Plastic / reconstructive surgery - residency in the UK

[NZ24]

Hello everyone,

I am an Austrian medical student and I am very interested in a residency training in the UK (preferably London - I know, very competitive).
I have been googling since ages now and I can honestly say: I am confused and did not find a lot of helpful information.

With that said, I have a few questions that crave answers
1) I would like to know how the process of applying as an EU-citizen in the UK works.What is required for a residency in this field?

2) How high are my chances to get in? Is it really as impossible as everyone thinks?

3) Which hospitals (!) provide residency program in reconstructive surgery (I would like to be in a hospital with more recontructive than aesthetic surgery but of course I know that they are combined in one field).

4) What experience can you share during your foundation years and residency in plastic/reconstructive surgery?

5) Since London or the UK in general is an expensive country to live in, how high can I estimate the salary?

6) And very important too: Will it be 1 or 2 foundation years for Austrian students (since our last year of medschool is a socalled "clinical practical year"? I have heard that the german post-graduates have to go through only 1 FY instead of 2. Is that correct?)

Any help that pulls me out of all this chaos is highly appreciated since I could not find a single post on the internet about the exact same questions.
All the best and have a great day!

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[bambi]

You would apply for foundation posts the normal way
http://www.foundationprogramme.nhs.uk/pages/home

I am not sure whether you would need to do 1 or 2 years technically however I would advise doing 2. People that come to the UK having trained abroad often massively struggle early on so going straight into F2 might not be in your best interest. There are some stand alone F2 posts - I have seen some advertised in the BMJ lately but there aren't loads.

Following foundation training you would apply for core surgery through the intrepid pathway, this is 2 years.
https://secure.intrepidonline.co.uk/Pathway2014/sys_Pages/MainMenu/MainMenu.aspx?ReturnUrl=/Pathway2014
The process was nationalised this year. Getting a job is not that hard, approx 1 in 2 get one. It may not be the job you want though. There are themed tracks in some regions where you do 12-18 months of your specialty choice so plastics in your case and the other jobs will be a mixture. Now that it is nationalised I guess you have a better shot at a plastics theme somewhere but people are always keen on London. However, London is often not the best place for training, operative experience is far more limited in some specialties than it is in other regions. In some jobs you will basically be doing the same job as an F1 with little specialist training, other places will give you dedicated theatre time.

After core surgery you would apply for a registrar post in plastics,through intrepid again. Most people will never get one and those that do will often take several attempts to do it and do a PhD or something in the meantime. Registrar training in plastics is another 5-6 years not including fellowships etc.

Purely cosmetic surgery is mostly limited to private practice so you will get plenty of reconstruction stuff in the NHS.

Salary as a consultant starts somewhere around 70-80K. There are not big jumps in salary the way there are in the US, it just goes up gradually each year. How much you end up earning will depend on how much private work you do.