Looking after the next generation of medics has been portrayed as some kind of optional extra. A nice thing to do but ultimately an unnecessary expense. They can be downtrodden and have critical training taken from them and handed to less qualified staff. Simply to show them that they are replaceable and not that important.
But the reality is that no other group can do what they can. No one else has ever known enough to pass medical finals. No one else has spent the time in the trenches learning their particular craft. No one else can pass membership (of whatever specialty). No one else has the knowledge and skill.
Medicine is a team sport but it is also a science. And knowledge and skill is critical to treating patients. Being kind and caring and hard working is not a substitute for intellectual ability. Sorry, but that’s the way the world works. Competence trumps being nice or sociable every time.
The problem with mistreating young doctors is that they are bright enough to leave. These were the people who aced their A levels while gaining leadership skills, volunteering and excelling at sports. They could have done anything but they chose to do medicine. Because they actually cared. And if we don’t want them in the NHS they can go abroad or go private or quit medicine.
And the only people who suffer are the patients. They get treated by people who haven’t done the training and don’t know what they don’t know. Our patients trust us to be able to do everything possible and have no idea that the advice they get is from protocols and flow charts not knowledge and skill.
The NHS is like a body. Every part is needed. But no body every thrived by blowing its brains out.