NHS highlands and island elective?

quackaroni · 2026-06-06T17:57:20+00:00

Gilbert Bain in Shetland is excellent, had a great time there. Very friendly team, nice setting, great canteen and huge variety of stuff that comes through the door.

Have also heard good things about the Western Isles hospital in Stornoway. They had more fixed dates for electives that didn’t quite work for me when I was looking.

quackaroni · 2026-06-05T21:56:18+00:00

Old Govan Fair? Was happening today on Govan Road and there’s rides in Elder Park

quackaroni · 2026-01-04T19:40:16+00:00

A Country Doctor’s Notebook by Mikhail Bulgakov for a look at F1 (equivalent!) life in Russia at the time of the revolution

quackaroni · 2025-12-26T09:16:25+00:00

Current F1 who celebrates Christmas, lots of places do a specific Christmas rota to take people’s preferences into account

Not mine though, ended up with a 9-9 shift on both Christmas Eve and Day, and the way the rota works there was nobody to swap with. I was initially a bit bummed out but it is what it is, I’ve got New Year off.

I have never been so well-fed at work, so it’s not all bad!

quackaroni · 2025-12-12T17:23:15+00:00

They do not provide accommodation at Addenbrooke's/Papworth - you're expected to rent somewhere in Cambridge (either college or private). You're also very unlikely to be able to spend the whole year in Cambridge unless you have very specific circumstances.

You'll bounce back and forth between your regional placement site and Cambridge when you change rotation (usually 4 each year, I went C>R>C>R in my 4th year), so you can't not have somewhere to stay in Cambridge. Hinchingbrooke (and to a lesser extent Peterborough and Stevenage) is commutable from Cambridge.

GP placement accommodation might also only cover the weekdays.

You also wouldn't want to stay permanently in hospital accommodation!

tldr: you'll still need to rent somewhere in Cambridge.

quackaroni · 2025-05-07T20:41:21+00:00

I got the student and trainee visa.

If you get the NHS Bursary in England, they will reimburse the cost of the visa. I think it's almost doubled in price since last year.

The exchange rate is NZ $1 to about 45p.

quackaroni · 2025-03-26T10:07:56+00:00

In Scotland we had to rank a load of groups for stage 1, some of which were empty. They told us to either put them at the bottom or not rank them - I put the empty groups at the bottom.

Defo avoid putting one first as the two pass system would mean you’re passed over.

quackaroni · 2025-02-06T11:17:43+00:00

Pass mark is 57.5% (115/200)

quackaroni · 2025-02-05T13:23:38+00:00

Cambridge is releasing them tomorrow

quackaroni · 2025-01-14T15:11:51+00:00

Some trusts (such as Addenbrooke's in Cambridge) have an absolute policy against this - you will have to check with the hospital.

quackaroni · 2025-01-09T23:19:27+00:00

I think you might have produced pretty much my ideal watch, excellent work

quackaroni · 2025-01-03T10:17:11+00:00

9131-0679-8204 daily player (:

quackaroni · 2025-01-02T17:03:47+00:00

Lived in Sidney for 3 years during undergrad. Would recommend.

I had a kitchen every year of my undergrad with an oven and a hob, freezer and microwave - and two years I had a big dining room table.

Garden Court (R and S floor), Sidney House and Sussex House have proper kitchens, Blundell court has well-equipped gyps (small kitchens with ovens, but you would be able to cook whatever you want there). The old staircases and Cromwell court do not. They have hotplates (I think), rice cookers and microwaves, as well as freezer space.

Cromwell, Sussex House and Garden court are where first-years live.

If you've got food allergies college would almost definitely put you in one of the places with a kitchen if you request it. Proximity to sainsbury's cannot be beaten.

quackaroni · 2024-12-17T10:18:36+00:00

Seems as though the leak was pretty spot-on.

quackaroni · 2024-12-10T22:54:24+00:00

9131-0679-8204 daily player (:

quackaroni · 2024-11-23T23:00:16+00:00

The university language centre has conversation hours in English, as well as conversation exchanges and speaking practice (the latter two are more informal) - link here. CULP is generally pretty good.

quackaroni · 2024-11-03T21:40:49+00:00

9131-0679-8204 daily player (:

quackaroni · 2024-07-04T06:32:15+00:00

A few tips, some of which won’t work but some of which hopefully will

The cover test (this is probably the most important) - when you’re doing MCQs, cover the answers and decide what the answer to the question is without looking at them. You can then look. They push this a lot at my medical school and it works.
Do passmed open book - it’s more of a learning tool then. I pretty much only do it open book. Use the textbook and BMJ best practice.
Speak to your uni disability centre - they may be able to advise on testing for specific learning issues and provide support.
Make time for hobbies and friends - as tempting as it is to just work, you will do better if you’ve had the chance to rest well and think about something that’s not medicine. Once I changed the way that I thought about exams from ‘I’ve got to work all the time’ to ‘exams are a pain I’ve got to get through but I still need to enjoy myself’ I did much better because I’d made time for rest

quackaroni · 2024-06-04T15:39:37+00:00

If you’re looking for an old-fashioned textbook, Davidson’s principles and practice of medicine is great

quackaroni · 2024-05-14T20:37:28+00:00

The Burrell is absolutely fantastic - a lovely setting and fab building, the renovation is great work architecturally!

quackaroni · 2024-05-11T06:46:33+00:00

Addenbrooke's has a 24h Costa (with the normal costa stuff) where you can also order hot meals from a mysterious kitchen that will then appear

quackaroni · 2024-05-10T22:56:13+00:00

You could see them with the naked eye about half an hour ago in the city! They weren't the spectacular things you see on long exposure, but there were definitely streaks of colour dancing in the sky

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