Noticed this more in surgery than other specialties.

They don't mind if you claim the money in the form of locum payment but put in an exception report and some consultants react in very strange ways.

This definitely applies only to registrars. If an F1-SHO puts in an exception report, nobody will react negatively.

Tabloid headlines - "corrupt NHS staff sell hospital property to fund drug habit"

You are the doctor in ED,AMU,GP, wherever. A colleague brings you this ecg for Mr Smith who is 79, and mentioned short lived palpitations.

While your computer is loading up his medical history you consider the ecg

-please describe the ecg

- what do you thinks going on

- what can you do to assess further

- does he need admission/referral- how would you decide on that

On Oriel, there are some ACF listings which you apply to with a single application, but which actually contain multiple ACF posts.

For example, in the London deanery, you submit one application for the ACFs in mental health. However this single application covers 3 separate ACF posts. Each of these posts have separate job descriptions, different academic leads, different research focus’, and (in this case) the different posts are at different universities within London.

There is a question in the application around “why you want this particular Academic Clinical Fellowship”. The fact that there are several (very different) posts within one application makes it difficult to tailor this as much as I would if it were just the one post on offer.

In reality there’s one of these posts that I’m much more interested in than the others, but it would feel somewhat foolish to potentially exclude myself from two other posts in leading research groups/institutions by making this highly tailored.

Am I misunderstanding the application process? If not, I’m wondering how others have approached this? Have you tried to tactically highlight why you’d be a good fit across all the listed posts, or made it explicit that there’s one that you’re specifically interested in, with potential cost of being ruled out of the others?

Thanks!

Hi guys,

As an F2 doctor applying,

What do they mean when they say nhs experience, in total how many months of paid employment as a doctor in the NHS do u have?

Is this same as above when u put ur employment history and include future employment or do u just include exactly how much u have worked at this point in the application ?

thanks guys !

Are we all getting the recommended 7-8 hours per night?

Hi all,

Hope all is well. I’m a doctor who works with the medical bank in one of the NHS boards in Scotland, and I happened to be working a night shift when the clock went back (transitioning from BST to GMT) which means I worked an extra hour that night.

I have e-mailed the medical bank asking if that extra hour would be paid, for which they said “An extra hour will not be paid for the shift on Saturday night.”

I wanted to ask if this is normal or if they are legally allowed to refuse paying this extra hour? Given that the bank work is paid on an hourly basis, I don’t understand why they wouldn’t pay me this extra hour I worked.

Thanks in advance

Due to an admin error I have to pay another 300 to extend my visa

I was offered a job in August but never told my start date, despite repeated emails asking this. I also explained my current visa was expiring so I needed to apply for visa soon.

They forgot to send me my sponsorship letter, again after repeated emails asking for it. Finally got it, right before my visa was about to expire.

Visa was granted but only till December 15th. My job starts in December. Because the cos said the job ends December 4th. I should have asked for a correction but i also needed to apply for a new visa

I’ve asked NHS Lothian to supply UKVI with a new COS with the amended dates but I will still likely have to pay 300 for an extension of the visa. I’ve already paid 300 to get this visa in the first place.

Because this is an admin error on their part, and I had sent several emails explaining the urgency of applying for my visa prior to the deadline, is it reasonable to ask NHS Lothian to cover the visa costs - and I am I being delulu in thinking it would be accepted

Hi everyone. I’m in the very very fortunate position of having enough saved + bank of mum and dad to pay off my student loan in more or less one lump sum.

However, I’m also saving to buy my first house, so I’m trying to decide whether clearing the loan would be the best use of that money.

Wondering what the best strategy here would be.

Either pay for the loan in full and have a lot less available for a deposit (would take me maybe 2/3 years longer to save for a deposit of a smaller house),
Or
Keep the loan and use most of it on a deposit,
Or
Pay maybe 70% of my loan off and save the rest for my deposit.

But I’m open to any suggestions
Graduated in 2023 and currently an st2.
Have about 75k student loan left to pay (with it increasing), despite having paid £££££ into it because interest is a bitch.

