PWG | Newsletter

“Reaching the uninvolved junior doctor”, “Reflecting local realities”, “Creating projects to involve more people”, sharing, motivating... these were some of the ideas presented last year in Helsinki, when our team presented their project to lead European Junior Doctors. The launch of a newsletter was one of our dreams; not only it will serve our agreed proposes but it will also help us to raise awareness among the more than 200 000 junior doctors.

In these days of economic pressure, risks to quality and legal threats junior doctors have begun to lose hope and are becoming less and less enthusiastic. It's a common situation to have doctors complaining about their situation, but until recently they could always have expectations for a better future. But it is exactly those expectations that now are changing… it's becoming more and more common to find junior doctors who are abandoning curative medicine and going into different specialities or moving to other countries. There is also a fall in interest by school-leavers in a career within the health professions: the number of students that are choosing to study medicine is falling. Among the reasons for this are comparitively long hours and poor pay; hence the PWG´s emphasis on healthworker migration and the European Working Time Directive.

Trust us to defend your rights; we know that we can trust you to complain about the situation of junior doctors in Europe.

This is the first PWG newsletter, it is an invitation to junior doctors throughout Europe to make their voices heard. And, while it is published in Porto, like every good Port wine, it should get better with time. This newsletter is an open space where everybody willing to contribute is welcome. Don´t be an “uninvolved junior doctor”: dare to participate!