NHS staffing shortages: This new NHS contract may force me to quit the job I love

I’m not alone in believing that leaving the NHS – by emigrating or seeking a new career – may be the only option

'I am now facing the prospect of a career that offers me less now than two years ago'

I qualified in 2011 and have since worked as a junior doctor across a range of specialties, including geriatric medicine, critical care and surgery.

Junior doctors provide the bulk of the frontline medical workforce in hospitals. This means handling emergency admissions, looking after the daily medical needs of inpatients, managing paperwork, assisting in theatre and liaising with other healthcare professionals.

We work long hours, sacrifice our social and home lives, subject ourselves to extremes of emotion daily and take on an extraordinary amount of personal and professional responsibility. We expect this and do it readily. I appreciate we are not the only profession to do this, but I cannot presume to speak for others.

I came to medicine later than most. It was my second degree at university and I was 26 when I started work. By the time I had completed my two years of mandatory post-qualification training, I was nearly 28 and my desire to have a life outside work began to compete with my plans for the career I wanted.

I was accepted on to a training programme in a hospital specialty and planned the years ahead accordingly. Having my first child halfway through the year meant that I would be completing most of my training on a part-time basis, which meant adjusting my initial plans for a hospital-based career.

I am back at work now. But while I have been away, I have been confronted with the difficult decisions that come with trying to balance a career you love with a home life you want to protect.

As a family we have made compromises, accepting that we will be raising our child around unpredictable work commitments. We took on the burden of debt from training, understanding that it would dominate our finances for the best part of a decade.

Unfortunately, the new contract for junior doctors, due to come into force in 2016, will make the future as we planned it unfeasible.

Under the new terms, my previous years of service will no longer count towards my salary band. At the very best, this would mean a return to my 2013 pay grade, as if the intervening years of work have not existed.

If I choose to go into general practice, my pay will be cut by 31 per cent from the outset, due to the removal of the GP training supplement. If I return to hospital medicine, with on-call commitments, the future is more unpredictable, but still likely to include deep cuts.

What I do know is that the hours that will be classified as “normal business hours” (paid at the lowest rate) will be 7am to 10pm, every day apart from Sunday (they are currently 7am to 7pm Monday to Friday). Doctors in the NHS are not given the option to claim overtime.

Government plans not included in this contract also include the reduction of mandatory breaks, making it legal to work an 11-hour shift with only 20 minutes’ break.

I am now facing the prospect of a career that offers me less now (in real terms) than two years ago. Not only is it demoralising to belong to a profession whose work is valued so little, but it is devastating to discover a job to which I have been so committed may no longer be possible.

On 21 September, The Independent revealed that, in just three days last week, 1,644 British doctors expressed an interest in applying to move overseas. I’m clearly not alone in believing that leaving the NHS – by emigrating or seeking a new career – may be the only option.