17/12/2025
Three years ago, I was an NHS doctor. I trained and worked across Emergency Medicine, Anaesthetics, and Intensive Care, fully committed to a career I believed I would spend my life in. This is a reflection on the gradual downfall of that career and what ultimately led me away from the NHS.
Today, resident doctors begin a 5 day strike for pay restoration, it feels impossible not to acknowledge why so many have reached this point. Doctors are overworked, undervalued, and underpaid for the level of responsibility they carry. Being a doctor does not just affect your working hours. It seeps into every part of your life. For me, the impact was mental, physical, and emotional. Burnout crept in quietly and then all at once.
At my lowest point, I reduced my hours from 100% to 70% simply to cope. Even that was not enough. Eventually, I made the decision to leave. I now run a medical aesthetics clinic, something that was always meant to be a side hustle, never the main plan. My vision was to stay in the NHS, to progress through training, and to become a consultant.
Instead, we are witnessing doctors leaving in their thousands. Many are moving abroad. Others are finding alternative careers. Even those who want to stay are finding the door closed, unable to secure specialty training posts that would allow them to progress. This year alone, there were over 30,000 applications for just 10,000 training jobs, leaving many to scramble for locum work. I have heard countless stories of doctors trying to make ends meet and struggling with the rising cost of living.
This is not sustainable.
We need our healthcare system. We need trained, skilled, high quality doctors who are supported, valued, and fairly paid. What we do not need is the dilution of the medical workforce or attempts to cheapen care by replacing expertise rather than investing in it. Patient safety and quality care depend on experience, training, and continuity, and right now those foundations are being eroded.
💬 What do you think?
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