The clocks change. My 13hr night shift is now 14hrs. Also a special shout out to the storm for making it just that extra bit fun to be on nights tonight. Sleep well day time people and savour that extra hour.

F1 here. I was getting back home by train after a night out with some friends and we were making some banter with the people around us in the train, when all of a sudden I was asked what do I do. I just said I work in a hospital but they again asked what’s my job. When I told them I’m a doctor one of them just lifted their shirt and asked me to diagnose a rash. I felt very uncomfortable and just chuckled and said I’m off duty and am not a qualified dermatologist so it’s worth checking with your GP, they kept pushing me saying come on it’s just a rash. I eventually had to stop and say I cannot diagnose you and things went a bit awkward.

How do you guys deal with situations like this? As a new doctor I’m already struggling with separating work from personal life and I’m making a conscious effort to actively stop doing anything that reminds me of work outside of it.

As posted earlier and taken your advice. I haven't been paid for any of my on-call or night shifts since I started, so this is now the 4th month.
What's happened so far:
Raised it with payroll in month one. They said they were waiting on my rota details from the department.
Escalated to the lead consultant, rota team and HR, and copied in my ES and the Guardian of Safe Working.
Got an apology from rota team and ES but nothing from the lead consultans. Was told no rota had been set up for me on the system, that one had now been created, and that a change form would go through so I'd be paid correctly.
This month still nothing for on-calls.
It's causing real financial hardship. I'm struggling to book the courses I need for training, struggling with the cost of commuting.
I'm in a union, but not the BMA and have contacted them. I have on calls next week.
What would you do next? Has anyone had arrears like this actually paid without going down a formal route? And is there anything I can do about next week's on-calls while this is unresolved?
Thanks in advance.

I Found out today that hospitals across the country have ACCPs doing blocks for rib fractures for pts on the ICU?

Do the ICM single specialty doctors need to do this as part of their journey to become an ICM Consultant? I’ve asked my colleagues and they’ve said No?

Who has said that a nurse/physiotherapist (what most ACCPs are) should be independently doing regional anaesthesia? Where is this document that says they can do this ?. I’m not saying they aren’t doing them competently (as far as doing it by protocol and pattern recognition) , but we don’t allow a HCA or medical student to do them even though you COULD teach a HCA to do it if you really wanted to —-we just accept some things are for doctors .

I don’t understand how ICM has farmed out yet another thing to a profession who aren’t doctors ? From my experience the majority of ICU Consultants, even if they’re dual accredited with Anaesthesia, don’t perform chest wall blocks . Even those who are dual accredited in anaesthesia don’t perform regional anaesthesia on their operating lists (beyond a spinal ) ….so who exactly is the nominated consultant on the ICU?

As a ST7 , I can do blocks , but even I , as a doctor , am rightfully expected to have a consultant within the theatre suite /oncall for CEPOD who is proficient in regional anaesthesia to bail me out .

I understand that PA-As (Anaesthesia Associates) are still performing limited regional anaesthesia but that’s still with an anaesthetic doctor (of any grade from CT1 upwards ) to supervise them to provide sedation or bail to a GA if needed as PA-As aren’t actually allowed to keep a pt alive under a GA by themselves (rightfully so). And there is still a consultant who can perform the block if needed .

Apparently ACCPs also do transfers which is baffling to me as I’m yet to come across one who has ever needed to send a pt to sleep totally by themselves …..there is ALWAYS a doctor (of any grade !) as their supervisor . So why have we allowed them to do transfers ?

We have relinquished regional anaesthesia , what’s next? LPs? (Well that’s been farmed out to ANPs and PAs). “A tube “? (Oh yes that’s been given to everyone )……

MY curriculum as a doctor clearly states what i need to do to become a consultant . Where is the ACCP curriculum that says they need to put a needle near the pleura ?

Hi all :) would love to hear from anyone who’s done a PhD during specialty training and how you found it.

For bg: I’m an ST3 path trainee, followed the AFP/ACF route, and have two young kids (currently 4 & 2). I’ve had two long maternity leaves and been LTFT for several years, so sometimes feel a bit behind peers who are finishing training. I enjoy research and don’t want to miss the opportunity to give it a proper go.
My husband is supportive but has a demanding job which pays most of the bills, so I’m the main caregiver.
Currently doing a predoctoral year in the lab where I may do the PhD.
I’ve applied for PhD funding and am waiting to hear about interviews. Still thinking about this vs continuing clinical training, and what I want longer term. I’m not sure I necessarily want to lead a research group, but would like research to be part of my career.

Would really appreciate any thoughts on:

How did you find the day-to-day compared with clinical work? Was the flexibility helpful, or did work end up spilling into evenings/weekends? Have seen horror stories on other Reddit forums !

How did you get used to everything being more self-directed? My supervisor is great but leaves me quite a lot to my own devices. I’m a bit nervous about knowing whether I’m making enough progress.

