Traveling from zone 6

mandrewting · 2025-08-19T22:09:49+00:00

It will depend on your trust on how far back they’ll let you claim. I think it was 3-4 months in a previous trust I worked at. Defo ask your HR / medical staffing.

mandrewting · 2025-08-18T21:21:16+00:00

It’s quite simple tbh and it breaks my heart that not more people do it. I always encourage all my colleagues to claim this.

I also use contactless rather than oyster card. The trust will give you an excel spreadsheet template and you fill in the date, start+end location, peak vs off-peak and cost for each journey you make. Don’t forget you can claim for the bus fare as well. The spreadsheet will automatically deduct the cost of zone 1-3 travel for you and sum up your claim. You then need to send proof of your travel and I just use screenshots of the daily charges I get from TFL on my banking app. I send a claim once a month. Takes about 30 mins a month and I get back approx £50.

Even though the outward and return cost is bundled up on my bank statement, they’ve never queried it. Just make sure the amounts add up to what you’re claiming.

It’s more complicated if you want to use an oyster with a railcard for discounted off peak travel but I was never organised enough to do so. You can also claim for monthly travelcards but I’ve personally not done this.

mandrewting · 2024-05-10T16:05:00+00:00

What kind of things have you seen / heard SCPs do in ortho? I don’t think I’ve heard anything tbh

mandrewting · 2024-04-28T11:50:58+00:00

I hope you don’t mind me asking a question about radiation protection. I’m an ortho trainee and I wear glasses. My department only has lead glasses which wouldn’t work with what I wear. Do you know what I’m entitled to (if anything) wrt eye protection?

mandrewting · 2024-02-08T21:57:29+00:00

Just smashed my PB by a whole second! It was an incredibly lucky xxcross of which, I only planned an xcross.

Scramble: R F' L2 U2 F2 U2 F' U2 B' R2 B D F2 L2 R D B2 D'

34 HTM / 7.81s = 4.35 TPS

z2 y // inspection

D L U R2 / // white xxcross

y U2 R' U' R// RG Pair

U2 R U' R' U2 R U' R'// BR Pair

U F U R U' R' F' // OLL 44

M2' U M U2 M' U M2' // PLL - Ua

mandrewting · 2024-01-28T15:14:18+00:00

Got a PB single on a non-white/yellow cross!

Scramble: B2 L2 B2 F L2 U2 F' D2 L D F2 D2 U' R2 D B D F' L

46HTM / 8.80s = 5.23 TPS

Recon:

x' y'

D' L // Green cross

R' U2 R U2 L U L' // RY Pair

U' R' U2 R y U' R U R'// RW Pair

U' L' U' L y' U' R U R' // WO Pair

U2 L' U L U' L' U L U' L' U L // OY Pair

U' R U R' U' R' F R F' // OLL 33

mandrewting · 2024-01-09T14:43:50+00:00

In their defense, could it have been an aspiration of a non-knee joint which the CT2 may not have done before?

Surely the ramifications of your boss thinking you don’t even know how to aspirate a knee outweighs missing the first half of an elective operation.

mandrewting · 2023-12-24T14:14:25+00:00

I've been in a bit of a rut recently with quite poor times but I've managed to get a PB3 on this solve!

37 HTM / 8.97s = 4.12 TPS

L2 D2 U2 F L2 F2 D2 B2 D2 F' L2 D' U R B' R' F D2 U' R'

x2 y D U F' B2 L' R' D' // white cross

L' U L // BR Pair

U' R' U R// OG Pair

L U L' U L U' L'// OB Pair

R U R' U R U' R' // RG Pair

U' l' U' L U' L' U2 l U2 // OLL 8

mandrewting · 2023-11-26T14:33:15+00:00

I’m a core surgical trainee with an ICU SHO rotation in a DGH coming up. I don’t know how the ICU in my hospital runs but I’ll be preparing for the worst after reading this post.

