UoN Medical Students Condemn Treatment of Junior DoctoRS

Last year, more working days were lost to strikes than any other year since 1989 - and there is no sign of them stopping. Junior doctors are the latest public sector workers to join the national organised labour strikes with their union. Sophie Robinson speaks with medical students at UoN about their experiences on NHS wards and to get their take on the junior doctor and nurse strikes

For only the second time in the 74-year history of the NHS, junior doctors in England have gone on strike. Their actions have been driven by poor pay, unsafe staffing levels and working conditions. Tens of thousands of junior doctors took part in a 72-hour strike after 98% of those who voted were in favour of strike action, according to the British Medical Association (BMA).

Fifth year medical student, Nathan, explained that the junior doctor strikes could potentially impact his final year assessments. “[The strikes] are going to affect us in terms of exams because most of our exams are meant to be supported by the junior doctors. I heard that potentially our exams might be delayed, or they might take out some OSCE [Objective Structured Clinical Examination] stations, which could make it harder for us to pass.” to survive for much longer under current conditions. “It’s just not enough to continue what we’re doing. Every doctor and nurse is doing it from the goodness of their heart.”

The BMA announced that the aims of the strikes are to: reverse the steep decline in pay for junior doctors since 2008/9, work with the government to prevent any future declines against inflation, and reform the Doctors’ and Dentists’ Review Body (DDRB) process to safeguard the recruitment and retention of junior doctors.

However, fourth year medical students Hassan and Zenia highlighted that the working conditions for junior doctors worry them most about entering a medical career. “We’ve made it very normal how extreme the work is - with 24 hour shifts on a weekly basis, it means you can’t have responsibilities outside of work. When people work those long shifts, they make mistakes because they’re tired and hungry.”

Nathan expressed his support for the strikes and the way in which they help to raise awareness for issues affecting health professionals. However, he also emphasised that this is just the beginning. He warned that the NHS is not going

They continued: “The way we’ve found it affects us specifically is that we go on our placements and on some wards, you become like an acting F1 (foundation doctor), and we’ve been third year medical students while that’s been happening. Junior doctors shouldn’t need unpaid workers, who are unqualified, to help them manage their work.”

Fifth year medical student, Lauren, corroborated this view, saying: “It’s concerning because quite a lot of the workforce are expressing that they’re not happy with the working environment. If you’re not supported in your job, especially when you’re only a junior doctor and still in training, it feels unsafe.”

According to the BMA’s survey of junior doctors in England, seven in ten junior doctors surveyed said they had undertaken extra shifts on top of their standard contracts over the past year to deal with the cost-of-living crisis. This accentuates concerns around the wellbeing of junior doctors, as well as the risk to patient safety. 60% of surveyed junior doctors described their morale as ‘low’ or ‘very low’, with 51% of junior doctors experiencing low motivation to continue working for the NHS.

Nathan said that higher pay would give junior doctors compensation for the poor working conditions: “People are leaving because the pay is low, so if they solve the pay issue people might come back. There are so many doctors and nurses who have taken over vacant jobs and are working extra hours for not much more money.

Hassan emphasised that the lack of a clear solution worries him about his future as a doctor. “They say they’re going to double the amount of spaces at medical schools but how? You go to QMC [Queen’s Medical Centre] and there are 12 medical students on each ward - they’re not getting anything out of it and doctors are stressed out of their minds. Having double places seems like a good idea until you think about it practically.”

“There needs to be more input from doctors and less input from MPs, because they aren’t the ones working in hospitals.”

Third year medical student, Lathurshaan, says that the problem is the distribution of funding within the NHS: “There needs to be more input from doctors and less input from MPs, because they aren’t the ones working in hospitals. If they spent less on medi cation then everyone would care, but when it comes to paying doctors and nurses then it’s normalised - it’s a failure of the system.”

NHS nurses have been striking over pay since December of last year, pausing their industrial action in February as Health Secre- tary Steve Barclay agreed to hold talks with the Royal College of Nursing’s (RCN)general secretary. Nathan explained why he believes the nurse strikes are so important: “Some nurses’ jobs are very hard - much harder than it is for junior doctors - and they’re not getting paid enough for what they’re doing.” Lathurshaan also highlighted that doctors are often the face of healthcare issues, but nurses and porters are equally affected.

Although Steve Barclay has been open to talks with the RCN, so far, he has refused to meet with junior doctors. Co-chairs of the BMA junior doctors’ committee asked: “How in all conscience, can the health secretary continue to put his head in the sand and hope that by not meeting with us, this crisis of his government’s making, will somehow just disappear?”

When junior doctor strikes go ahead, the NHS faces the prospect of having to cancel operations and medical appointments - undoing some of the progress made to tackle the backlog created by the pandemic.

“It makes medicine as a career very scary because there are so many things working against you”, said Hassan.

