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Junior clinical fellow VS Locum?

Would a locum plus doing papers in the speciality I am interested in be better than a junior clinical fellow job for the same speciality in terms of getting into CT?

Reply 1

junior.doctor

There is a huge variety in locum jobs, both in the hours, availability of work, opportunities...
Also quite a variety in clinical fellow jobs and any opportunities / training available in them.

Depends what specialty you want to do. Look at the points criteria on the application form for that specialty. What can you easily do to get extra points? Audit, teaching, possibly publications / presentations / posters. Then decide how you can best do that.

I don't think that the specific locum / fellow job you do is that big a deal. Certainly in my specialty (paediatrics) it wouldn't matter. Assuming that you're thinking taking a post-FY2 year, then think about how you want to spend your time, and try to get a decent balance between getting some extra application points, versus enjoying your year and doing something that you enjoy.

Reply 2

nexttime

I agree that there is significant variability in what these roles can entail.

For example, in one hospital I worked in the clinical fellows who worked in medicine were on the on call rota, but also given additional on calls, and for the day job were put on the busiest wards to plug gaps, often changing with short notice. Whereas within the same hospital, the orthopedic clinical fellows were only needed to do on calls, and in the daytime had no responsibilities whatsoever. They would have spent average ~30 hours per week doing whatever they wanted - theatre time, research, sleeping in the mess, whatever, all the while getting paid exactly the same as the medics! So yeah, huge variation.

Some places - DGHs pretty exclusively - are really desperate for clinical fellows so you can negotiate your role to an extent. Trying to keep some time aside for audits/research would seem beneficial. Otherwise, its just so variable its hard to advise.