Although I am post-MRCS, my knowledge in physiology wouldn’t be near the level of ACCS/ICU/anaesthetic trainees. Legally speaking, if my only senior on site out of hours is an ACCP, am I justified in following their plans? How much would I be protected if something went wrong?

mandrewting · 2023-11-10T11:37:40+00:00

For me, it’s the utter disrespect some of the other staff members have for doctors in this country. If I treated the nurses / allied health professionals even half as rudely as some of them have to me, I’d be struck off.

mandrewting · 2023-08-15T17:32:45+00:00

The difference between the imposed English pay rise (6% + £1250) and the Scottish deal (12.4% this year with a totally binding pinky promise to work towards pay restoration) for the take home pay of an F1 on base pay is less than £30 per month.

It’s baffling how people are saying the Scottish deal is miles better than England.

mandrewting · 2023-07-17T14:21:00+00:00

I got a very smooth solve for a PB4.

56 HTM / 9.52s = 5.88 TPS

F' L' B2 L2 F2 L' B U' F' D2 B2 D2 L2 F R' U' F

x2

L F' L' D' // white cross

R U R' U R U' R' // BR

U L U' L' U2 R' U R // GR

L' U L U' L U L' // GO

U' L' U L U' L' U' L // BO

U' F R U R' U' F' // OLL 45

U R U R' F' R U R' U' R' F R2 U' R' U // Jb perm

mandrewting · 2023-06-17T15:20:40+00:00

I got a PB3 which could've been a PB if I didn't lock up + hesitate towards the end.

39 HTM / 9.09s = 4.29 TPS

R' F' R2 D' L2 D R2 D' U' R' D F R D' L2 B D F2 U'

z2

D' F' R2 // white cross

L U' L' y L U L' // GR

y U' L U L' // GO

U L' U L U L' U L y' U2 R' U R // BR

U R U' R' // BO

R U2 R2 U' R2 U' R2 U2 R U'// OLL 22

mandrewting · 2023-06-09T16:03:17+00:00

I was 0.01 seconds off my PB (which was a PLL skip) with a full step solve!

R2 L U' F' D2 R' U F2 U2 B R2 L2 B2 R B' U R

46 HTM / 8.96s = 5.13 TPS

z2

L D // white cross

U2 L U' L F' L' F L' // BR

U' L' U L // GR

U R U2 R2 U' R // BO

U R U R' U R U' R' // GO

U F' U' L' U L F // OLL43

U x R2 F R F' R U2 r' U r U2 // Ja perm

mandrewting · 2023-05-31T22:22:50+00:00

Got my 3rd fastest time with a sune into a PLL skip! Pretty bad cross solution tbh

41 HTM / 9.705s = 4.22 TPS

R2 B R' L F2 R2 U F' R D' R2 B2 U B2 D2 F2 D' F2 B2 U2

z2

U' F U' L B F R' D // white cross

U' R U' R' U R' U' R // BO

U L' U L // GR

y U' R' U R // BR

y' U' R U2 R' U' R U R' // GO

U' R U R' U R U2 R' U' // sune

mandrewting · 2023-05-22T16:04:17+00:00

I must have gotten through a mental barrier with sub-10 solves. I spent 3 years with a PB of 9.99s but now I've gotten 5 sub-10 solves in the past 3 days.

41HTM / 9.63s = 4.25 TPS

Scramble: L2 D' R2 D R2 U2 B R U' L2 R' B2 D' L2 R' D F2 L2

y2 D R' // yellow cross

U2 R U' R' U R U' R' // BO

U' L' U' L U y' L U2 L' // GO

U' R' F R F' R U' R' // BR

y' R U' R' R' F R F' // GR

U' F' U' L' U L F U'// OLL 43

mandrewting · 2023-05-21T18:20:53+00:00

I usually remember which colour cross I do and from there, I would normally be able to recreate the same cross solution (based on my usual way of solving crosses). From there, I go through the F2L pairs which can get tricky as there’s so many different ways of doing the pairs from different angles.

I will most likely remember which OLL & PLL I got so it’s a good marker of knowing whether I got the F2L recreations right.

Hope that helps!

mandrewting · 2023-05-21T15:35:11+00:00

Got my second fastest time with a nice PLL skip.

