Coming or Going?

Unless you work in a hospital or are friends with a doctor, you're probably not fully aware of how training for junior doctors happens. In fact so many bits of it change to often I'm sure most doctors aren't even sure anymore.

One thing that hasn't really changed is how much you are expected to move around as a junior doctor. That's not just for the first couple of years after graduating, but actually all the way until you're a consultant which for some specialities (like mine) can be over 10 years after graduating from medical school.

I'm not employed by a hospital, but by a "deanery" that is in charge of my training and sends me out to various hospitals within the three county (!!) area it covers. I'm very lucky because I have a training job in the speciality of my dreams that, unless I encounter big problems, will see me right through to being a consultant. I thought I was even luckier because I'd been told where I'd be working for the next two years... it's almost totally unheard of for a junior doctor to know where they'll be for two years.

My first year was in the hospital that I'm in now, and my second year was a whole year in another hospital that although it is an hour away was commutable for me and meant it was easy to live between our two jobs for hubby and I.

I got an email the other day telling me that my jobs had changed. Mega sad times. It's pretty frustrating, although I completely understand that making sure everyone gets fair training opportunities is the most important thing. I also realise that I'm a very lucky girl actually having a job in the current economic climate, but still... I need a little rant.

I'll now be working in two different hospitals next year, 6 months in each. They're about an hour and a half apart in decent morning traffic. Importantly the first hospital is over a 2 hour drive from where I am now in morning traffic. That makes it uncommutable for me. I just don't think it would be safe to do a night shift which is 13hrs long and have to spend 4 hours travelling. I'd be an exhausted wreck.

This means moving again in August. Boo. I've moved so much in the last 8 years that I'm not sure if I'm coming or going.

I'm spending hours of my time on google maps trying to work out the best place to live between all the hospitals, while still making life for my hubby not too difficult. It's giving me a right headache. I'm so filled with dread at the thought of packing everything and the drama of actually moving it, not to mention finding a new flat to live in.

What a bother!