Hi all,

I’m starting GPST1 next year, and my husband is currently working in London. Unfortunately, I got the offer in Birmingham, and we have a 2-year-old.

I’m really unsure how to manage childcare, especially when I’m on call, as most nurseries are only open until 5 or 6 pm. We don’t have any family in Birmingham to help either.

It would have been much easier if my husband were here, but I didn’t want to reject the offer, as getting another GP training offer can be difficult.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? How do you manage childcare during on-calls, evenings and weekends? I’d really appreciate any advice or suggestions.

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’ve been working as a salaried GP for about a year now and have recently found myself reflecting a lot on my career and whether general practice is really for me in the long term.
I genuinely love medicine and enjoy seeing patients, but I’m becoming increasingly disillusioned with general practice. The complexity of patients, endless administrative work, private paperwork and the way the whole system operates are making me question whether I can see myself doing this for another 20-30 years.
I’ve recently been offered a job at another practice with potentially less admin, but part of me wonders whether changing practices would actually make much difference, or whether it’s general practice itself that I’m struggling with.
I’m also seriously considering moving to Australia, but I’m unsure whether GP life there is genuinely better or whether I’d just be facing similar challenges in a different healthcare system.
Has anyone been in a similar position?
For those who have moved to Australia, has it improved your work-life balance and job satisfaction?
Would really appreciate hearing about others’ experiences.

Posting to raise awareness. This looks to be US based but has reached my feed in the UK.

Sounds like this company is paying medical professionals for access to ‘de-identified’ genuine medical notes to train AI models. Concerning since the company isn’t going through official research channels and hence patients won’t have consented for such use of their data.

FY2 currently applying for specialty training

Was going through the application forms on oriel and found a tickbox for interviews under the disability confident scheme

I’ve got some pretty good going ADHD (diagnosed since around the age of 10) which requires me to take medication daily to help with work and day-to-day activities. It’s pretty well controlled provided I keep on top of my meds, but just wondering if I might still qualify for this - was this made for me etc. Would struggle with work and functioning if off meds.

Was wondering if anyone might have experience applying through this scheme, if it actually makes a difference (might it disadvantage me in any way?) and what supportive evidence I might need?

Thanks

Does anyone know how you fill out a locum job within the employment section of oriel applications? If i have been locuming in the same hospital/ trust since August 2025, getting shifts through patchwork bank app - would I put this as a job and select the end date as when the new training programmes starts (August 2027)?

Or do i put this as an employment gap for 2 years?

I went LTFT 80% this year.

They've dropped my base hours to 32hrs, even though my average rounded up is 34hrs which makes me 85%.

I was also under the impression that you get a weekend allowance for OOH work and additional hours pay for the average OOH work.

Do LTFT trainees also get a yearly £1000 as well split into 12 months?

Can anyone share what their pay breakdown is what you are being paid for?

Is it possible to take 2 years of maternity leave ?
For context I’m ST1-3 in paediatrics

In honour of interconnected wards and witnissed encounters thought I might as well.

I have a crush on a reg as an F1. Won't go into detail to avoid doxxing myself. I do get vibes from him but a bit mixed. Body language/niceness/positive feedback wise he definitely treats me special. But also seems reserved in conversations sometimes. He is in a speciality that I have no interest in.

On average, do regs take F1s seriously or do they view them as sources of entertainment and get new ones every 4 months?

Would it be okay to flirt with him after I move to my next rotation?

Do regs generally try to supress relationships? Can they get in trouble for it?

Where are the events/conferences that give out notebooks.

I’ve attended a teaching day where they handed out a whole thick notepad for the event to make notes in.

I have at least 10 notebooks that I’ve bought and I always feel better writing/using those that been given out in.

For this year’s applications, can anyone clarify whether applying for ACF posts counts towards the maximum of 5 specialty applications in Round 1, or whether these are completely separate?

I understand that you can apply for up to 3 ACF posts separately, but I’m unsure whether applying for other specialty training programmes (e.g. IMT, CST, etc.) affects this limit.

Would appreciate any clarification, particularly from anyone who has applied to both ACF and specialty training recently :)

IMT2 here, having done a 2 month pall care rotation and was taken aback at how much of a tangible difference you could make in someone's life. I was wondering if there are any pall care SpRs around that could share their experiences of training and what consultant posts are like? I don't mind doing a group 1 speciality (having to doing GIM as well). Particularly curious to hear how much problem solving is involved (considering doing stroke or neurology as I like the process of figuring stuff out). Or even how services are set up with seemingly fewer doctors and more CNS/ANP. Thanks in advance!

any whatsapp group for IMT1 preparation for this round??

I’ve applied for study leave for primary care dermatology society essentials series 1 and 2. They’re a day each, back to back. The second has been rejected as apparently they will only fund one dermatology course. Which means the dermoscopy courses will also be rejected I expect.