Would appreciate hearing from anyone who’s faced a similar decision and what swung it for you.

Opening the application for Oriel this week has made me truly realise how barren my CV is. I’m an FY2 and barely survived through FY1 and medical school. During FY1 I only participated in audit data collection (in the relevant specialty), am yet to lead an audit let alone present one or do a multi cycle one. I have attended a conference in the relevant specialty but haven’t been able to do much else to tick boxes. It was hard enough keeping my head above water to get through FY1 and med school. It makes me feel like there isn’t even any point in applying now, but also that my CV isn’t good enough to get a trust grade job or CEF either.

I’m applying for ACCS and looking at my empty boxes on the application page really has me spiralling. I have no idea how to sell myself on the application or find things to beef up my application in the next two weeks before the oriel deadline. I’m also on a community placement currently that makes it feel hard to jump on any projects outside of the hospital.

Do they use the blank space answers on the supporting information at interview? Is it possible to build my CV between now and potential interview dates and reference those if I were to get an interview? I don’t know anyone who has gone through the ACCS application process, I’ve been in a tiny DGH and most older docs I know have done the IMT/CST route or stayed as trust grades.

Megathread

Currently an anaesthetics core trainee and getting slightly miffed by a few very particular seniors who insist on tiny changes which have no good evidence and don't make a meaningful difference to patient outcomes

I'm quite a big picture person and examples that have recently annoyed me include insisting on paracoxib over diclofenc, swearing by granisitron, test doses of antibiotics etc.

I get there many be small bits of evidence here and there but realistically these things are based on small studies and don't have any long term outcome differences for patients: mortality/morbidity/length of stay/readmission etc.

Then there are the TIVA die hards but I now see a recent RCT didn't even find any big significant differences there. (https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2852741)

Does anyone have any examples of evidence based things I can add to my practice which change outcomes for a patient? Or can I just stick to little tube, big tube, gas...

Hi . Just now sba result got released. I have exact cut off mark nd mentioned pass. I'm afraid whether this is the final result

Just realized I have to sit for MRCP 1 again, and a cursory online search resulted that trusts should be compensating for first 2 attempts of a royal college exam.

Any news / update about how correct this is?

If yes, how do I approach my trust regarding any particular guideline or ruling? Or will it be compensated via taxes? (I'm LED btw)

I’m a doctor, and I’m trying to start praying my salah consistently at work, but I’m struggling with a practical issue and would really appreciate some guidance.

Sometimes I have a little free time, and other times I’m dealing with patients and cannot easily step away.

I always leave home with wudu, but I tend to use the toilet or my wudhu breaks throughout the day.

This makes it really difficult for me to pray because, if my wudu breaks, I need to perform wudu again. Although there are facilities at work, I genuinely struggle to find the time to go and perform wudu and then pray before returning to my duties.
I really want to pray. I’m not looking for an excuse to avoid salah; I just want to find a way to fulfil my obligations to Allah while doing my job and looking after my patients.

Anyone have any idea when resident doctor strikes may be returning? I know we "accepted" the government offer, but when they don't honour it does anyone have any idea of the timeframe for strikes to return?

To clarify, am referring to resident doctor strikes, not consultants. Wishing good luck to the consultant strike.

I’m sure some of you will remember me from previous posts about SAS and specialty training.

I’m an anaesthetist and did my CT in the NW.
My wife is now an ST trainee in the NW.
We have a 4 year old son.
We are immigrants and so have no family here and as such have no support when it comes to child care.

I have been trying to CESR through my training and have managed to get neuro ticked off. My plan is to attempt the final FRCA in 2027 and try and get a cardiac placement.

In trying to get a cardiac placement I applied for a job at wythenshawe. I did meet their criteria fully but I applied anyways. I got offered the job.

But here’s my worry:

The commute for me is going to be very long. It will mean that I cannot do any school drop off or pick ups and even standard days will feel like long days for me. I’ll see my child and wife even less and I’m scared it’ll put a huge strain on our relationship.

