Post Graduate work in the UK
Post-graduate training in the UK has undergone a lot of change over the recent past and hence can be quite challenging to understand. UK graduates after they complete MBBS start Foundation years (2 years ). this is followed by 2 – 3 years of specialty training ( Core training) and then 5 – 7 years of specialist training. This is run and coordinated by the deanery and leads to a consultant post.
Deanery Training
Deaneries are regional training authorities who supervise and maintain the standard of training in the UK. They are provided with the resources required to make this happen and the deaneries pay the basic salary to the Trust for deanery trainees. The trust has to give a commitment to the deanery that the trainees will be in posts with sufficient educational value. There is considerable supervision and monitoring of these posts and the trusts are quite keen to ensure these posts are retained due to the obvious financial incentive.
[ deanery training posts ]Hospital Training
There are posts created and funded by the hospital to ensure that day to day work is completed and patients adequately cared for. These are hospital training posts. These attract the same salary, terms and conditions, study leave and study leave budget as deanery trainee. However the amount of taught sessions, mandatory training and supervision may be less. These can be Junior clinical fellow, senior clinical fellow and International Training fellow posts. The royal college has some authority about medical Training initiative (ITF), but other posts are by negotiation.
[ deanery hospital training ]Non Training posts
These are posts with no training element and are open to national and international recruitment. However they need to have the mandatory visa requirement checks ( Labour Market test) before a non EU citizen can be appointed. There is study leave and a study leave budget but the funding is for agreed personal development plan. This is decided along with your appraiser annually.
Changing face of Post-graduation in the UK
Training in the UK has always gone through a lot of change. Prior to 1997, training was largely unstructured It has gone through several revisions and the current training structure is also evolving. This does not prevent you from getting training but the pathways which were once clear have become muddied.
[Changes to Post Graduate Training]