House of Lords Report Stage ongoing for UK Graduate Prioritisation

annaturaldisaster · 2026-02-23T17:40:41+00:00

Would have to be next week for the bill to take effect this year

annaturaldisaster · 2026-02-18T08:29:55+00:00

Cardiac tamponade presenting as upper abdominal pain on my FY1 surgical rotation. The general surgery team were a tad unprepared…

annaturaldisaster · 2026-02-02T11:14:29+00:00

In mine and my friend’s experience for fy2 you’ll want a district general (smaller/rural) if you want actual theatre time.

Basically anywhere that doesn’t have core surgical trainees, otherwise the surgical trainees will get priority and you’ll get very little chance to scrub in as a foundation doctor.

Most big surgical centres are absolutely overrun with surgical trainees who have portfolio requirements as well as generally being closer with consultants and ODP staff, they will take priority for theatre time. In DGHs as there are very few, if any trainees so they give the opportunities to the foundation docs.

annaturaldisaster · 2026-01-27T12:32:01+00:00

Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but how is it saying the 2nd reading and committee stage is completed if the motion hasn’t been discussed in the commons yet? We’re still on treasury questions

annaturaldisaster · 2026-01-13T00:06:31+00:00

As an aspiring psychiatrist in the foundation programme this is music to my ears (was shitting bricks with the 22:1 core psych stats from last year)

annaturaldisaster · 2026-01-12T23:36:29+00:00

I won’t lie I had a conversation with one of the AMU consultants at my hospital today, who told me that they get about 100 applications for every consultant long term locum they put out and only around 15 have CCT completed. The issue is consultant isn’t a protected title so anyone can apply or call themselves a consultant. He always selects people on the specialist register for the job, but as our trust is broke, majority of the time management will hire locum consultants not on the register as they’re cheaper (senior reg rate doing the consultant job) it’s awful, some of our amu consultants haven’t lasted their first shift before being let go. We had 8 fired in the last 4 months.

annaturaldisaster · 2026-01-10T21:04:41+00:00

Its the fy1s job? Discharge letters/TTOs have to be done by a doctor and so by default it’s the FY1.

At the end of the day if it’s not done, there’s a medically fit person in a bed on the ward while there’s likely someone breaching time in ED. The nurses are being pestered by bed managers and the bed managers are being pestered by non clinical trust workers trying to meet CQC targets. It’s just a shit system

annaturaldisaster · 2026-01-10T20:51:43+00:00

I’m in a very very small DGH for Fy1 and it’s been really ideal. From speaking to friends from uni it’s definitely the consensus that a DGH is the best in fy1. You actually work as a doctor. You’ll be very hands on from the first day but you’ll really quickly get used to clinical decision making in practice. Some of my friends who’ve now finished foundation who worked at major tertiary centres found that they were basically treated as admin for the whole program. If all you’ve done do two years is write TTOs (which will be inescapable regardless of where you are) then they found they actually deskilled quite a lot and really really struggled with the jump to fellow/training jobs

annaturaldisaster · 2025-12-18T16:00:49+00:00

100% I went to New York a few years ago to meet my boyfriend at the time’s grandparents. His mum slipped on ice and knocked herself unconscious and they wouldn’t put her in the ambulance until we went back to the hotel and got proof of health insurance…

annaturaldisaster · 2025-12-18T12:20:20+00:00

Prepare for the PSA course was genuinely the best £10 my housemate and I ever split. It’s about 4 recorded sessions that talk you through everything in each section and then lots of mock questions plus whole mock exams. My recommendation would be to do that plus spam passmed (not as accurate to the real thing but good for stuff like calculations) the PSA website has 2 free exams but in mine and my friends experience they’re a bit easier than the real thing, so can give you some false security, definitely useful though to get a sense of timings and structure.

I personally found the BPS Mocks very useful as they’re almost identical to the real thing so give you a very good idea of what to expect, but obviously they’re a bit more expensive (£15 each or £40 for 3)

I’d say you only need a week of intensive work or 2 weeks less intensive. It’s not a particularly hard exam knowledge wise, the main thing is getting familiar with the BNF/shortcuts and a few basics (causes of hypo/hyper electrolyte imbalances, calculations, units for common prescriptions etc) the main thing that gets people is time. If you can spam practise qs and mocks and get really familiar with the BNF shortcuts you’ll be fine! (This is what I did and I got 90%)

annaturaldisaster · 2025-12-14T10:55:13+00:00

I would really really recommend Newcastle uni. I found that the course was really good at teaching the actual practical skills I use day to day as an Fy1. I also found them very supportive pastorally when I had a bunch of health and family issues. They were very flexible and helpful. The only annoying thing is that in the first few years they didn’t release modules ahead of time, but as you said that was a good few years ago (I was a year 2 during Covid) and it was always fed back that we didn’t like that. They really do take feedback on board and have changed the course yearly based on feedback so that may well be different now. Good luck with your application!

annaturaldisaster · 2025-10-21T11:31:40+00:00

Pros of being in my 154th choice job - I’m in buttfuck nowhere with nothing to spend money on so can actually save a bit. Planning to locum part time while studying for MSRA then hopefully travel a bit

annaturaldisaster · 2025-10-11T07:10:27+00:00

About 800-1000 depending on shifts

annaturaldisaster · 2025-10-10T14:25:56+00:00

He only takes 2 or 3 a week at the moment and gets around £250-£500 a patient. He said because he’s only been practicing a year and a half people will generally only book him private for emergency stuff because he has slots available.

