I am tired of the NHS being used as a political football

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To refer to junior doctors as ‘doctors in training’ betrays a total lack of understanding and disregard for the profession (PA Archive)

I write as a wife of a doctor and mother of two doctors. My husband and I made several sacrifices to educate and send our children to medical school, where they spent six years training as doctors. At age 23/24 they were on the front line saving lives, working in major hospital in London and often not having any breaks on a 12-hour shift, not to mention being paid pittance. We as parents have had to pay their rents.

The problem we have with these politicians is that they have no understanding of what healthcare staff have to endure, often having to work in filthy, broken-down hospitals where being short on staff is the norm. I often wonder how they would feel if their children had to work long hours on pittance pay in a highly pressured environment.

To refer to junior doctors as “doctors in training” betrays a total lack of understanding and disregard for the profession. These doctors take full responsibility for patient care and make decisions to save lives. Without them, the hospitals would not function.