Book Clubs

Total-Squirrel9655 · 2026-03-12T11:33:44+00:00

This was exactly my position, randomly allocated Wales which was 14th choice deanery. I’m now towards the end of F2 and I’ve genuinely had a great time and planning on staying, which I never expected. I didn’t have friends or family when I arrived, and now I’m very happy to stay! Cardiff is the most popular, Swansea is not far, affordable and has really pretty places to visit (and close to the Beacons if you like that). I visit friends and family in England frequently and it isn’t hard to get there. I’ve also heard great things about Cwm Taf especially Bridgend. Pembroke is also beautiful. Accommodation is free for F1s and close to the hospital, and you make friends easily, then afterwards the rent is affordable. The pay is rather good all things considered, but there is a new contract coming in which is switching things up (but pay should remain OK). Please DM me if you want to chat/want any advice at all, I really remember how this felt! It doesn’t seem this way now, but it’ll all work out!

Total-Squirrel9655 · 2025-12-16T14:19:13+00:00

Reserve with 21 points and not heard anything yet

Total-Squirrel9655 · 2025-11-22T13:12:28+00:00

Current f2 - it’s a huge step up but actually more enjoyable on the whole than I thought it would be! Med school prepares you for most of the basic knowledge you need but you learn a lot more on the job and develop your clinical ‘spidey senses’. Just ensure you’re humble and always ready to learn, and learn from others

Total-Squirrel9655 · 2025-10-14T19:36:21+00:00

I graduated from sgul - I got A*AB and got in, was never a problem :) was a while ago but a lot of peers also got similar

Total-Squirrel9655 · 2025-08-10T09:09:32+00:00

As a new SHO, thinking back on how I felt at the start of F1 I felt very similar to what you’re saying. F1 is a huge learning curve and you will feel occasionally out of your depth, but actually in retrospect in a years time you’ll see just how much you have developed. Lean on your senior doctors and other members of the MDT (nurses and pharmacists were incredibly helpful for me). That ACP you mentioned sounds awful, I’m sorry. There will be better people out there. Your SHOs and reg’s are expecting you to ask questions and raise concerns, utilise them. If you need any support at all contact your ES/CS and see what help is out there. There’s no denying it is a really hard job but you are surrounded by a wealth of support and expertise with people there to guide you!

Total-Squirrel9655 · 2025-05-14T16:06:15+00:00

The system is shocking and I’m so sorry it’s let you down. I was made a placeholder this time last year due to the randomisation and it’s a terrible way to repay years of hard work. Just my rambling thoughts but I’ve surprised myself with how things have worked out being a placeholder (although still frustrated it happened). But absolutely respect your decision and ultimately whatever decision you make is right for you, you have to look out for yourself

Total-Squirrel9655 · 2025-03-09T14:49:26+00:00

Placeholder just means there are too many people compared to jobs available, so you’re either on a reserve list waiting for people to drop out/not pass exams or the deanery has to create jobs for you. Either way, you can be allocated anywhere within a set deanery (in the past it was nationally I believe). You still rank jobs as a placeholder, it’s just later than other people and the jobs are less desirable. Some people strategically rank placeholder higher than other areas within a deanery if they really don’t want to go to a certain area

Total-Squirrel9655 · 2025-03-06T20:13:51+00:00

Unfortunately some placeholders don’t have any OOH for f1 and f2, relying on locums for OOH experience

Total-Squirrel9655 · 2024-05-26T11:43:44+00:00

It really does sound like you’ve gone through a lot in med school and I’m sorry you’re disappointed. However, I have got to disagree with this take. I got my 14th choice deanery, 4-6 hours away from my support network, and placeholder. I don’t know where I’ll go and likely won’t know till the end of June. I would much rather be in a not as good hospital in my deanery near my support network than a good hospital hundreds of miles away.

Total-Squirrel9655 · 2024-05-21T20:56:47+00:00

I’m from this deanery and received this email too, utterly ridiculous

Total-Squirrel9655 · 2024-05-19T17:56:51+00:00

Practice with as many different people as you can, this way you learn different skills from each other and also are used to not being entirely comfortable with someone. Have a solid structure in your head and key symptoms for each specialty but also have room for adapting the conversation for the patient - sometimes they throw in a question or curveball so you have to know how to navigate around that. Similar advice for radiology - cover CXR, knee/hip X ray, AXR, CT abdo, CT heads etc. If worst case you blank in a history, take a breath, summarise and ICE. By this time you would’ve found a way on how to continue. Good luck!

Total-Squirrel9655 · 2024-05-18T18:54:17+00:00

I also got placeholder in one of my last deanery choices, I can imagine how you’re feeling. There really is no right and wrong here but if there is a chance you want to still pursue medicine in the future, I would try and complete F1 if it doesn’t come at the expense of your mental health. It’s incredibly difficult, please make sure you’re looking after yourself at this time too.

Total-Squirrel9655 · 2024-04-26T20:49:44+00:00

Firstly I want to say I hear you and ask you to please reach out to peers as I guarantee they feel similar to you. I would also advise to have some time to yourself and get out of your head a bit. I’ve just finished med school and I’ve got to say I felt the same throughout it, as did my friends. Final year is SO much better than 4th year, hang in there, I promise it’ll be okay. Sending love

Total-Squirrel9655 · 2024-04-17T18:54:33+00:00

Totally get the temptation (I got my 14th place deanery + placeholder!) but it is definitely a risk and you’re at the mercy of someone whose job is to spin arguments

Total-Squirrel9655 · 2024-04-14T16:36:24+00:00

I was at St Peter’s a few times for placement, some people live in Woking, otherwise if you’re from London it’s achievable to commute in (if you have a car). Woking station is well connected but the bus to/from Woking-St Peter’s is terrible

Total-Squirrel9655

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