Letter: Surgeon or plumber

Sir: It is with a certain irony that I read Hunter Davies' assertion ("Who's making toast if not the nurse? 18 September) that "finding doctors, from anywhere, is a continual headache". Down at the foot of the medical ladder this just is not true. Junior doctors rotate through the specialities every six months - in the last scramble I finally got a job offer at the 43rd attempt. I was lucky; most of the posts seem to attract well over 100 applicants and some of my colleagues got nothing at all.

So I am intrigued by current moves to train a further 1,000 potentially unemployed medical graduates a year. Why? To anyone contemplating one of these places I can recommend the advice of Dr Bannon (letter, 18 September) - seriously consider becoming a plumber.

Dr SIMON WILLIAMS

Royal Shrewsbury Hospital

Shrewsbury, Shropshire