AIBU to ask you to tell me where I should move to?

[theukismyoyster]

I am a medical student about to start my final year of university in September.

In our final year of university, we have to rank where in the country we would like to have our first job out of uni as a doctor.
(The better you do in your final exams, the higher the chance that you get given the region you've ranked highest.)

The UK is divided up into twenty regions for ranking purposes, which this map shows.

However, there are so many regions on that map that I have got no idea about in terms of what it is like to live there! So I thought I'd ask the lovely people of Mumsnet.

Perhaps you think the area you live is the best place in the UK or perhaps there's an area in the UK you wish you could move to that you could suggest to me?

Important points:
-I will be 26 years old, and I have no children and no partner, so I have no particular part of the country that I need to be.
-I am at university in London currently and would quite like to experience somewhere other than London.
-I cannot and will not be able to drive for medical reasons, so a region with good public transport links within it is vital.
-Someone I could afford to buy a house in one day would be great!

• You rank the regions, but don't get to pick which city/town within the region at this stage, so a region with lots of lovely towns/cities in would be ideal, rather than a region with one great town but the rest awful.

If you were me and the UK was your oyster (apart from needing good public transport), where in the UK would you rank first and why?

In that case, move north! My experience of southern cities is that they’re still stupidly expensive, without the advantages of London. Even dire places are expensive.

(posted too early) that is a really important thing to consider, and is something I hadn't properly realised, so thank you!

Kitchen I was trying to work out what the hell island A was!

Much as I love the South West I wouldn't recommend it as public transport isn't great outside the main cities especially if you have to do shift work

I'm glad my map reading skills aren't unique then!

Good luck with your choice Oyster. I'm sure wherever you end up will feel like home before too long.

I think you need to spend some serious time with a map and a list of all of the hospitals in the area that you might end up at on rotation and try and work out how you could get to any of them. You could move each time and, as a doctor, starting afresh is almost part of the job and it's easy well, easier to make friends as there are so many others in the same position but it's just the hassle of moving all of the time as you can't make phone calls to chase estate agents etc whilst at work and the hours are long so actually viewing properties becomes a bit of a nightmare.
I have plenty of friends who did London without a car (and are now consultants and have never had a car). As far as I recall, all of those outside London - and they ended up all over the UK - got a car as soon as they moved on from the main city hospital. Of course, having a car means having to deal with hospital parking but at least those with a car know they can get to work. Unless you fancy cycling miles (if that is even an option) in the middle of the night, then you might not be able to get there without spending £££ on taxis all of the time.

Glasgow - great transport links

Sheffield, leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle all have good teaching hospitals plus transport and reasonable house prices.

Another here for Scotland. Brilliant cities, diverse towns, big hospitals, cheaper than London, lots of culture, amazing scenery easily found on a weekend, welcoming. Either that or the NE which I love

I've lived all over the uk. I have lived in Manchester for 10 years and London for 8 years. I personally believe travel in London is 1st class second to none compared to the rest of the UK.

North west region probably would suit you as it is very much like London, all the hospitals are in commutable places. But it's also got the quieter aspect and access to the country.

If I was you, I would wanna stick in London personally

West Midlands CEntral - good public transport and still relatively cheap to buy decent property

e.g. lovely flat on rightmove for 79K recently
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-75578510.html

and two nice ones for 90K
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-72552787.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-60936798.html

Ignore everyone suggesting particular cities. You do not get a choice when it comes to this and almost no region will allow you to stay in one city for the whole of FY.