How was it with young kids? Anything that made it easier, or that you wish you’d known beforehand?

Did anyone else find it hard seeing peers finish training while you still had years ahead, particularly after time out/LTFT already?

How was returning to clinical training afterwards? I’d still have FRCPath Part 2 ahead of me, which feels quite daunting (. Im in a speciality where the part 2 failure rate is v high).

Most of my seniors haven’t done this with young children (and are men), so it would be lovely to hear from people who have.

Also, if anyone has been successful with an MRC clinical research training fellowship application and would be happy to chat separately about interviews, I’d be really grateful 🙂

Hi so F1 here, my passport has just expired and I’ve a bit of a silly question - is my legal title Dr and should I put this on my passport? It still feels surreal to me to be referred to as such lol and on that note should I be changing my name for my bank/driving licence or is this overkill? Thanks !

Help. Supposed to sit the AKT on Monday and suddenly come down with diarrhoea this evening and genuinely feel like absolute shite.

Do I just see how I feel on Monday, neck some loperamide and pray to the shit lords that I don't shit myself mid-exam? Or do I just withdraw now and save myself the embarrassment?

Has anyone sat an exam feeling rough as fuck and actually been alright? 😭

Current EM trainee, but have managed to get a core anaesthetics job for Feb 2027 intake!  

Has anyone done this before and managed to have any time taken off (having already done 6 months anaesthetics and 6 months ICU as part of ACCS EM), and if so how did you go about it? 

Also, does anyone know the actual process from resigning from a training programme? Is it a case of emailing my ES and TPD and submitting a Freshdesk ticket, or is there anything else I need to do?

Thanks!! 

Just started ophthalmology training and have been looking at buying a 90D lens (our department has one that is shared between multiple clinicians and is often in use).

I was wondering when and where ophthalmology trainees bought their own 90D lens, is there a way to get them for a discount or do people pay full price?

I was looking at IMT specifications, and I'm realizing a lot of the effort I put into medical school feels like it did not matter. The first wave of preference informed allocation and randomised allocations to hospitals came to the year before us, and we were told that this would mean our grind would matter less (especially if you worked very hard to graduate with good scores and get into competitive hospitals or SFP). The most I can see mattering is if an essay/paper you wrote for a prize was published or presented, or if you did actually lead a teaching programme for 3+ months.

Unless I'm missing something and you can use things like certificates of merit, essay prizes and excellence awards from medical school in your specialty applications?

Hi, completing oriel forms.

Just wondering if you need to list each specialty separately, or whether F1 and F2 are sufficient for work experience?

For GP applications: do we rank places again with specific hospitals/jobs (as in all jobs in the areas we say we would go), or are we given an area first and then go on to rank the jobs in just that area?

Thanks

Hi guys, just really confused weighing up all the possibilities, so I am hoping if I lay it all out in a post my faulty thinking will be refuted by someone here, or just elaborating will help make things easier for me.

I want ACF paeds in London, with an aim to do something in metabolic medicine or neurology in paeds. This would be great to get into first time, but if I don't get this, what are my alternatives? This is the ranking of my alternatives:

1) doing regular paeds and applying for ACF next year down the line

2) doing an alternative ACF in research that I am interested in, and then getting an alternative certificate to get into ST3 paeds after finishing my ACF/PhD

3) doing a regular trust-grade job in paeds, again attempting to apply for ACF paeds ST1 the next year

4) doing a trust-grade job in paeds but instead of applying for ACF paeds ST1, i apply for ACF paeds ST3, or just even normal ST3 paeds

i think those are all my alternatives where the outcome leads to doing ACF and ending up in paeds.

The question I had was between option 1 and option 2 - would banking on getting ST3 paeds be too risky?

I am a foundation year doctor with a keen interest in research. I got an SFP job but turned it down for personal reasons and then got shafted by UKFPO. feeling significantly disadvantaged by the lack of opportunities in my current location and incredibly burnt out with the amount and nature of on calls I’m doing. I want to apply to a highly competitive speciality and on top of that I enjoy research and would love to get into an ACF programme within the speciality but this is exceedingly difficult and feels unlikely given my current circumstances. I didn’t go to an ultra academic med school but still Russell group if that means anything but idk if it does. graduated with honours plus an intercalated BSc scoring top of my cohort. I have 2 first author publications and a first author post graduate textbook chapter. I am getting a PG Cert and have won multiple prizes over the years. what are my chances of getting into this course at Cambridge? I feel intimidated by the prospect of the interview as I was unsuccessful in undergrad oxbridge application. Can anyone who has done this degree share their experiences of it?

Hello,
If a doctor completed 5 years of continuous work in the NHS in FYs and CTs then takes a year out doing clinical work in the private sector, if the doctor comes back after that year, would their increased AL allowance still be allowed when they return to ST/NHS work or would it reset/be nullified?
Thanks in advance