'Horrific' A & E scenes and a government who 'aren't listening' have forced Doctor Liv to debate a move to Australia
1 July 2023, 13:32 | Updated: 1 July 2023, 13:34
A & E Doctor Liv is debating a move to Australia
A & E is "horrific," says Doctor Liv, who is contemplating a move to Australia after coming under increasing pressure from a buckling health service.
Caller Liv began by telling Matt Frei: "I'm an A & E doctor and I finished medical school in 2013, so ten years ago, and I'll be a consultant in a year and a half and I'm now looking at jobs in Australia".
Shocked by her decision, Matt questioned Liv: "When did you start looking and why?"
Explaining to Matt, Liv said she started looking at making the transition last year, stating: "I don't know if you've been to A&E recently, but it's horrific".
Describing the "awful" scenes she is subjected to in the accident and emergency department, Liv told Matt: "It's like a scene from a movie. It's just awful.
"Patients being in corridors for a ridiculous number of hours and you can't treat people the way you want to and just this isn't what I went into medicine for.
She exclaimed to Matt, "I feel like there's no one listening. The government's not listening. It's never going to change".
Noting the pressure of the strikes and the toll it's taking on staff, Liv said: "I think everyone's morale is ridiculously low and I'm not the only person I know that's looking.
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Highlighting the argument that the "country paid for you to become a doctor" and "how can you desert them" Matt stated: "Actually, you've paid largely for yourself to become a doctor because of the student fees".
Liv replied: "I'm still paying them back ten years on" and "I've put some sweat into this game and I really, really care and that's why I started looking abroad".
Providing an example of the disparity of the situation, Liv reiterated an example to Matt, saying: "There was a man recently that I ended up treating, he had end-stage bowel cancer and he was in agony.
"At the time I came in, in the morning, he'd been sitting in a chair for 8 hours and what had happened was his bladder had created a hole towards his bowel just because of where the tumour was.
"So the reason he came in was because he was he had an infection and he was leaking urine out to his back passage and he was sitting upright in a chair in the waiting room for 8 hours.
"This was the last day of his life. He died 12 hours later."
Reacting to Liv's anecdote, Matt said: "Oh, that's awful"
Liv added: "I'm going to be doing this every day, and I didn't really help that man, there was nothing I could do to make it any better for him because we didn't have the resources".
Noting Rishi Sunak's NHS England workforce plan, Liv stated: "It's not going to work, I mean, you're talking about creating extra people coming in, but you're talking about junior staff coming in separate from a nanny perspective.
"Even if you talk about bringing in a load of apprentices, they all have to feed back through the senior doctors.
"If you gave me 20 apprentices on a night shift, it's not going to help me. I'm the slowing down factor. I am your boss, full stop and there's only one of me."
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Their conversation arose as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the delayed workforce plan was "historic" and had taken time to get right.
More doctors and nurses will be trained and thousands of new roles will be created to work in tandem with them, as part of a major NHS England workforce plan.
Places at university for medical students will be doubled, a new apprenticeship scheme for doctors is planned and medical degrees could be shortened from 7 years.
