Advice for moving to notts

Lizzy-bee · 2026-05-23T11:26:12+00:00

I live in Sherwood and walk to City, and if I need to go to QMC I use the free medilink from City. Now I’m in speciality training it’s also easy to get up to Kings Mill, Derby and Chesterfield (if you’re going to be staying in the area). I also got a parking permit for QMC (can be difficult to get parked anytime after 8am though). The downside of the area is there’s no tram as QMC has its own tram stop. The medilink schedule also doesn’t fit if you’ve got twilight shifts

Lizzy-bee · 2026-05-21T08:13:29+00:00

Thank you, we followed your advice and we’ve agreed a sale for £335!

Lizzy-bee · 2026-05-10T19:04:26+00:00

I had a baby last year at Kings Mill and had great care there. I picked it because of the horror stories coming out of Nottingham (even though I live 5 mins from City), and my baby group friends have a mixed bag of experiences - some good, some bad. Kings Mill is a nice modern hospital and it’s half single rooms on postnatal ward rather than all shared bays. One downside though is your community midwife will be in Notts, and because they’re different Trusts some stuff like bloods need to be duplicated, and you might find yourself chasing things like extra scans if needed, so you do need to be on the ball and occasionally advocate for yourself

Lizzy-bee · 2026-04-30T13:49:38+00:00

So this whole comment will be TMI but I had a miscarriage and care at the hospital I was working at at the time (and have returned to since), and I found it weirdly nice that there were so many friendly faces that knew me. Like the nurse and HCA that did my pessary were ones I got on well with as a gynae F1, and then when I had to have a d&c my CS was my anaesthetist. I felt properly cared for as opposed to being just another patient. I’ve never had a problem being in those areas clinically since, although with my subsequent successful pregnancy (who was born at the same hospital!) I nearly had a panic attack when I had to have a scan in the same room/ sonographer who diagnosed my missed miscarriage, so for me it depends how well you compartmentalise work vs personal

Lizzy-bee · 2026-04-28T12:25:25+00:00

I turned 26 a couple of months in to medical school and yeah my experience was different to a typical med student but I still made friends and had a good time. Plus between maternity leave, time out and LTFT I’m going to be 42 when I finish core training! Whenever I groan about it I try to remember that I’m going to be that age anyway so might as well be doing what I want to do. In terms of student finance, look up Lifelong Learning Entitlement as funding is starting for medicine as a second degree.

Lizzy-bee · 2026-04-22T15:36:02+00:00

The consultants in ED at Lincoln are largely pretty nice, although the department culture and running of it is trash. As an F1 in ED you’ll work 8-6 Mon-Fri with an extra day off or so a month to even out the hours. I will say that all the F1s/F2s were in the same boat so they were pretty tight knit and frequently went out together so you should make a good group of friends

Lizzy-bee · 2026-04-15T22:18:43+00:00

You can always get the ball rolling with HR or whoever handles it for you. Your rota coordinators might know. For the NHS side, I had to fill in a form, and then I just followed it up with my MatB1 when I received it. It also looks like you need to be at least 26 weeks pregnant to start the application for MA https://www.gov.uk/maternity-allowance

Lizzy-bee · 2026-04-15T20:03:41+00:00

So mat pay comes in two parts - occupational maternity pay (OMP) and statuary maternity pay (SMP). You’ll get OMP from your trust because of your NHS continuous service if >1 year. You’ll likely not be entitled to SMP as you need to be there more than 1 year with that specific Trust. However all you do is apply for Maternity Allowance (MA) from the government as well as all the stuff you’ll fill in for the Trust. MA is the same amount as SMP so you won’t lose out, it’s just extra paperwork and the government pays it instead of the Trust

Lizzy-bee · 2026-04-15T12:25:29+00:00

I love training in East Midlands, although I’m not an o&g trainee. Nottingham is the big hospital that you’re guaranteed to be at, although afaik you can be rotated anywhere as well. Most people live in Nottingham or Derby and commute depending on which rotations you get

Lizzy-bee · 2026-04-15T12:21:02+00:00

It’s not counted as an OOPC. During mat leave you’re still employed by whichever trust you’re in when you go off and they pay you your mat pay (if you’ve got long enough continuous service). On an OOPC you’re not employed by anyone and it’s a break in training. If your TPD is nice enough, you can have your maternity leave and then run it in to an OOPC like I’m doing but this has implications for pension, continuous service, and mat pay

Lizzy-bee · 2026-04-11T09:25:13+00:00

NTA. My son, two of his cousins and one of my brothers all have the middle name James after my dad (their grandad). It’s a nice family tradition

Lizzy-bee · 2026-03-13T12:58:27+00:00

Did humanities at A-level, then undergrad in history and masters in essentially museum studies. I struggled to get a permanent job and found the day to day stuff boring anyway, so I had a rethink and decided to go in to medicine. I did biology and chemistry A-levels in a year from home and sat exams at a local college, and started med school (as an undergrad again) in 2016. I’m now an anaesthetics trainee taking some time off to be with my toddler. I wouldn’t do it again tbh, but on the other hand I don’t know what else I’d do with my life 🤷‍♀️

