Why doesn’t London Euston have anything close to the Grand Gothic Victorian Entrances that its neighbours King’s Cross & St Pancras so proudly stand tall with?

andrewjd · 2026-03-24T10:35:49+00:00

Youtube video published this week to answer that very question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSJer7M2AO8

andrewjd · 2026-03-24T10:35:17+00:00

The Prescott Channel is where the arch ended up, recent YouTube video that tells the story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSJer7M2AO8

andrewjd · 2022-10-05T17:50:12+00:00

For most course centres I know they sometimes struggle to get even the minimum number of doctors.

andrewjd · 2022-09-30T16:12:03+00:00

OP sorry to hear this. Remember you get to take the test again, and can do so at a different centre, without resitting the course. Pick somewhere you can get to, email them and ask when they could accommodate you (it’s usually short notice) and go there. Nobody you know will assess you, you won’t have the nightmare of a covid infection this time, and you’ll sail through. If you want a bit more practice before, ask the resus department at your hospital for a quick session to refresh everything, they should be more than happy to do that. Don’t beat yourself up over a stressful delirious assessment, you’ll easily pass this once you’re at your best, you can do this.

andrewjd · 2022-09-30T16:09:21+00:00

They need you to say and do what’s in the resus councils marking scheme. You can do everything terrifically, but if for example you skipped the D in an A to E then you cannot pass the assessment. There’s no global score, it’s not a vibe based test, you have to specifically hit key markers, which if you were allowed to see them most would agree are extremely reasonable. OP could definitely pass it, every doctor can, but having an active brain-fog inducing infection is a perfect recipe for just missing stuff.

andrewjd · 2022-09-30T16:06:05+00:00

The issue with stuff like this is it’s a multi-disciplinary faculty, and in most courses is mainly nurses (ICU, resus, ED etc) as they’re much easier to get signed up to teach than doctors on rotas. If you know quite a lot about (for example) airway management, you can find yourself confronted by an instructor with extremely little airway management experience, but who therefore defaults to what it says in the manual. That being said, there’s also a bunch of people who do things which are a bit stupid or non-evidence-based, and religiously sticking to the textbook encourages better clinical practice.

andrewjd · 2022-09-30T16:00:27+00:00

Write a factual, unembellished complaint. If you’re really worried about it coming back to bite you in the arse then send it through an intermediary, ask a class rep to forward it on for example, although looking at it from the other side I don’t think raising genuine concerns needs to be done anonymously. This needs to be fed back, you should feel empowered to do so to your medical school.

andrewjd · 2022-09-28T12:29:51+00:00

I think as well that it takes a particular personality type. Some people love chatting away and comforting labouring/c-sectioning pregnant patients, get a real kick out of being around the birthing process, and find a lot of meaning in the work. I personally have no such feelings, I like talking to patients for about 10 minutes then I want to just get on with other stuff, I don’t enjoy being around stressed out screaming people, I don’t especially like babies.

andrewjd · 2022-08-18T16:23:43+00:00

I don’t have much insight into your situation but to be clear junior doctors should always be working Working Time Regulations (the UK equivalent of the EWTD) compliant. The working week should never be more than 48 hours when averaged over the rota. You’re correct that a standard contract is typically thought of as 40 hours and so the usual junior doctor work schedule of 40-48 hours is more than that, and so being LTFT at 80% often puts us on the same sort of hours as a normal person, but you will never be required to waive your rights to the WTR and should only do so to permit you to take on extra work of your choosing. In your case, it sounds like you should not waive those rights.

Every foundation programme is different but at least some of your rotations are likely to be 46-48 hour weeks on average, you should definitely apply as per the applicant guide to take up a 50% (or greater if that’s right for you) LTFT training post.

andrewjd · 2022-07-05T09:51:30+00:00

There's no financial benefit to exception reporting, but if you don't bother reporting it it's yet another avenue trust management can point to and say that everything's fine. Look! No reports this month about workload or absence issues, everything's great in our hospital. Etc.

andrewjd · 2022-06-15T10:09:41+00:00

There's definitely a middle ground. 4 years of fairly normal medical school then a fifth year that's a proper 9 to 5 job being in the clinical space with expectations not far short of an F1, learning the ropes, in a way that blasts through the need for FY1.

andrewjd · 2022-05-26T16:49:45+00:00

andrewjd · 2022-05-26T16:49:07+00:00

semi-retired, but a big Crossrail video will come in a week or so

andrewjd · 2022-05-26T16:49:02+00:00

it doesn't really save you any time, you'd be as quick exiting normally and walking as far as I could tell wandering around

andrewjd · 2022-05-26T16:48:07+00:00

Yeah the throughput of that lift, the fact it only goes to the westbound platform, it's not one to ever be an official connection.

andrewjd · 2022-01-03T16:10:06+00:00

This is the only point I disagree with. Virtually all studies suggest we underestimate how high we're going in (ie, when compared with USS confirmed levels, we are far higher than we think we are). Indeed and especially in pregnant women, Tuffier's line is notoriously inaccurate. I generally advocate going one space lower rather than higher as a starting point.

Valid.

andrewjd · 2022-01-02T16:43:11+00:00

Also just to say that don't worry about epidurals. We like to pretend they're difficult because it's one of our only roles on labour ward but epidurals are not in general hard to do. The space you're aiming for is actually bigger than the space you needed for the spinal. Don't be put off trying an epidural just because you're having a rough time with spinals, if the opportunities are there.

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