Sophie Robinson

Impact’s Head of News interviewed Students’ Union Community Officer Daisy Forster to find out more about the Student Living Strategy.

Nottingham’s student population is growing every year and currently, around 1 in 7 Nottingham residents is a student. Despite the two universities being a positive asset to the local economy, the expanding student population is resulting in housing problems for both students and locals. Tensions are rising over housing and differences in lifestyles. The Nottingham Student Living Strategy (SLS) sees Nottingham City Council, the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University working together to attempt to improve student housing in the city - as well as improve relationships between students and the community. It also hopes to maximise the possibilities of the large student population in the city.

The Student Living Strategy is comprised of 3 priorities:

• Improving the quality, safety, affordability and location of student accommodation, and encouraging a better balance of student housing choice across the city

• Encouraging neighbourliness, where students contribute to creating a clean, attractive and sustainable environment, and tackling the impact of waste and noise.

• Increasing community cohesion, ensuring students are valued members of their communities and improving graduate retention in the city.

The SLS is an ongoing project, currently predicted to end in 2028. Lottie spoke with Daisy to see what the plans are for the project and to get her take on it.

Can you explain what the Student Living Strategy is?

We’re in a student housing crisis across the UK because there are more and more students being accepted to universities and cities can’t house them adequately. There’s a lot of tension between councils and universities because the council is asking why the universities are accepting new students, and the universities are responding that they need the money.

The two big universities in Nottingham and the Council have come together to create the Student Living Strategy, setting out their common ground in how they should all be working towards a brighter future for students living in the city. It’s pretty ground-breaking work because no other city has anything like this.

What do you think are the fundamental issues with the strategy?

A key part of the strategy is encouraging students to live in purpose-built student accommodation rather than houses in the city.

There needs to be more consideration for the fact that students like living in houses. Students like having that independence to go out with their friends and choose their perfect house and it can be a house with a slightly bigger kitchen or with the loft bedroom they’ve been picturing. That’s such an important part of the student journey. It’s also the cheaper option a lot of the time especially when we’re heading into a climate where students can’t afford luxuries.

The council wants to incorporate student needs into what purpose-built student accommodations look like but I think it might need fleshing out a bit more. If we have students in townhouses, then that could work great for the student journey, and it would be a very similar experience to what they’ve got now. But, if it’s going to be tower blocks, that contradicts the third priority to integrate students into the community. If we’re pushing students out of the community into tower blocks, then that’s not helping them integrate and be an active part of the community.

I would like to see a little bit more nuance and a bit more understanding for students who want to live in houses.

Are they making the argument that purpose built student accommodation is cheaper?

The council’s overarching plan is that they’ll fill the market with these purpose-built accommodations to the point that prices will go down because there are so many, and so student accommodations will have to compete with each other. This is because at the moment - especially at Nottingham Trent - there are not enough rooms for the number of students which drives the price up because students are competing for rooms, rather than rooms competing for students. On the whole, in five to ten years, it could work, but we’d be running off a completely different model where students are not living in normal houses anymore - they’re living in houses and flats that are built specifically for students.

The reason the SLS is wanting to do this is because, as we’re seeing in places like Lenton, Beeston and West Bridgford, more and more students are populating the areas and using the houses instead of families - then there aren’t enough houses for those families, so they’re trying to cater for everyone. Their answer is to put students into purpose built student accommodation.

Where is the new student accommodation planned for?

Both universities are committing to build more accommodation and some will be on campus. There’s currently a project in the Students’ Union looking at accommodation and trying to cater it more to what students want. For example, students don’t really want catered accommodation as much anymore, so they’re trying to move away from that model. But on the whole, it’s going to be private companies, like Unite Students, building big tower blocks similar to those just built in Lenton next to Jubilee campus.

They are going to build wherever they can, and the council is going to make planning permission easier. But part of the strategy is going to be placing more regulations on those housing providers to not just build a tower block full of studio flats because that’s not what students want.

I would hope that it’s going to be more like flats for five or six people, or townhouses with a communal space. But students are not going to be living in terraced houses in Lenton as much anymore.

Lottie Murray

With the changing of monarchs for the first time in the UK for 70 years, it seems appropriate to consider the Royal Family’s relevance in today’s society. Harriet explores the difference of opinion between royalists and republicans…

In light of the current cost of living crisis, with many unable to afford to heat their homes, pay rent, or feed their families, the monarchy’s abundant wealth and status seems evermore unfair. The revelation of Prince Andrew’s scandals, the Harry and Meghan situation, and specifically since the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the popularity of the British Royal Family has been challenged.

While the majority of the country still believe the UK should continue to have a reigning monarch, support to replace the British monarchy with an elected head of state is on the rise - particularly among younger generations. A 2022 YouGov poll found that