I want to feel proud of being an NHS doctor, but the job is so difficult now. I’m not sure I’d want my daughter to do this | Nish Manek

If I think about the pressure, the erosion in working conditions and the declining level of pay, so much would have to change

“Mummy, I want to be a doctor”. Is this simple role play, or a genuine career intention from my three-year-old? I look down at her playing with her doctor’s set and teddy bear, and I want to feel proud. But I realise something has changed. Getting some headspace on maternity leave, watching the junior doctor discontent bubble up again and seeing my husband quit his neurology registrar job for an infinitely happier career in research have all contributed to my unease.

Perhaps we should have known what we signed up for. I’ve heard senior doctors mutter that things were much harder for them, and our generation of snowflakes needs to be more resilient. But when you’re 17, how can you really know what you’re committing to for your lifetime? You’ve earned good grades, you want to make your family proud, and there is an element of vocation, challenge and nobility attached to medicine that is hard to ignore. You’re reverent of the senior doctors you meet on work experience. They are respected by their patients, proud of their contributions and live a relatively stable, comfortable life.

Nish Manek is an NHS GP, podcaster and blogger

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/5OlyQrm