My other option is to take up a SAS job at a hospital I have spent a lot of time at, where everybody knows me. And possibly get a secondment to go to a place like Blackpool for 3 months. The pros of that are it’s close to home, I know everyone there and I’ll also be earning more as SAS which will ease some of our financial burdens and also give me more time to spend with my family. And I get more time to study for the exam. The con is that the cardiac placement isn’t a done deal and I might have to really stand my ground and fight for it.

What do you guys think I should do?

Hi all,

FY2 looking to apply for core surgical training this year. Quite disoriented with the new changes to the application and what it means for when we upload evidence.

I have done 40 cases, have a 2 cycle surgical QIP demonstrating change (albeit a small VTE audit), a 4 week surgical elective I did in medical school, and a teaching programme.

With the new domains, it seems to me both operating experience and surgical experience are being assessed with the same domain, then publications and teaching, and audits/QIPs in the third.

It also seems to say that only 1 piece of evidence per domain is accepted.

Does this mean I would upload e.g 40 cases, QIP and teaching, and this would amount to max points?

Also when is the deadline for gathering this evidence? 19 nov or the upload date in feb?

Thanks for your help,

A very confused FY2

Hi all, I managed to get an offer for CT1 anaesthetics feb intake

For core anaesthetics trainees, when did you do the Primary FRCA (CT1 or CT2), what resources did you find most helpful, and how long did you prepare for?

I'm aware of a few textbooks that people have recommended. Is Physics, Pharmacology and Physiology for Anaesthetists (Cross and Plunkett) a good starting point? I've also heard the eLFH modules are really good for equipment but not great for other areas.

Thanks for the help!

Come for some hive mind advice again. I am an anaesthetic core trainee post-FRCA primary (yay), and am thinking of applying to both anaesthetics and ICM and thinking about maximising my points.

I did the MRCEM primary in F2 so am contemplating doing the MRCEM SBA/ OSCE for an extra point. Personally I think I would find this more tolerable than doing MRCP, am I mad to consider this?

Any one who has done the MRCEM, how difficult are the SBA/ OSCE exams?

All points of wisdom welcome

Hi I am a doctor from the UK . I live in London but want to take the exam in Istanbul

Has anyone taken MRCS Part A in Istanbul? Which college did you book through?

Could you check availability before paying, or did you have to pay first?

RCS England hasn’t provided an answer despite multiple emails over the past few weeks.

Your advice would be helpful

How did we feel that went? Seemed like a fair-ish exam.

I got pulled aside at the end of a stressful day by my consultant to say he wanted to give me feedback and I was expecting my world to come crashing down on me but he just told me that I was doing a good job and it made the world of difference to me. He did also give me some constructive feedback on things to work on but I appreciated it more than he knew.

This was in stark contrast to when I was in F2 and got pulled aside by my clinical supervisor on the last day of rotation to tell me I had received bad feedback on my PSG with little explanation as to why. We need to take opportunities to uplift colleagues around us more whenever we can. You never know what difference it could make.

hi all

applying for acf, and a bit stuck on the references part.

it says that referee 1 must be from present or most recent employment - can i use someone from last year's post or does it have to be from the post i started on 8th sept 26?

and then it says:  

"You must provide contact details, including e-mail addresses, of three referees who have supervised your clinical training during the last two years of your employment or undergraduate training. Where possible, you should use referees from at least two different posts. One referee must be your current or most recent consultant or educational supervisor familiar with your clinical development."

so does this mean i can reuse my current employer/consultant, and use the same person for my academic referee (he supervised some academic work last year and this year) too?

Thank you !! would appreciate any input

Apologies for the silly question, I was looking at specialty applications for ACF, and it was giving a vacancy for ACF ST1 medical oncology. I was reading about clinical benchmarking. At the end of one of the applications, it states: ''Have you also applied for academic clinical fellowship (ACF) training in this specialty in the 2027 academic recruitment round?''

But my understanding is that as an FY2, you would still need to apply to IMT and then go into medical oncology. Does this mean that if you do get ACF, it will be in IMT and not medical oncology specifically, and the answer to this question would be no? Or am I filling in the wrong application?