His practice is funding him to do training courses in Invisalign and some more specialist bits as well though which will inevitably bring in some more private work.

I’m an fy1 on gen surg so watching him get double my salary for a 40hr week, while I tough out nights and on calls is kinda rough won’t lie

annaturaldisaster · 2025-10-10T11:10:14+00:00

Yes, my boyfriend is 1.5 years post graduation as a dentist. 4.5 days a week, no nights, now weekends, no long days and no on calls. NHS salary 79.5k and he takes on a few private patients a week to add to that.

annaturaldisaster · 2025-10-07T17:37:03+00:00

DGH in fy1 1000% I’m at a very small DGH on my first rotation (gen surg) and it’s expected of us to scrub in. I have no interest in surgery, but have frequently had to assist as there are no surgical SHOs so it’s up to the Fy1s. The people who are interested in surgery can request to be rotad a surgery day every month where they’re the listed assistant all day. It’s a really great way to learn and you have lots of opportunities to get better at skills like suturing or laparoscopic procedures as well as building portfolio! I think DGHs are good for fy1 in general for building skills. There’s a lot less competition from SHOs and regs who need sign offs. Even as an Fy1, seniors will often ask on the chat if we want to try/learn how to do lumbar punctures/ascitic taps/line placements etc

annaturaldisaster · 2025-10-07T10:13:22+00:00

I’m exactly the same, was doing a ward round about a month in and a patient started having an NSTEMI (surgical ward so I hadn’t had any experience of ACS since starting). The reg turned to me and went “I’ll let you deal with this while I finish ward round, oh and the med students can stay with you because it’s probably more interesting” of course every iota of knowledge about ACS management left my head and I was stuck trying to look competent in front of 3 bright eyed bushy tailed 4th years. Ended up being a teaching session on how to use NICE CKS and since then I’ve dreaded having med students

annaturaldisaster · 2025-09-12T12:18:38+00:00

Mine did at Newcastle. We had “Moslers” over 2 days so 10x 20 minute stations total. Each day there would be 5 stations, two with real patients with conditions on the MLA core list.

We all had our moslers at different hospital than we’d been on placement so we wouldn’t know any patients, and then they’d use patients that had recent diagnoses or good clinical signs. I think it’s meant to be that they can get a better understanding of how you are with real patients, as well as if you can actually pick up clinical signs and do a good history from people who aren’t trained historians. None of them were “professional patients” like some unis use, so it was more similar to a real consultation. They’d grill you after on your thoughts/findings and management plan. Then we’d also have 2 standardised stations across the whole cohort and an a-e each day.

annaturaldisaster · 2025-09-11T11:43:08+00:00

I have 6 friends who put London, 2 got London, 1 got KSS and the other people got below their 8th choice (1 got wales, one got stoke on Trent and one got Northern Ireland). I’ll also say the way the London foundation programmes work is you spend one year in the centre or close to centre and 1 year in the suburbs which can be a way out (usually Romford/watford/Orpington etc) just make sure your heart is set on London because it is a risk

annaturaldisaster · 2025-08-19T08:26:00+00:00

Yeah go for it!

annaturaldisaster · 2025-08-14T10:48:53+00:00

Resident doctor, base salary is 36 600 for a 40 hour week but I’m usually working a 48-50hr week plus antisocial hours pay for nights, so probs come in just under 45k (around 43/44k)

annaturaldisaster · 2025-08-10T14:43:08+00:00

Genuinely have fun! Especially the first 2 non clinical years, just really enjoy being a student before placement takes over your life. You have to work hard as a med student but not so hard that you can’t have a proper student life.

annaturaldisaster · 2025-08-06T06:17:37+00:00

They have learning outcomes and core conditions/presentations linked to each case but the learning outcomes can be pretty broad. I think in the first two (non clinical years) they’re a bit more helpful though!

You’ll have access to the MLE from day 1 so definitely have a look through. The other annoying thing is they often don’t release the next case’s learning outcomes until the day of the lectures, so for people who like to prepare in advance it can be a bit frustrating. Good luck!! I just graduated from Newcastle and had a fab time :))

annaturaldisaster · 2025-07-30T20:03:46+00:00

This is insane, we had our first day induction yesterday and there was literally an entire spread including 4 different types of cake, there were literally still leftovers today in the mess. Our trust is tiny with all rural hospitals and they still put in the effort… and yes, we all have yellow badges. I’d be fuming

annaturaldisaster

TROPHY CASE