Where are the petitions for ALL doctors? British and IMGs?
I feel like most petitions so far have only focused on IMGs, despite the fact that there are lots of shared anxieties and goals that ALL doctors face on a day to day basis, I think it’s time to be more inclusive and listen to the other side.
Listening to my British colleagues, I think our anxieties about practicing medicine are the same, and it doesn’t always have to be about the money!
For example, I thought it was all me who’s worried about making a mistake and getting publicly humiliated by the press and have my name slapped on 100 news articles for misreading an x-ray or making a mistake, but as it turns out, most of my British colleagues do not like how doctors’ mistakes are handled publicly and in scandalous manner.
Don’t get me wrong, there absolutely should be policies in place to question doctors’ professionalism.
However, a lot of the times an honest mistake ends up being a burden and a reputation that follows you everywhere you go because mistakes aren’t handled privately, and this is especially problematic for those who are considering working somewhere else outside of the UK once they’re done with their training. This is just one example.
The take-home message is that IMGs would benefit from being an ally to their British colleagues, and should approach them, and find common grounds regarding certain demands, financial or not.
This would only lead to a stronger and a more cohesive NHS. All doctors think they could benefit from a pay raise, all doctors think they would like their mistakes to not be publicized the way they are now , all doctors would like better working environment for working mother, all doctors feel some complaints are totally unfair, so what is stopping you from uniting?
There are so many issues & anxieties that both sides of the aisle share and yet, all the petitions that I have seen are IMG-centric. Time to zoom out and think of all of your colleagues!