NHS doctor pens open letter to Jeremy Hunt and shares payslip on Facebook showing he earns less than minimum wage while on call

 
Letter: Karan Kapoor (Picture: LinkedIn)
Rachel Blundy23 July 2015

An NHS doctor has penned an angry open letter to Jeremy Hunt and shared a copy of his payslip on Facebook which shows he earns less than the minimum wage while on call.

Dr Karan Kapoor spoke of his outrage after Mr Hunt announced plans for a seven-day NHS, which include weekend shifts for consultants.

The health secretary's announcement sparked a flurry of angry tweets from NHS staff who were quick to point out that they already work extremely long hours.

The hashtag #ImatworkJeremy began trending on Twitter as they insisted the health service was already operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Dr Kapoor, a London-based consultant, said he received £313.54 for being on call for 120 hours in a month, the equivalent of £2.61 per hour. The national minimum wage is £6.50 per hour for UK residents aged over 21.

Wages: Dr Karan Kapoor's payslip (Picture: Facebook)
Facebook

Currently working for Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, he said he was happy to be on call even though there was not much financial incentive to do so.

Writing on Facebook, he said: "I have never looked to opt out, even though financially it would make sense. I am genuinely offended that you have openly questioned my professionalism and vocation or that of my colleagues."

He continued: "I am no different to the thousands of consultants, junior doctors, nurses, physios, pharmacists, secretaries, speech therapists, etc.

"We don't go on strike, we don't hold the country to ransom, we don't compromise patient care because we were meant to go home 2 hours ago, instead we go above and beyond, understanding the true meaning of professionalism and being exemplar to any health service in the world.

"Without this silent and diligent commitment, the NHS would have have crumbled many years ago."

Dear Jeremy Hunt MP,I am a newly appointed NHS Consultant and receive £313.54 for my on call supplement per month. My...

Posted by Karan Kapoor on Tuesday, 21 July 2015

Dr Kapoor, whose letter has been shared thousands of times online, went on to say that Mr Hunt's "expert advisers" appeared to be "missing" and his speech writers "incompetent" based on the recent announcement.

He wrote: "As a workforce we are very understanding and forgiving. We are often verbally and even physically abused by people who are confused and clearly don't understand how they got into such a state; we forgive them and do our best to fix them.

"I would urge you to simply apologise for the language you have used, and look to engage in a conversation rather than an ultimatum."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in