training hospitals

[april92]

just wondering which hospitals does the training and clinical attachments take place in?

thanks

[James]

The 'big 3' are City/Sandwell, UHB & Heartlands; in my day some got sent out as far as Shrewsbury and Hereford - not sure if they still do though.

[MBS]

Yes, add to that wolverhampton, worcester, warwick,..etc..

Only 40 5th students are placed in hereford, and are provided with accommodation there. This is a unique thing about birmingham as we get to shadow a variety of trusts and systems and witness a large cross section of the population.

[redhotbarbie]

remember when you get here you have 2 years of just gp visits, so you have all that time to get your head around the "longhaul" hospital travelling Dont stress about that too much! brum has a great course so it should be more that than the selection of hospitals available that really affect your choice!

[waveygravey]

hear hear redhot barbie! Birmingham for the win!

[dsn]

There's a page with all the trusts here: NHS partners

Now I'm not going to shy away from this, but I'm now a hospital snob. Three months at UHB have made me in to some sort of anti-DGH (district general hopital) monster. When a patient at general practice says they went to their local DGH (affectionately called "No Hope") for colorectal cancer surgery, I drew my breath in, started perspiring and reached for a glass of water. Personally, I would not settle for anything less than a bed at the Queen Elizabeth - and indeed anybody can demand that. On the other side, I do not exclude the possibility that teaching at No Hope is somewhat more organised and better than at UHB. But if I were at No Hope, I wouldn't be able to smugly tell friends at other (frankly inferior) hospitals about all the vanishingly rare diseases and treatments UHB has.

UHB also has the major advantage that it is right next to the medical school. Exactly how the Medical School expects me to get to Russell's Hall Hospital next term I am unsure. Perhaps they think I have a private jumbo jet. Frankly, unless you have a car or live near someone who does, you are going to have problems getting to some of these places. But hey the medical school gives us £9 a week to go to RHH... that would cover public transport costs for one day. In actual fact, most people do share cars to get place and that's a lot easier, faster and cheaper than public transport. I do not have a car or access to one. Therefore, I am bitter.

P.S. For anyone lacking an ironikometer, I am full of nonsense and you will find that ALL hospitals have pluses and minuses. Some are easier to get to, others are more organised, some will have better teaching, others a wider range of specialities etc etc. Even something like UHB being the only liver transplant centre in the West Midlands - good or bad? You might not see it anywhere else, but if you don't what does it matter? It's just one little thing that doesn't feature in core curriculum at all. And UHB may have fewer less complex patients who do have classical disease presentations that would be useful for core curricular learning. Everything is what you make of it; no one is going to hold your hand for you!

[James]

No Hope does have a terrible reputation, other DGH's are better though.