Stan, here’s a useful summary of the response of British doctors to the founding of the NHS. As you can see, low pay was not a problem, although it was later to become an issue (with a cash-strapped, near-monopoly employer how could it not?). What was the problem was the state of Britain as a whole (the country was, for all practical purposes, bust, and had tax rates to match). As skilled professionals with an internationally-recognized qualification, doctors were more mobile than most. They had the opportunity to get out of Dodge, and they took it.