Today I am going to share few things about how to select a suitable job in NHS.

• At first, the most important thing is to know about your long term career plan. If you are coming after  and have already made up your mind about a career in medicine/surgery/ OBGYN, it’s always advisable to get a post in relevant specialty. Currently UK Job market welcomes IMGs in all specialty. You don’t have to jump to the first job opportunity you get if it’s not your specialty of your choice. Be patient, wait few weeks and select the specialty of your choice. After getting a job, focus on getting your foundation competency signed off.

• Regarding the doctors who are coming to the UK post-MRCP, if you have made up your mind regarding a medical specialty of your choice like cardio/neuro/ respiratory then my advise is to get a job which gives you few rotation including your specialty of your choice. For the first job, acute medicine is also a good option for getting your core competency signed off for future ST3 application. But the best scenario is getting a job which offers rotation to different medical specialties including acute medicine and medical on calls. You can always negotiate these options during interview.

Now I am going to clarify a common confusion when it comes to selecting a post.

NHS runs on 3 grades of doctors

1. The Junior grade doctors are called SHO/ Clinical Fellow/CT equivalent/F2 equivalent. They pretty much do the same job regardless of the name.
2. The middle grade doctors are called senior clinical fellow/registrars/specialty doctor/ST3 equivalent.
3. The senior most doctors are the consultants.

If you are coming to the UK after PLAB, then you are going to start at junior grade level.

If you are coming after MRCP, then you can either start as junior doctor and get a registrar post after couple of months when you are more comfortable in NHS setting. Alternatively, you can directly start as a registrar grade doctor depending on your confidence and clinical background.

Hope this information helps you choose a job appropriate for you. Please feel free to ask any question in the comments.
Thanks!!!

Dr. Mouni Faria
MBBS(DMC), MRCP(UK)