'I'd Be Better Off Staying At McDonald's Than Being a Junior Doctor': Medical student

'I'd be better off staying at McDonald's than being a junior doctor': Medical student, 23, who works at fast food chain to pay her way through university blasts changes to NHS contract

• Lianne Sellors funded her way through university with the part-time job
• Restaurant managers earn £40,000 compared to junior doctors' £22,636
• She said has always wanted to be a doctor but is now worried for the future
• Medical student made the post while thousands were protesting in London

McDonald's employee and medical student Lianne Sellors has said she would be 'better off' working at the fast food chain than in the NHS

A frustrated medical student claims she would be 'better off' working at McDonald's than becoming a junior doctor.

Lianne Sellors, 23, is set to start the job later this year after funding her way through university by working part-time at the fast-food chain.

But the disillusioned student has hit out against the proposed changes to junior doctors' contracts - which unions claim will lead to a drop in salary.

Miss Sellors made her bold comment in a Facebook post while on a break at work as thousands of people marched in London to protests against the plans.

She suggested that the uncertainty over the new contracts meant she would have better pay and conditions at McDonald's.

She wrote: 'I would love to be with them (the protesters). However, I'm working. Not on-call like many others, but at McDonald's.

'Having worked here for over eight years to fund my studies as a student doctor I am hugely angry and disappointed at what lies ahead.

'The new contract is not fair - I'd be better off staying at McDonald's - and it's not safe.'

The proposals by health secretary Jeremy Hunt include reclassifying a doctor's normal working week to include Saturdays and up to 10pm every night except Sunday.

Campaigners claim the proposed NHS contract changes - which include scrapping overtime rates - mean wage cuts of up to 30 per cent for junior doctors as evenings and Saturdays will be paid at the standard rate rather than a higher rate for antisocial hours.

Miss Sellors, who studies at the University of Sheffield, posted a picture of herself in her fast food uniform on the day thousands of medics gathered to protest outside the Houses of Parliament.

She said she was not concerned about long hours as working while studying has meant she is used to it.

But she said she was concerned the junior doctor contract would be 'detrimental to patient safety.'

She said: 'It is scary and really frustrating because I don't know what kind of job I'll be walking into when I finish studying.

'This is what I have always wanted to do.

'We train for years to look after people and these kind of hours will make us lose confidence in the decisions we are making.

'We will be worried that we will make mistakes.'




Miss Sellors said she was 'hugely disappointed at what lies ahead' after funding her studies by working at McDonald's for eight years. She voiced her support on Facebook for those protesting against proposed changes to NHS contracts for junior doctors



Protesters marched in London last month to show their dismay at 'unfair' changes to junior doctors' contracts


Junior doctors protest new plans for evening and weekend work

Trainee doctors have a starting salary of £22,636 in Foundation Year 1 which goes up to £30,000 within four years.

They currently boost their salary through a complex system of supplements which means they can earn on average £40,000 in the initial stages of training, according to the Department of Health's estimates.

It is scary and really frustrating because I don't know what kind of job I'll be walking into when I finish studying.
Lianne Sellors, medical student
But first they must get a medical degree, which can take between five and six years to get and means they are older than the average graduate when they finish university.

A McDonald's spokesman told MailOnline they could not comment on Miss Sellors' earning but added that someone with years' of experience who had worked through the ranks could expect to be at restaurant manager level.

'The combined salary and benefits package of a restaurant manager amounts to about £40,000.

'We have some restaurant managers who are 23 and earning this. We are always looking.'

In July, junior doctor Janis Burn’s open letter to David Cameron saying the majority of medics already work weekends and are paid less than a manager of the coffee chain a Pret A Manger, was shared online more than 150,000 times.

Fresh from a weekend of working nights, she challenged the Prime Minister to try to treat a patient 'on the brink of death' after no sleep.

Last month, a protest song penned by medical student Eirion Slade lampooning the new contracts racked up more than 200,000 views.



Junior doctor Janis Burns' open letter to David Cameron complaining that junior doctors were already paid less than managers at Pret A Manger was shared more than 150,000 times, earlier this year

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If you are in it for the money, you are in the wrong profession. If it were just the money, I'd go back writing software. But it's about people, and giving back. You have to make a living, but the days of the doctor being the richest guy in town are long over. Sorry.

 

Overworked Underpaid