care Committee that a member of his own family is waiting for an 'inevitable' phone call to tell them their NHS procedure has been postponed as a result of planned, resident doctor, strike action. Mr Streeting also said he 'cannot fathom' why 'any doctor in good conscience would make it harder for managers to make sure we have safe staffing levels' after he slammed 'unconscionable' advice from the BMA telling members not to tell their employers if they are planning to strike. And the Cabinet minister said that he does not see a 'reasonable trade union partner' in the Resident Doctors Committee (RDC) of the BMA 'at this time'. The BMA has said that resident doctors need a pay uplift of 29.2% to reverse 'pay erosion' since 2008/09. In September, BMA members voted to accept a government pay deal worth 22.3% on average over two years. The 2025/26 pay deal saw resident doctors given a 4% uplift plus £750 'on a consolidated basis' – working out as an average pay rise of 5.4%.

Joe Biden's osteopathic doctor pleads the Fifth on mental acuity: DO vs MD
Joe Biden's osteopathic doctor pleads the Fifth on mental acuity: DO vs MD

Fox News

time11-07-2025

  • Health
  • Fox News

Joe Biden's osteopathic doctor pleads the Fifth on mental acuity: DO vs MD

As the probe into Joe Biden's mental acuity continues, the former president's personal physician, Kevin O'Connor, DO, made an appearance this week in Washington, D.C., in front of the House Oversight Committee. O'Connor sat down for a closed-door interview on Wednesday with committee staff and panel chair James Comer, R-Ky. — but O'Connor invoked the Fifth Amendment to all questions, save for his name, as Fox News Digital previously reported. In the wake of this, many people have been wondering: What's the difference between a doctor of osteopathic medicine (DO) and a doctor of medicine (MD)? Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News' senior medical analyst, confirmed that the capabilities of both a DO and an MD are the same, even when it comes to acknowledging mental decline or diagnosing and screening for prostate cancer. "He's a DO and he's a family practitioner," said Siegel. "With that training, he should know how to screen for prostate cancer." Training as a DO should not "take away" from medical training or medical education, said Siegel, who's an internist — it only adds osteopathic methods such as manipulative treatment. "I'm trained to be able to suss out cognitive decline," said Siegel. "I'm not a specialist in that, but I can certainly screen for that. And so should a family practitioner who went to osteopathic school." He added, "He's a guy who should say, 'Hey, [Biden's] got some cognitive decline. Let me get a neurologist in here.'" As a White House physician, O'Connor's responsibility was to address the medical needs of the president. But DOs have more of a focus on the "mind, body, spirit connection," according to Cleveland Clinic. MDs and DOs have similar schooling, do the same jobs, can prescribe medicine and practice anywhere in the country. Still, DOs approach medicine more holistically, according to the same source. Cleveland Clinic defines osteopathic medicine as treating patients as a whole and improving wellness through education and prevention. DOs also receive extra training in osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM), which is a hands-on method for treating and diagnosing patients. This alternative training and approach don't define a doctor's practice, as DOs use "all types of modern medical treatments," according to Cleveland Clinic — while MDs can also provide whole-person, preventive care. DO training was first developed in 1892 by physician Andrew Taylor Still, MD, who changed his philosophy of medicine after the Civil War, the same source noted. He believed traditional medicine to treat spinal meningitis, which killed three of his children, was ineffective — and developed the concept of osteopathic medicine. In the U.S., as of 2023, there were 154 allopathic medical schools – using medication, surgery and other interventions to treat illnesses – and 38 otheopathic medicine schools, according to Cleveland Clinic. A 2024 report from the American Osteopathic Association found that 57% of DOs practice family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics — compared to 28% of MDs. The number of DOs in the U.S. has been on the rise in the last decade, according to the same report. Nearly 70% of DOs in active practice are under age 45 — and 45% are female. Several U.S. presidents have been under the care of osteopathic physicians in recent years. O'Connor was appointed by Biden in 2021, serving until March 2025 in the role of White House physician. Dr. Sean Barbabella, DO, stepped into the role that same month. He is a decorated Navy physician who served in Afghanistan and Iraq. Before becoming physician to President Donald Trump, Barbabella ran the Naval Health Clinic Cherry Point in Havelock, North Carolina, according to multiple sources. Dr. Sean Conley, DO, served as a physician to Trump during his first term, from 2018 to 2021. House GOP members, including Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, a former White House doctor himself, continue to investigate accusations that Biden's former top White House aides covered up signs of his mental and physical decline while in office, and whether any executive actions were commissioned via autopen without the president's full knowledge. Biden allies have been pushing back on those claims. Fox News Digital's Elizabeth Elkind contributed reporting.

Hong Kong Hospital Authority rejects claim that locals can't secure residencies
Hong Kong Hospital Authority rejects claim that locals can't secure residencies

South China Morning Post

time09-07-2025

  • Health
  • South China Morning Post

Hong Kong Hospital Authority rejects claim that locals can't secure residencies

Hong Kong's Hospital Authority has rejected accusations from a social media user that graduates from the city's medical schools are unable to secure residencies because of the government's budget deficit and labour policies. The authority on Tuesday evening said it provides 'sufficient training places' for all local medical students to complete their internships each year and also employs all eligible local graduates for specialist training in public hospitals. 'For many years, the Hospital Authority has been dedicated to nurturing healthcare professionals according to this principle, irrespective of its financial situation or the recruitment of non-locally trained healthcare professionals,' it said. In a post on Threads on Friday, a user named vibrant_wasabi said their friend, who was an intern, recently received a letter of rejection from the authority after applying for a resident trainee position. 'The Hospital Authority does not have enough money to hire all the graduates,' wrote the user. 'I am not discouraging those who are considering studying medicine, but think thrice if you are mentally prepared for such uncertainty.' The post also cited statistics on resident trainee allocation and said the authority only had 510 vacancies for this year's batch of 530 graduates.

Baby simulator is a 'gamechanger' for Norfolk hospital training
Baby simulator is a 'gamechanger' for Norfolk hospital training

BBC News

time07-07-2025

  • Health
  • BBC News

Baby simulator is a 'gamechanger' for Norfolk hospital training

A manikin of a new-born baby is helping hospital staff prepare for a wide range of medical the SimBaby, it is in use at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in King's Lynn, in the maternity, neonatal and paediatric departments will use the doll to practise life-saving procedures in a realistic £60,000 manikin, which can simulate a range of medical conditions, has been paid for by the hospital's charity. Helen Muncey, head of education at the QEH, said it would help provide safer care for the hospital's "tiniest patients"."This generous investment from the QEH Charity is a gamechanger for our neonatal and paediatric training," she said."This simulation manikin will allow us to deliver cutting-edge, hands-on education that mirrors real-life clinical situations."Until now, the hospital's simulation school has been largely focused on the treatment of adult patients. Pippa Street, chief nurse at the QEH, said: "The neonatal and paediatric stages in life are critical and vulnerable times for babies and their families. "These simulators allow our teams to refine their skills and work collaboratively in high-pressure scenarios – ultimately helping to save lives and improve outcomes." Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

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