Additional duty hours should be explained

Editor - I am writing with regard to the recent pay rises in the NHS and your article covering the story.¹ Why you have devoted so much space to discussing the increases for nurses but not for doctors? After all, your readership of medical students will surely metamorphose into doctors and not nurses?

I have to admit to mild disappointment that five years of training amounts to only £17 000 (barely more than my student debt). My colleagues, however, reassure me that this measly figure is quoted before the so called additional duty hours. But what exactly does that mean? Apparently there are different grades of duty hours, depending on where and for how long you work.

I have recently applied to the Scottish house officer matching scheme. None of the jobs advertised have a set salary attached to them; instead this information is supplied as a confusing formula comprising various grades of additional duty hours. Perhaps we are not supposed to understand or be interested in what we eventually earn?

I wonder if your readership would be more interested in an article explaining additional duty hours than hearing how much nurses have scooped in the pay deal?

David Elson, final year medical student, Edinburgh University Medical School, Edinburgh EH8 9HG


studentBMJ 2000;08:45-88 March ISSN 0966-6494

1. Beecham L. UK nurses and doctors receive pay boost. studentBMJ 2000;8:12.