‘We put so much money into training doctors, then a third don’t get jobs - it’s a total waste’

AFTER years of studying and hundreds of hours working for free for the NHS to qualify, resident doctors in Wales say there are no jobs and they're struggling to make ends meet.

- ABBIE WIGHTWICK

It comes at the same time almost half of junior doctors in Wales told the British Medical Association (BMA) they are worried they'll be unemployed despite NHS services being overstretched.

Dr Oba Babs-Osibodu, chair of the BMA's Welsh resident doctor committee, said many doctors are applying for hundreds of jobs just to find one below their level.

And a 26-year-old locum has told us how he is struggling to find a job and can only get 20 or so working hours a week.

They have painted a picture of a broken system where some doctors are struggling to pay the bills while hospitals continue to be understaffed.

Dr Babs-Osibodu said junior doctors are now facing “extreme mental distress’

“We heard of others forced into sporadic ad-hoc shifts, unable to pay their bills. We heard of the extreme mental distress and anxiety that came with endless uncertainty,” he said.

“These doctors aren't failures. They have been failed by the very system they've given everything to.

“They spent years studying, passed gruelling exams, improved countless lives, made countless sacrifices and kept the NHS going throughout the pandemic. Now, suddenly, they're being cast aside”

He said junior doctors - also known as resident doctors - feel promises of work at the start of their studies have been broken. Doctors are being driven away to find work when the NHS in Wales needs them more than ever and “the people of Wales ultimately suffer as a result”

One resident doctor searching for work in Cardiff after qualifying in Wales blamed poor planning by all parties involved, from the Welsh Government to the NHS and education providers. He said he can barely afford to make ends meet at times when he doesn’t get enough locum work.