Should doctors get a life?
Dear Editor,
We hear so much recently about doctors causing all the problems in the health service that I felt compelled to write to you to give our side of the story.
Since I graduated in 2000, I worked initially for one year as an intern and after this I have worked for almost five years in my chosen specialty.
I have recently been appointed to the specialist training scheme which will involve rotating around the country on year-long contracts for five years.
Following this I will probably travel abroad to obtain subspecialty training (of two-three years' duration) to make me a competitive candidate to apply for a consultant post.
This 12-year long training is not unusual for NCHDs and has some obvious disadvantages. I am not in a position to buy a family home and choose where I'm going to live as I have no idea in what area of the country a job will be available when I finish my training.
During the next five years I will continue to provide "on call" cover which, in my specialty as in many others, means remaining in the hospital for a 28-34 hour shift without any guaranteed rest break, meal break or sleep.
However, there is hope on the horizon with respect to these long shifts as the European Working Time Directive limits the maximum shift length to 13 hours but . . . again NCHDs are accused of obstructing contract negotiations.
I chose medicine as my career and I do not regret this choice for a minute.
My job is interesting and fulfilling as no two patients are exactly the same and there is incredible job satisfaction associated with providing care for a patient in need.
For me the rewards associated with my job outweigh the above disadvantages. However, I did not choose to work abnormal working patterns that prevent me from having a family life outside of the hospital - that is what we are being continually asked to do in the current NCHD contract negotiations.
When I attend Labour Relations Committee talks, I am constantly forced to listen to Department of Health and Health Services Executive (HSE) officials, who work a 39-hour week Monday-Friday, explaining to me that the healthcare service is a 24/7 service. It makes me want to jump up on the table and shout out "I know it is - I provide it."
Doctors have been accused of obstructing the contract talks because we are greedy money grabbers who don't want to take a pay cut. I greatly resent that continued sniping implication.
We are continually being shown a five/seven working week as a solution. This basically means removing the notion that Saturday and Sunday work should be kept to a minimum and instead scheduling NCHDs to work any five days of the week with a week day as a rest day.
It is possible to design rosters that provide out-of-hours cover without insisting on this practice but the HSE keep bringing forward rosters that have us working six weekends out of eight with a Tuesday or a Wednesday off here and there.
This destroys any possibility for NCHDs to have any sort of a normal family life.
For me and many others, this is the last straw and we will leave medicine and find a job where we are respected as people who deserve a life outside of work.
Dr Nóirín Russell,
Clonliffe Ave,
Dublin 3