Scotland deanery perspective -

It's worth knowing that for Foundation Scotland is then broken up into 4 regions though you still get zero choice within them. However if you get e.g. West you won't then be sent to Edinburgh for 4 months. But in your situation I would be wary about choosing Scotland although I love working here. I got West and while that included a year at Glasgow hospitals the other hospitals we were sent to included Dumfries, Forth Valley, Ayr etc. If you get an ED rotation you will be finishing at 3am or similar sometimes and so realistically even some big cities will be a challenge for public transport.
On the other hand there is a region of Scotland called East which includes Dundee and Perth and so is actually tiny in comparison. It would be very feasible to work in Ninewells (Dundee) only with no access to a car, if you could avoid being sent to Perth. There are some rotations that don't include Perth. I spent some time working in Dundee and liked it, it's also incredibly affordable - I saved up 15k over a 2 year period while renting a nice 2 bedroom flat, which then paid the deposit on my house.
The other region are South East which includes Edinburgh and also the borders and Fife, and North which includes everything else from Oban to Aberdeen and everything North of there.

I'm not sure but I think Wales is similarly split into one deanery but 2 regions within. Maybe look into if other English deaneries are similar.

I would be inclined to stay in London though. I have been working in Scotland for 8 years from FY onwards and haven't met any doctors who don't drive.

Hope that helps, good luck

Leeds or Liverpool , Liverpool has its own underground - they have Walrus cards !! And good lots of good local train stations with regular trains into the city, they’re also building an amazing new cancer centre there. Leeds has a brilliant teaching hospital foundation and a very good bus service into town or to the secondary hospital St James from some of the trendy areas - some of these areas are so close you could probably afford to use Uber as well if you fancied a change from public transport. Yorkshire is beautiful as well.

If I had my choice it would be Scotland though, but public transport outside of big city hubs is pretty useless.

Dundee is ok but grubby but lots of redevelopment going on and nice bars and restaurants opening, but Ninewells isn’t a great hospital (we have a lot of friends and family up there and we work for NHS). Some beautiful coastline on your doorstep though.

Definitely not KSS unless you stand a good chance of getting Brighton, everything is very wide spread here.

I'm yet another poster between Nottingham and Derby (currently wondering if we all live in the same small town!). I'd agree with the east Midlands being worth looking at - House prices are reasonable, there are a number of cities all with reasonable transport links (and Nottingham's public transport is exceptional, especially to QMC hospital). Although you might end up with something more rural, I'd say you've a much better likelihood of being within Derby, Nottingham, Leicester or Lincoln.

@Yabbers of course they do, I myself survive outside of London but it would be very naive to think that transport links are anywhere near as good as London anywhere else in the country.

On the map it comes under south Thames.

I guess if you could get two years in south London/one in south London and one in brighton that would be ok.

But most of us have one in south London or Brighton and one out in the sticks.

Caroraich that’s what’s good about the NW deanery is actually when it comes to ranking the jobs there are lots in Manchester and it’s realistic to expect to get one of those jobs. I can’t think of anyone who wanted a Manchester job and didn’t get it. Don’t know if it’s the same for other regions.

Scotland! Yes there are some very remote parts, but (and I'm willing to be corrected about some of the islands here) no hospitals that aren't accessible by public transport. Other than perhaps in Edinburgh you could probably afford to live close enough to walk to work. Perth, for example, is a small enough city that pretty much everything is walkable if you leave enough time.

I think I live in area 9 - 'Oxford' but am in South Buckinghamshire. Would not recommend for house prices or transport links.

If I were you, I'd strongly consider Manchester/Sheffield/North East area - in the hope you'd be placed in Manchester. Lots of more affordable housing (than here and London, anyway), vibrant and young, great transport links in the cities and also you can get trains out to the absolutely stunning countryside (or later buy in a commutable village).

DH can't drive due to partial sightedness and dreams of living up there, but for now is tied to London/Heathrow for work.

London and south of London (Brighton) have high housing costs.

I would go for Scotland.

Bristol? Weston super Mare? Taunton? They are all SW and have reasonable transport links. tbh outside of central London most public transport is pretty crap, cities are better than rural though, obviously!

Cardiff has a university hospital, decent public transport and within easy reach of the Brecon Beacons, Glamorgan Heritage Coast and the Gower. Also hospitals in Newport, Bridgend, Abergavenny.

I myself survive outside of London but it would be very naive to think that transport links are anywhere near as good as London anywhere else in the country.

Why would it?

I was going to say Cambridge.