My son is a junior doctor. He spent five years at university and over £70,000 to qualify – fee increases mean that in future years new doctors will probably spend over £100,000 to obtain their degree. His basic pay is about £28,000 a year. He pays for his own insurance, fees and very expensive exams. He will probably spend his career living in expensive cities. He regularly works weekends and nights, and spends much of his “free” time adjusting his sleep patterns. He almost always works between one and three hours extra daily because of understaffing. He witnesses death and misery almost every week; unlike most jobs, if he makes a mistake someone might die. His social life is almost nonexistent due to exhaustion and antisocial hours.

By the end of my first year as a doctor, I was ready to kill myself Read more

For this his current average basic pay is about £12 per hour. “Overtime” payments have to be fought for and do not compensate for the additional hours worked. He cannot work for another employer – there is only one in the UK. Jeremy Hunt wants junior doctors to work more nights and weekends. Overtime will only be paid when hours exceed 87 hours a week – 39 more than the maximum allowed under the European working time directive.

In reality most junior doctors are neither well paid, well treated nor well appreciated by their employer. Their recent overwhelming vote in favour of a strike is largely because Mr Hunt apparently believes them to be the root cause of many of the problems in the NHS. His solution – to work them even harder and for even less pay – makes a clear statement of how little the government values their dedication. Why would they not strike (Doctors set to walk out next week as talks fail, 5 January)?

Adrian Whittaker

Bungay, Suffolk

• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com