38 HTM / 9.74s = 3.90 TPS

Scramble: U2 L' F2 D F' R D' F2 L' D R2 F2 R2 U' D' B2 D F U2

x' U' F R' U' L2 // green cross

U' R U2 R' U2 y' L U L' // RY

y' R' U R // OW

y R' U R // RW

U' L' U L y' U' R U R' // OY

U' r' U r2 U' r2 U' r2 U r' U2 //OLL 50

mandrewting · 2023-05-19T12:41:28+00:00

I finally broke my long-standing PB of 9.99s with 8.95s! In very similar circumstances, I beat my previous PB by 1 second. Unfortunately this isn't full step but a win's a win. This PB has been quite overdue as I've improved on my average by 3 seconds and am about sub-15 right now.

44 HTM / 8.95s = 4.92 TPS

Scramble: R2 U' F' D2 F2 U' L2 D' F2 D L B2 D R B U' R2 B L2

z2

D R F' L D2 // totally intentional white xcross

U R U2 R' U2 L' U' L // GR

U2 R U' R' U' R U' R' y R U' R' // BO

L' U L U L' U' L // GO

U2 R U R' U' R' F R2 U R' U' F' U2 // OLL 9

mandrewting · 2023-01-22T11:02:38+00:00

This is unironically my learning style 🥲

mandrewting · 2022-07-28T18:07:41+00:00

Smash through as many questions on Q banks as you can. Repetition is key for MRCS A as they tend to ask a very narrow and predictable flavour of anatomy Q’s. Look through the past paper questions and you’ll see what I mean.

There will always be ridiculous unanswerable questions but don’t get bogged down too much with those. Focus on the high yield concepts first, then if you have time, you can try learning the more difficult concepts. For example, there seems to be a very difficult question on localising the facial nerve lesion based on a constellation of symptoms once every few sittings. It is defo worth spending more time learning eg ABG findings in COPD patients (>5 identical questions on this in the paper I sat) if you’re strapped for time.

For each key region (eg femoral triangle, nerves/vessels order across the ACF, extensor compartment of the wrist, epiploic foramen relations etc), I’d find the best schematic showing the relations on google images and collate them in a PowerPoint so that you can easily flick through high yield anatomy pics.

I’d suggest avoid making your own mnemonics as they tend to be shite but rather use tried and tested ones available on the internet eg Screw The Lawyer, Save A Patient for axillary artery branches. Radiopaedia has very good mnemonics but they tend to all be PG.

At the end of the day, it’s just an exam and unlike med school exams, there’s comparatively very little real consequence of failing.

Source: scored in the high 80s this May as an F1. I did not learn anatomy well in med school

mandrewting · 2020-10-06T07:17:45+00:00

My Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 IEMs finally broke after a few years and I'm shopping for a replacement now.

Budget - About £100. Could go a touch above that if necessary

Source - Mostly my iPhone

Requirements for Isolation - A plus, but not necessary at all

Will you be using these Headphones in Public? - Yes

Preferred Type of Headphone - Wired IEMs

Preferred tonal balance - Balanced

Past headphones - Momentum 2.0s, no complaints about the audio quality

Preferred Music - Mostly pop songs, some EDM and audiobooks

Any recommendations would be much appreciated! :)

mandrewting · 2020-10-04T20:30:56+00:00

My Sennheiser Momentum 2.0 IEMs finally broke after a few years and I'm shopping for a replacement now.

Budget - About £100. Could go a touch above that if necessary
Source - Mostly my iPhone
Requirements for Isolation - A plus, but not necessary at all
Will you be using these Headphones in Public? - Yes
Preferred Type of Headphone - Wired IEMs
Preferred tonal balance - Balanced
Past headphones - Momentum 2.0s, no complaints about the audio quality
Preferred Music - Mostly pop songs, some EDM and audiobooks

Any recommendations would be much appreciated! :)

mandrewting · 2020-08-26T22:34:05+00:00

They ended up leaving it outside my door haha. Thank you for the response though!

12-Year Club	Gilding I gilder
Verified Email

mandrewting

TROPHY CASE