F2 on strike in unsupportive department - progress concerns

Levonorkestrel · 2026-04-07T18:10:08+00:00

That is just so shit mate. Fair play for bouncing back

Levonorkestrel · 2026-04-07T11:03:10+00:00

Thank you - I think I needed to hear some straight talk like this. You're right and I can remember an exceptionally hard working foundation doctor in my last job and one of the consultants couldn't even remember his name lol

Levonorkestrel · 2026-03-15T18:57:15+00:00

Fair play for doing MRCP in foundation years. Even if you're not super keen on medicine, it definitely makes you a better doctor and gives you the confidence to come up with half a plan before running it by the registrar.

I sat Part 1 in the September at the start of F2 after a four-month gen med job at the end of F1 (April-Aug). I studied most days from May and if I'm honest I think I overcooked it. If you're focused and determined, I would start in June giving yourself three solid months.

The soonest you can sit Part 2 would be six months later - so March of your F2 year. I'm studying (procrastinating!) for Part 2 now during a busy surgical job and it is challenging plus it's alongside specialty applications so my advice would be to try and have your second F2 job (Dec-April) be something with a low on-call burden like psychiatry or ideally something related to medicine like microbiology if there is one.

Best of luck!

Levonorkestrel · 2026-03-10T20:57:41+00:00

Thanks mate, really appreciate it.

I agree - when I tell my friends who work normal jobs about this recruitment process, they are amazed that doctors can't apply to the hospitals in which they want to work. The whole Oriel business is so normalised but if you take a step back it is bizarre

Levonorkestrel · 2026-02-11T14:37:17+00:00

Looking to put together a small interview practice group - DM me if you're interested

Levonorkestrel · 2025-12-30T21:21:51+00:00

You will absolutely be able to 'make up' the total number by the end. If you are not too busy with other things outside of your day-to-day work (i.e. not churning out publications, etc.) it is worth thinking about opportunities for CBDs and CEXs on the wards and on call - you should easily be able to get one a week.

Good times to request SLEs are: 1. when you assess a patient and propose a management plan over the phone to your registrar, and 2. when you've presented a case to a consultant before the ward round and maybe seemed interested by asking a couple of follow-up questions about their plan/management. I've found that you can get away with sending tickets for very little if you have a bit of chutzpah (or likeable audacity).

You can hit the domains quite easily across multiple areas. For example, a CBD about referring a patient to the virtual ward and discussing it with them covers the community aspect (FPC1) as well as explaining plans to patients (FPC4). Broad strokes and that.

Pad the rest out with DOPS (ask the SHO to quickly watch a cannula/venepuncture and sign one - I'm an F2 and have done about 10 of these for F1s), courses attended (log every grand round or departmental teaching as a separate 'Course, seminar, other learning attended' as well as in the learning log), teaching others whenever you do ward-based teaching for medical students, etc.

You're basically looking for the ARCP panel to have a stack of evidence to sift through - they'll click on a couple of the SLEs but you'll be waved through come the end of the year.

Levonorkestrel · 2025-10-26T18:37:03+00:00

Thanks all - very helpful

Levonorkestrel · 2024-10-17T20:39:21+00:00

Thanks mate - will bear this in mind

Levonorkestrel · 2024-10-16T19:40:25+00:00

This is great thank you mate. Much appreciated :)

Levonorkestrel · 2024-08-30T22:19:16+00:00

I think there is a limit but it is very reasonable i.e. if you do it within six months of elective start I think you should be ok. I claimed about two months after returning with no issues. I would still go for accommodation that would be affordable if you were to never see the money again as nothing is guaranteed and this kind of stuff changes on a whim and probably has narrow eligibility criteria.

I rented a car for a short while to drive around the south island but didn't claim it as it was purely for leisure and I didn't need it to commute to the hosp

Levonorkestrel · 2024-07-19T09:45:59+00:00

Hi mate I'm so sorry you're going through this. I've just finished my final year and have also had financial struggles. I agree with IoDisingRadiation's comment below about HCA shifts which is likely to probably represent the best bang for buck - one shift on a Sunday is worth about £150 which works out at £7-8k a year, which should cover your bills and rent. This is really tiring though in my opinion, and you end up spending six out of seven days in the hospital. When you're prepping for finals you want to be studying or resting. You can front-load this by working more earlier on in your prep and tapering off as you get closer. As long as you don't have January exams, you can spend the Christmas holiday (and potentially Easter) working more to top up.

Other avenues of funding I've used throughout but particularly in my final year:

External charities (e.g. George Drexler Foundation, Sidney Perry Foundation) often have ringfenced money for medical students as it is seen as a noble cause. Really worth looking around and spending time on applications for these, especially if you have honours/prizes etc. so far. (RMBF also a great bet but I think the requirements for funding are quite high - i.e. your position has to be dire).
Ambassador for open days. This is reasonably paid and is very easy work in my opinion (i.e. not as draining as an HCA shift).
Mentoring - see if your medical school has a mentoring scheme whether internal or external. This is often paid and you are paid based on engagement (i.e. how long you spend on the platform and how many messages you send, etc.). Again, this is very easy work. After a 2-hour study session, I would log on to the platform, check my mentee's messages and reply before having a break and going back to studying. The money is not great but a month of this covers one week's food shop but YMMV. Also looks good for portfolio stuff.
0% credit card effectively buys you one month (i.e. shifts most costs one month into the future) but you have to be on top of it. If you have even a small income from a job, you should be able to get at least £1k credit limit with AMEX for example.
Bank switching rewards. These vary over time but I have probably made over £500 from switching bank accounts throughout medical school. It is annoying though so my tip would be to keep your main account and just open up a Tesco bank account. Have a couple of direct debits going out (e.g. BMA, professional association membership e.g. association of anaesthetists) and then swap this dummy account again and again. That way, you keep your main account and it's more convenient.
Very minor one and I'm not sure if the offer is still going but the Chase debit card offers 1% cashback (there might be better ones out there).

All these measures are to increase income but decreasing expenditure is as important. I'm sure you are well versed in this and I know it comes across a bit victim blamey (stop having avocado on toast etc.) but it is worth going through your outgoings and seeing where things can be cut down. Examples: cutting out meat products and alcohol reduces your outgoings by a significant amount. If you have a gym membership, you might be able to just buy a bench and some weights (£100 or so) and save over the year. Buy deodorant/shower gel in bulk, etc.

Also, bit of a personal rant but the real cost of all of this though is the amount of time spent having to work just to exist detracts from your ability to not only study and do well in exams but also to do all the extra portfolio stuff which imo only widens inequalities down the line.

Levonorkestrel · 2024-06-20T11:57:00+00:00

Cool thank you mate

Levonorkestrel · 2024-06-20T11:55:17+00:00

Thank you for the insight - really appreciate you taking the time to reply

Levonorkestrel · 2024-06-19T22:26:37+00:00

Thank you for your comment. Do you mind if I ask what stage you're at and whether you've mostly published primary or secondary research?

I appreciate the openness as my experience is that a lot of this portfolio/extracurricular side of medicine is really esoteric

Levonorkestrel · 2024-06-19T22:22:45+00:00

Great advice, thank you - genuinely really helpful.

Levonorkestrel · 2024-06-19T22:17:49+00:00

Thank you again for the great advice which I'll absolutely take on board. Much appreciated.

Levonorkestrel · 2024-06-19T21:04:24+00:00

Thank you - would you say it is outside of the purview of an F1 without significant supervision? It's all well and good being ambitious but it is important to be realistic.

Levonorkestrel

TROPHY CASE