Citation for Wes Streeting's 17% favourability rating. I almost said source, but the source of his unfavourability is that he's so unprincipled he makes Keir Starmer look like Mahatma Gandhi.
Our MP is a Labour Coop and is pretty good, pro trans, pro gaza, pro benefits (basically not like a Labour MP at all) and got a good margin last time. We are a Lib Dem / Labour seat anyway.
Don't think that's true, from things people have said to me in hospital over the last 3 days, but even if it were, nobody's going to vote them out of office for it.
Streeting should consider his position sooner, rather than wait for the humiliation that will come his way if he stays put.
Well, I am a member of the public and doctors have my full support. Get rid of PA/AAs and other unsafe, insufficiently educated, non doctor roles! That would raise some money to help pay them properly.
The real headline here should be the pitiful amount of money junior doctors are presently paid. Around £17 an hour. I charge more for cutting grass. No wonder so many emigrate to countries where the pay is more reflective their skill set.
The day one, no experience, minimum pay for a junior doctor is £36,616 which is about £21, rising to £49,909 (£28/hr) after two years.
This goes up by a further £3k for shifts on weekends, £7k for night shifts, £4k for being on call, and £11k for GP training; which is up to £42/hr after 2 years.
In a cost of living crisis when doctors are notoriously difficult to see, in a profession where everyone regardless of skill is paid over the national average - the argument of "they're paid a pittance" doesn't stack up.
It is lower than other countries but it is still a lot of money.
When comparing with other countries - this is not just a doctors thing, it is endemic across the UK. We've had almost two decades of wage stagnation. e.g. my job is highly skilled and saves lives, but is outsourced to the UK from America because the pay here is about 1/3rd.
On the picket line, you have it hammered in to you that a strike is NOT a popularity contest, and it DOES NOT matter what politicians or the public think.
We Americans are in awe of doctors anywhere doing this.
In the United States, no doctors are allowed to even join labor unions, much less go on strike, because they are considered management.
Meanwhile, medical residents, the closest equivalent to junior doctors, are basically indentured servants.
Many have to work such long hours that they go into psychotic states from sleep deprivation.
To say that this is not a good situation in which to practice medicine is an understatement.
Junior Doctors - avin a laugh. Now they really are entitled...always have been. Consultants detest them - 'Well, they don't know anything' was a retort from an ortho surgeon when I said I felt sorry for the Juniors. No mercy given.
Startling news. Just one isolated incident after a long ,long day no doubt. I.d sooner pay a doctor in a hospital, junior or not, X2 the salary of a bean counting accountant or a thug protecting lawyer. JDs save lives. Docs do well out of the profession in general,eventually...
Wes Streeting has always been a smug, self-satisfied, arrogant creep, so no real new story here, the fact he's been mentioned as a possible future successor to Starmer is a joke...
I don't understand this "public support" thing, I don't think junior doctors give a shit about what the public thinks. This is their livelihood, it's not like the public decide how much public workers are paid.
Whatever we think about the limitations of current policy, which lacks so much, the junior doctors have lost a lot of suopport for various reasons, both the obvious and their lack of support for others.
We never hear them say 'and it is even worse for ...' or 'this group has it worse than us'.
It's a weird concept anyway that it's up to junior doctors to garner public support. I mean, I'm sure it would be nice to have it but I doubt if most of them check their poll numbers before starting work.
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I certainly wouldn't.
Maybe he needs to come clean about that instead of attacking Junior Doctors.
Streeting should consider his position sooner, rather than wait for the humiliation that will come his way if he stays put.
This goes up by a further £3k for shifts on weekends, £7k for night shifts, £4k for being on call, and £11k for GP training; which is up to £42/hr after 2 years.
It is lower than other countries but it is still a lot of money.
But it mostly just makes people think he's a prick.
In the United States, no doctors are allowed to even join labor unions, much less go on strike, because they are considered management.
Many have to work such long hours that they go into psychotic states from sleep deprivation.
To say that this is not a good situation in which to practice medicine is an understatement.
We never hear them say 'and it is even worse for ...' or 'this group has it worse than us'.
I oppose @wesstreeting.bsky.social