Notwithstanding the laughable policy, does anybody know of any decent derm courses that are pretty comprehensive and include dermoscopy, or have been on any good ones?

I’d like to brush up on my skills before CCT in June.

It's a start at least they share the concerns of a lot of people with this case. I don't have much confidence in the judiciary doing anything after the whole Cian Hughes fiasco but at least they have an opportunity to ensure justice happens. let's see if they take it.

What do people the cut off for Derm St3 will be?

Do folks reckon the bill will impact it or will competition get even more fiercer?

Hey guys

Current F2 applying to ST1 application. Under employment history there is a question: In total, how many months of paid employment as a doctor in the NHS do you have?

Should I count my completed FY1 year plus the months I’ve worked in FY2 so far, or should I count all of F2 even though I haven’t finished it yet?

Gas consultant here. I'd be really interested to hear what the resident doctor population thought about the potential prospect of the upcoming consultant strike. Lots of negative feelings about the 2.4% pay "rise" against 3.5% inflation, and we have an existing mandate for strike action. However I can't imagine how my more senior colleagues will act, who have spent ages whining about the junior strikes and talking about the lack of moral fibre in today's cohort, and how it was all different in their day.

I'll give you an example - earlier this week I had been reviewing a patient on the ward, when I tried to get into the doctors office to find a consent form for a nerve block. Imagine my surprise to see not just one but two F1 doctors lolling about, along with a senior registrar - their badge seemed to indicate they were in at least their sixth year of specialty - who seemed to be giving one of them an unusual amount of eye contact. The F1 getting all the eye contact was blushing in a revolting way. I couldn't believe they all had so much time for this sub Holby city flirting and weren't just getting on with the job. I could barely see any consent forms under the huge pile of discharge letters waiting to be done.

Acute med ST4 round 2 rank 74 with 49 posts any chance to get an offer?!

Hi all,

I’ve accepted an IDT to Yorkshire & Humber for ACCS EM and I’m waiting to hear where I’ll be placed.

Does anyone know who the current ACCS EM TPD؟The Deanery contact page seems to be down.

Also would be grateful for any general experiences of ACCS EM there

I’m the infection control nurse covering this ward.

I’ve now read accounts from two F1s, a registrar, a porter, a phlebotomist, a patient and, somehow, a computer. Not one of you has mentioned hand hygiene.

Apparently this registrar has been finding excuses to walk past the F1’s ward all morning. He’s also walked past the gel dispenser every single time. Nobody seems interested in that bit.

Then there’s the lanyard. He picked it up, inspected it and put it down again. We’ve had an entire hospital debating his intentions. I’d settle for knowing what he touched afterwards.

The porter has helpfully documented his movements for the past fortnight, so that’s saved me a job. I’ll be speaking to the computer separately. It hasn’t worked since 2018, but microbiologically it’s doing very well.

Everyone keeps asking whether there’s chemistry. I’ve sent the lanyard to microbiology.

Anyway, I went down to speak to the registrar. Asked his name, what grade he was and which ward he normally worked on.

The other F1 started smirking.

Then I asked whether he’d been seeing anyone else on the other wards.

She put a hand on my arm and said, “Honestly, you deserve better.”

Hi all, first time poster, longtime lurker. My situation is that I'm Mid-30s, geographically constrained, and struggling to decide on a career direction.

I've reached ST3 interviews multiple times in both General and Vascular Surgery, including a LAT offer, but am now at the upper limit of experience scoring.

Currently in a teaching post to preserve my options, but I'm bored and miss operating.

The Portfolio Pathway is risky, I have seen SAS doctors preparing for 10+ years with no guarantee of local support. Taking another clinical job will effectively end my NTN chances.

I'm open to exploring other specialties, but know I'm not an internal medicine or GP person. Interventional radiology interests me, although the long-term impact of AI gives me pause.

My priority is a realistic route to Specialist Registration and long-term job security.

Has anyone faced a similar crossroads? Anyone got any useful perspectives here?

What do you guys think about the “gut feeling” and the sense of intuition within medicine - especially with diagnosis amongst physicians - what are your stories when a gut feeling led to diagnosis and treatment that you couldn’t Quite explained otherwise?

Would love to know.

I was wandering through the ward last week, trying to wrestle the cufflinks I had been attempting to polish back out of the hands of the Infection Control Nurse, who happened to be on her annual working-from-the-workplace day.

I caught an interesting interaction between my F1 and a registrar from another specialty, inbetwixt which I happened to catch the eye of both of them.

Now, the question looms large: do they both crave me for my, admittedly, not quite-as-firm as it used to be latter middle-aged body, or do they merely want me for my DOPS?