The Work/Life Balance on the Caledonian Program

I'm a GPST2 within the Caledonian programme. After FY2 I spent 3 years out of training doing mostly A&E work in New Zealand and latterly in Elgin. The decision to come back to live and work in the Highlands was an easy one...friendly district general hospital and the opportunity to get involved in rural and pre-hospital medicine. But one of the biggest attractions was access to the outdoors. Inverness is surrounded by stunning mountain scenery, forests and beautiful coastlines. For me, running is the perfect way to get out and explore.

Thirty Years on Skye!

Charles Crighton is a GP Educational Supervisor in Portree on Skye, he has been there for 30 years, here are his reasons for staying.

After 30 years, there must be a good reason for staying.... Perhaps it’s:

1. The work itself. Consider the variety, from an urban GP-type day with the fascinating spectrum of patients’ and their problems, to a ferry trip to the weekly branch surgery on the island of Raasay, to a day in the community hospital doing a ward round and attending to all sorts of clinical presentations in A&E. If I want interesting and challenging clinical work, I’ve got it here. After 30 years, you’d think I’d be bored....

Aberdeen Is The Happiest Place In Scotland!

Aberdeen has just been revealed as one of the three happiest locations in the UK – Oxford and Reading/Bracknell were the others – and the most contented in Scotland. 

Despite its reputation as a cold, hard and dour city, Aberdeen offers rich culture, low unemployment and an enviable lifestyle, so says Kevin Mckenna in this article in the Observer .

So why not give it a try and select either the Grampian 3year program or the Grampian 4 year program when stating your preferences?

Life as a GP on Orkney

As an Orcadian I may be slightly biased in my opinion that Orkney is one of the best places in the world to live.

I moved home in 2004 mid way through my GP training. My reasons for coming home were that I wanted to become a GP, I wanted to be involved in my local community and I wanted to have children who would grow up in the same wonderful environment that I was lucky enough to experience.

Good Luck at Stage 3 Recruitment Centre!

Good luck to everyone heading for the Stage 3 Selection Centre in Edinburgh next week.  It will also be time to state your preferences for training programmes.  You can find full details of all our programmes and rotations here.

The North of Scotland programmes have scored consistently highly in the GMC Trainee survey, here are some of the highlights from the 2014 survey of trainees across the 20 regions in the UK:-

• North of Scotland GPSTs are the second most satisfied overall with the GP component of their training - pipped at the post by SW Peninsula
• North of Scotland GPSTs are the most satisfied overall with their educational supervision during the GP component of their training
• North of Scotland GPSTs are the most satisfied overall with the hospital component of their training
• North of Scotland GPSTs are the most satisfied overall with the clinical supervision during the hospital component of their training.

Take that feedback and then add in the fantastic lifestyle opportunities available across the North of Scotland and why would you want to go anywhere else?

So good luck next week and we look forward to seeing you in August!