Woman ditches UK to earn £1,000 a month more in place where 'everyone is happy'
A former NHS doctor earns £1,000 more a month and is paid extra for overtime after leaving the UK for a place where "everyone is happy".
Aoibhin Bradley, 27, said she can see "absolutely no reason" to move back after trading in her NHS career for one in the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
Aoibhin graduated from Queens University, Belfast, in April 2020 and spent time on the frontline during the height of the Covid pandemic.
She said she struggled with the long shifts, claiming she often worked three hours past her end time, and took home £2.1k-a-month based on a 48.5-hour week.
After completing further foundation training, Aoibhin took the plunge to move to Australia in September 2022 with her boyfriend, Matthew McQuaid, 29, who is also a doctor.
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Aoibhin moved to Australia in September 2022 with her boyfriend Matthew McQuaid (Aoibhín Bradley / SWNS)They both secured jobs in the emergency room of Gold Coast University Hospital, Queensland, and are able to work the same shifts so they get days off together.
Aoibhin now earns $6,000 AUSD a month - £3,202.53 - for a 36-hour week and is paid a double rate for overtime and Sundays, which she said "blew her mind".
She's now able to spend her days off exploring and camping in Sydney and Melbourne - compared to being too tired to do anything in her free time while working for the NHS.
"You're working to live - not living to work. Australia is more expensive but I'm still making multiple times more than what I was making at home," she said.
Aoibhin said she earns more working in Australia (Aoibhín Bradley / SWNS)
She has adapted well to life in Australia (Aoibhín Bradley / SWNS)"At home, you did so many extra hours that your life consisted of working. I lived in Northern Ireland and there wasn't anything to do in my spare time. I was so tired - I didn't have the energy to do much. In Australia, pay-wise it's incredible.
"You get paid per hour that you work. It blew my mind. Here you leave on time - if not, the consultants come around and tell you to leave. I have absolutely no reason to go home - apart from my family not being here. Here people love their job. Life out here is different. It's better. Everyone is happy."
Aoibhin wanted to be a doctor since she was four years old - following in the footsteps of her parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. After graduating, she started work in May 2020 and was "thrown in" straight away.
"I worked my whole life to be that. I really enjoyed the job. Helping people, the hands-on part of it. I loved the procedures. I loved knowing how to make people better and watching them get better. But the working conditions were awful," she said.
"You rarely got breaks. You were making next to no money for the work you were doing. Everybody was dying left right and centre. I probably decided to go over the minute I started F1 - the foundation training programme following your undergraduate medical degree. A few weeks in you're like 'I can't do this'."
Doctors get paid for working overtime said Aoibhin (Aoibhín Bradley / SWNS)Aoibhin knew of a few people who had been out to Australia to work and her boyfriend, Matthew, was keen to go. She decided to finish her foundation training first - so she could return to the UK to work if she didn't like Australia.
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She said: "I heard about opportunities to work in Australia through word of mouth. I Googled hospitals in Brisbane and Perth and applied to them all. I must have extended to the Gold Coast. They interviewed over Zoom and then offered us the job."
Aoibhin moved in September 2022 and said it had been "nothing but positive."
She said: "Everybody is so friendly. I realised everybody is so happy. They are getting paid what deserve. There is a good work-life balance. It's amazing."
In the UK, Aoibhin would work a day shift of 9am to 5pm, a late shift of 9am to 9pm, and a night shift of 9pm to 9am. But she claimed she found herself working past her hours every shift.
The couple now work on the Gold Coast (Aoibhín Bradley / SWNS)She said: "There was no way I could take a break. I lost 8lbs going 12 hours without eating and then going home and having a few slices of bread and then going to bed."
Now in Australia, Aoibhin is paid $47 AUSD (£25) an hour, and her working week is capped at 36 hours.
She said: "For every minute you have to stay late - you get double pay. I average out at $3,000 AUSD fortnightly so $6,000 AUSD a month. I'm still not over this."
With more free time, Aoibhin is able to explore the country.
She said: "At home in my spare time I'd either go to gym, walk or go out for drinks and that was it. I didn't really do weekends away at home.
Aoibhin is paid $47 AUSD an hour and her working week is capped at 36 hours (Aoibhín Bradley / SWNS)"You'd always go somewhere, and it was absolutely lashing. Here, every weekend or long weekend we book a campsite and camp for the night. No one is dying for their job. Yes, I am very tired out here sometimes as well, but it's nice lying on the balcony looking at the beach."
Aoibhin doesn't have any plans to return home but has struggled being away from family - and has lost two grandparents and her dog since moving.
She said: "In the space of eight months, I lost two grandparents and a dog. It's tough."
Aoibhin said she is one of many UK doctors living and working in Australia.
"My workforce is UK doctors. It's rarer to have an Australian consultant. They all say 'Why the hell would I go home?'. I don't know why people go home," she added.
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