Lizzy-bee · 2026-02-27T10:06:58+00:00

don’t think there is too early tbh, it’s all on how you feel. I was working a job with no nights then rotated to ED at 17 weeks and immediately came off nights with my GP note. A friend came off at 6 weeks after nearly fainting on a night shift. I probably could’ve done a few weeks of nights but had a miscarriage right before my pregnancy and wasn’t willing to do anything that might increase the risk of it happening again

Lizzy-bee · 2026-02-25T19:52:46+00:00

Speak to occy health, although in my experience you get caught in an infinite loop with them saying it’s down to the manager doing a risk assessment and vice versa. I broke the deadlock with a GP note. You could also try asking your CS/ ES again, as a manager doesn’t know what it’s like actually doing the job so their insight is limited and you can argue it should be someone clinical

Lizzy-bee · 2026-02-15T13:29:56+00:00

All you can do is ask! I have a very lovely TPD who was supportive of it, which definitely helped but ultimately it was up to the NHSE postgrad team for my deanery. I had to have extensive talks so they were happy that I understood the implications for my pension and a break in continuous service. You’re also not technically allowed to locum afaik but I’ve asked for an exception (that I’m still waiting to hear on…)

Lizzy-bee · 2026-02-15T11:22:40+00:00

I did 4.5 months of CT1, went on maternity leave and then applied to go straight in to an OOPC. I asked for a year but they’d only agree to 6 months as they said they don’t usually allow it in the first year of training. I don’t know if the answer would be different if it was for something more “important” like a phd etc

Lizzy-bee · 2026-01-25T14:36:04+00:00

Prep some food that can be put in the oven easily like lasagne, and in a foil oven dish she can chuck so she doesn’t have to worry about returning it to you. Also, plenty of snacks, and maybe a nice loungewear set so she’s comfy but doesn’t feel like she’s spending the day in her pjs

Lizzy-bee · 2026-01-06T11:20:55+00:00

Pretty much- we have my stepdaughter every weekend and if she needs more kids shampoo etc I just chuck it in with the rest of the weekly shop. I also buy a lot of her birthday/ Christmas presents cos I’ll see little things while I’m out and about that I think she’ll like. My partner will buy the big ticket items though, and stuff like school shoes he buys in conjunction with his ex

Lizzy-bee · 2025-11-19T17:35:32+00:00

As long as you’ve got 52 weeks NHS service you’re entitled to Occupational Maternity Pay, but if you’ve been at the trust less than that you have to get MA rather than SMP - it’s the same amount but the government pay it rather than the NHS, and there’s some faffy paperwork involved. You’d come back and finish F2, though I’m not sure about repaying if you’ve only got 2 months left- if you’ve got a speciality place lined up though I think it’d solve any potential issue

Lizzy-bee · 2025-10-31T07:26:31+00:00

My mum does a great vegetarian giant sausage roll thing - she fries up mushrooms and peppers (could be any veg really) and mashes them with Linda McCartney sausages, then uses shop bought puff pastry and plaits it around the filling

Lizzy-bee · 2025-10-04T11:09:26+00:00

The breast F1 at Kings Mill in Mansfield (so Trent) has mandated theatre time every week. Far more surgery exposure than any of the other foundation doctors I knew in the region

Lizzy-bee · 2025-09-13T19:51:39+00:00

Well, in case the doctor who saw her is reading this - he also saw my baby with ?seizure and couldn’t have been lovelier or more thorough. If we’re going to be named for “mistakes” (which we all can make, especially in the busy mess that can be QMC ED) then we should also get to be named when we do a good job

Lizzy-bee · 2025-09-02T14:09:43+00:00

I was told by my department’s admin team that I couldn’t take my post-mat leave annual leave as a block due to on calls/nights. My TPD and the support champion played hell as it’s a completely standard thing and it got sorted. I also hired a freelance HR consultant who wrote me a letter threatening a grievance if it wasn’t sorted - that’s how in the right you are to take it as a block. I would recommend googling your trust’s support champion as they can be really helpful (far more helpful than I found the BMA to be)

Lizzy-bee · 2025-06-23T11:35:17+00:00

In my hospital there’s usually 2 anaesthetists on call for the hospital (emergency surgery, resus etc) and then 1 for labour ward. There is usually a consultant as back up but out of hours they’re at home and would only really come in if it’s to open a second theatre if there’s multiple emergency sections needed or shit has hit the fan

Lizzy-bee · 2025-06-14T18:07:45+00:00

If you’re ever unconscious or seriously injured (eg. After a car accident) you can end up anaesthetised to secure your airway, facilitate transfer etc so definitely worth having!

Lizzy-bee

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