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Medicine-related work experience in Sussex- please help!

Hello :smile: I'm a Y12 student looking to pursue a career in medicine, but I have a problem: I haven't managed to find and arrange ANY work experience at all in the Brighton / Sussex area :frown: I volunteer on a hospital ward on a weekly basis, but I haven't done any shadowing etc. which some universities really value). I contacted around 10 GP practices (most ignored my emails) and 2 local hospitals, but have had no luck.
If anyone has any advice, experiences or contacts specific to the Brighton or East Sussex area, I'd love your help :smile::smile: thanks in advance
Original post by zenden
Hello :smile: I'm a Y12 student looking to pursue a career in medicine, but I have a problem: I haven't managed to find and arrange ANY work experience at all in the Brighton / Sussex area :frown: I volunteer on a hospital ward on a weekly basis, but I haven't done any shadowing etc. which some universities really value). I contacted around 10 GP practices (most ignored my emails) and 2 local hospitals, but have had no luck.
If anyone has any advice, experiences or contacts specific to the Brighton or East Sussex area, I'd love your help :smile::smile: thanks in advance


Hi there!

Volunteering weekly on a hospital ward is already a great bit of experience!

Don't forget that medical schools value quality over quantity - so it's far better to reflect well on a few experiences than badly on several. Make sure you're keeping a note of your volunteering work at the hospital, bearing key things like empathy, communication, teamwork etc in mind, so you can use this experience in your PS and interview.

However, if you're looking for more work experience, there are several things to try. You could also try contacting local care homes or hospices to volunteer too. This is a great way of gaining experience and developing key skills needed for Medicine, like communication and empathy. You could also try shadowing a healthcare professional or gaining experience working in a pharmacy.

Another thing to do would be to contact your school's careers department and see if they can help you find a placement - other students in the past may have completed placements locally. You could also ask friends, family members and other acquaintances if they know anybody working for the NHS.

Don't forget too that some medical schools (like Brighton and Sussex) place equal emphasis on medical and non-medical work experience, so it might be helpful to do your research for the medical schools you're applying to.

Another thing to potentially consider is travelling from Brighton/Sussex - could you travel to London, for example, to complete work experience there? Or stay with family/friends in a different city for a week or so while you completed a placement at a local hospital?

We also have a few relevant blogs you might find useful:
- How to Find Medical Work Experience
- Medical Work Experience: My Top Tips
- Step-by-Step Guide to Gaining Medical Work Experience

Hope this helps! :smile:
The Medic Portal

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