Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

26/27 F2s in my hospital not going into training

I used to be a semi-regular poster on here as a medical student, but now I only occasionally dip in and out, but I thought this might be a nice forum to gauge if this is national! I am an F2 and we recently had a 'careers talk' as part of our 'protected teaching'. The first question the lady leading the session asked was 'who is applying this year?'....and only 1 person raised their hand! Are you guys finding the same in your hospitals?

Reply 1

nexttime

Last year it was 51%% that were in NHS employment by March the following year, and that figure has been falling steeply in recent years.

Reply 2

RainBow_xo

would that have to do with the working conditions? Are they applying to other countries?

Reply 3

Ghotay

I can't speak for anyone else, but I have been planning taking an F3 year since about the 3rd year of medical school. 5 years of medical school followed by 2 years of working just feels like enough you know. I didn't take a gap year or anything and didn't have much money through uni so I would like to travel and do some fun stuff while I'm still young. I think it's a pretty common mindset

Reply 4

username3626032

I know 3 people from my F2 year who are currently in core training. Everyone else is either doing a CDF post, long-term locum or traveling.

Reply 5

nexttime

Original post by RainBow_xo

would that have to do with the working conditions? Are they applying to other countries?

A bit of both. As mentioned above, med school can just seem like exam after exam, then when you qualify, depending on rotation, it can be long intense days with barely time for a toilet break, and rapid cycling long days evenings weekends and nights and after two years of that you're almost 30 and you haven't done anything with your life yet. If you've managed to keep any friends you're doing well. For a lot of people, its time for a break and the current recruitment crisis, aside from exacerbating the aforementioned problems, also means that the NHS will welcome you back with open arms even after a full year doing nothing medical!

Most people do come back and work or NHS again, though. I don't have data but I'm certain that is true.

Reply 6

JOO93

Which specialty do you work in?

Reply 7

Smile88egc

I do think foundation docs misunderstand that you can have years out within a specialty training programme though.
I would be ST4 in paeds but am currently on my second year out since ST1 doing a teaching fellow job with a funded PGCert.
Training programmes are more flexible than you think, but obviously this only helps if you know what specialty training you want to do.
I think an F3 year is a great idea to get experience of different specialties for the undecided.

Reply 8

seaholme

Original post by nexttime

Most people do come back and work or NHS again, though. I don't have data but I'm certain that is true.

I'm also sure this is true. The NHS would be finished if it weren't essentially a monopoly employer. There are limited options outside of it, IMO.

Reply 9

Ghotay

Original post by seaholme

I'm also sure this is true. The NHS would be finished if it weren't essentially a monopoly employer. There are limited options outside of it, IMO.

You're not really limited. It's more that going into a different career or using your medical degree in a different way requires a lot more personal motivation and effort. You have to actively seek those opportunities out, and there's likely to be an element of re-training/CV building to get a different sort of job. If you know you really don't get on with clinical medicine and don't want to go back, you'll make that effort. But for lots of people who have taken time out but have bills to pay, going back into medicine is the path of least resistance

Reply 10

*pitseleh*

Original post by Zakadoh

Yep, I'm also FY2, and recently had a 'training' day where they asked much the same question to a group of 30 of us. I think about five of us said we were applying this year. Most people I know who are planning to take an FY3 are aiming to locum for 6 months and then travel/rest for the remainder.