Medicine students....After FY2?

You most certainly are allowed to take time out after FY2 However, you should probably do something constructive such as a course or work abroad (or, of course, other things such as maternity leave/caring for a family member are also perfectly valid reasons for a break). If you take a year out to travel or laze around, it won't look great on your application!

How feasible is it to 'take a break' from the conveyor belt once you're on the ST ladder? I ask for two reasons. Firstly, I'd be mega keen in doing a taught masters (for a year) in something like health policy/law/ethics just purely for academia's sake, with no intention of using the qualification to go for any posts.

And secondly, maybe at some point to take a two or three month block out and travel (say between one job post and the next).

I'm not completely sure to be honest! Taking a year out to do a full-time Masters would be difficult, however most doctors tend to do a Masters over two or three years part-time, to ensure they don't become de-skilled after being out of the job for a full year. There was a doctor on my MSc course doing it over two years, for example.

As for the travel option, I think that's very difficult on the grounds that your rotations are usually 6 months long at the CT/ST level.

For you, I would honestly recommend taking a year out after FY2 in which you do a postgraduate qualification, for instance a PGDip or similar, in something you find interesting, and use the rest of the time to travel/work abroad. I've personally been looking into doing a postgraduate diploma in tropical medicine then going out to somewhere in sub-Saharan Africa or SE Asia to both work and travel Maybe worth a thought??

Cheers for the heads up. So I should ideally get a lot of travelling done while I have my university holidays left?

To quote the Churchill dog..."oooooooooooohhhhhhhhh yes!"

Firstly, I'd be mega keen in doing a taught masters (for a year) in something like health policy/law/ethics just purely for academia's sake

Does UCL not offer taught masters programmes as an intercalation between your penultimate and final year? We can do this at Manchester and many people do. Might be easier to do it this way than take a year out post ST/CT1.

Thanks everybody! Would it put you at a disadvantage if you went on maternity leave post FY2, as it doesn't add to your CV? Just wondering. And after FY2, what happens? What is ST? Sorry, is there a link for this?

http://www.mmc.nhs.uk/ explains the standard training progression in the UK - ST stands for specialty trainee.

You can go on mat leave at any time, you'd have to time it pretty perfectly in order to be able to start it at the end of FY2! You would need to make sure you kept up with everything that needs to be done for specialty applications, and if you were in the middle of a training programme you'd obviously need to take time out and then restart where you left off. In terms of maternity pay though, it's better if you take it while you're in a continuous contract with the NHS, rather than at the end of a year when you'd technically not be employed by them.

Was wondering what your insights were as to what the views are on docs taking time off (one-three months) to go travelling (non-career related) while on the ST ladder, between jobs? Or is it really frowned upon. Obviously not travelling like that very regularly, but say once or twice like that before completing the pathway?

Or is it really a case of get-things-done-before-you're-on-the-conveyor-belt prioritisation needed?

It is difficult to take time out within a programme unless you're going overseas to work on an organised out-of-programme experience. The best thing to do is take time out between stages (i.e. after FY2 or after CT/ST2), and even then it's likely to have to be a whole year out, as programmes always start at a set point in the year. I have a couple of friends who've done this after FY2, and have done bits of locumming, bits of research and then some travelling - one of them has done some expedition medicine training and has been on a couple of trips with various groups this year.

Thanks for the info
So wrt to the bit in bold, I guess it's even harder on run through specialties such as paeds/ob+gyn etc.?

Probably, I guess. In general, if you want to take time out of the programme for a work/training purpose (to do a Masters or go and work in a specific job overseas) that's ok, but if you just want 3 months to go backpacking, they'll be less keen. Mat leave is a different ball game entirely, but that's less likely to be something affecting you. Paeds and O&G are very keen on recruiting male trainees though, so do bear that in mind!

Why?