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I share a small office with 2 other consultants and so with my own supervision meetings & theirs i have noticed so so many Foundation doctors (female and male alike) saying "i quite like hospital Internal medicine specialties but on balance it's GP VTS for me".....
now we know from several surveys that often people are overawed by the prospect of several years being the medical registrar and that can put some people off the lengthy route to dual accreditation in GiM and an Ology but it the reasoning often seems to go beyond that
i hear it again and again and again "GP training route is quicker and whilst i don't mind doing long days i don't like the idea of years and years of on call in the building overnight/at weekends etc" - "work/life balance" and "flexibility" and "ability to do part time" feature++
i think it is great to have a push to increase GP training numbers and strengthen GP workforce as primary care is the bedrock of the NHS and the secret of much of its success but I really worry that these young drs might be kidding themselves about workload in general practice
every single thing i read and hear, every GP i speak to, every academic analysis shows a very high number of daily contacts. very long working days, a seriously under-resourced sector, a rising workload and far more (and faster consultations) than most high income nations
I'd prefer to hear more of the young drs talking about why they love primary care generalism what diverse roles it offers, why they think it so essential to NHS. why they loved their rotation in GP. Not "there is less on site on call and training is shorter & i can do LTFT"
Also surprised that despite relentless coverage around GP workforce gaps, ever increasing workload, burnout, contract changes, crazy government diktats and targets organisational upheaval . early retirement, more 2y care type work being pushed onto GP, they seem unbothered
meanwhile, you are only an on take SHO level doctor for 3 years and a med reg for 5 (with a year off in "shape of training") and it is not the rest of a much longer career. Hard to see that when you are facing it rather than looking back on it, I realise
i worry more about people in specialities where even in your 50s and 60s you are doing full on site shift work at irregular hours. Nurses obviously. And others like radiographers. But thinks like Emergency Medicine. Sustainability over 40 year plus career not easy
