Advise needed plz

[Medusa]

Hello everyone,

I really need some good advise about my future as a doctor in the UK.

Currently I am in my final weeks to get my registration of being a doctor. I'm Dutch and I am qualified from a Dutch medical university (6 years training: 4 years of theory + 2 years clinical electives).
I am planning to move to the UK and I want to specialize in Radiology. What I understood is that my medical degree is equal to SHO. Now as the British medical educational system has changed, it isn’t clear to me where I am standing now and what is best to do.
I read the information on MMC but things aren’t getting clear to me. What should be my next step to enter radiology field? Does radiology have an SHO place? If not, where do I start?
I’m very much confused. Please help me with getting more information or with some advise.

Thank you in advance,
Medusa

 

[FionaS]

Hey

You'll probably get more (and I'm sure conflicting) advice on www.newmediamedicine.com - go to forums. Much the same as SDN, but with a UK bias.

From your post I'm not sure if you're qualified and working as doctor, or still a student. If still a student, then you need to get into the Foundation Programme (all on the mmc website) and do that for 2 years, then you go for specialty training in Radiology (the run through ST bit).

If you're qualified and working, then you need to find the person specifications for radiology specialist training - probably on the mmc website somewhere, or else on the royal college of radiologists. Work out if you meet *all* the specs. If you do, then you are indeed the equivalent of an SHO, and should apply for a radiology ST1 post. If you more than meet them, then I think there will still be direct entry into ST2 radiology next year, although that's being phased out.

You've just missed the deadline for getting onto ST this year though, so I guess you have a year to make sure you have all the requirements you need.

Sorry this is a pretty wooly answer - because it's all new and disorganised, no one knows how it's going to work. I should also note that all the UK docs are currently considering going almost anywhere else for their training, because the government is doing such a [sarcasm]wonderful[/sarcasm] job on the training pathway... It'll probably all settle down in a few years.

 

[leorl]

nah, they'll probably keep changing things so it never settles down. it's amazing what a mess everything is! In a perfect world, government should not get involved with medicine. They muck everything up. If medics were politicians, it's work out so much better...at least medics are logical with some degree of foresight.

 

[Kev (UK)]

Hello everyone,

I really need some good advise about my future as a doctor in the UK.

Currently I am in my final weeks to get my registration of being a doctor. I'm Dutch and I am qualified from a Dutch medical university (6 years training: 4 years of theory + 2 years clinical electives).
I am planning to move to the UK and I want to specialize in Radiology. What I understood is that my medical degree is equal to SHO. Now as the British medical educational system has changed, it isn’t clear to me where I am standing now and what is best to do.
I read the information on MMC but things aren’t getting clear to me. What should be my next step to enter radiology field? Does radiology have an SHO place? If not, where do I start?
I’m very much confused. Please help me with getting more information or with some advise.

Thank you in advance,
Medusa

There will be no SHO posts available from August 2007, just run-through Specialist Training posts. To get a post in Radiology (a competitive field as very popular) you will need to apply via the MTAS system. Applications for posts starting in August 2007 have now closed so you would need to apply for August 2008 entry (in January 2008). Before then you may apply for a fixed term speciality training posts if any are available. Info on these are available from the MMC site.

The GMC would be able to tell you where you stand and if you need to undertake any of the Foundation Course before Specialist Training. I suspect as a Dutch graduate you would only need to undertake Year 2, if any. Once this is clarified you can then think about whether you need to apply for Foundation or Specialist training.

Good luck.