Absolute NHS Illogical Arseholes!!

[RufusInTheLibrary]

DH is an anaesthetist, he works like an absolute dog! I wouldn’t do it for a gold pig...but it’s been his dream.

Finished his training and went through hell to pass FRCA exam. Hundreds of hours and A LOT of money out of our pockets. But it would be worth it because you have to pass this exam to gain a registrar position. Right?

Queue Covid!

Rejected for the job in August because they didn’t hold the interviews. We know he would have gotten this otherwise.

Yesterday he was rejected again (despite having a higher score than any previous year acceptance score) because they decided nobody needed to pass that super hard and expensive exam anymore so literally everyone who otherwise wouldn’t have been eligible applied.

Not only that but they aren’t even willing to offer points for having passed the exam... so DH has spent the last 18 months of his life and over £1000 of our money for absolutely F* A**!!!

That exam was really hard to pass, a lot of trainees fell at that hurdle and DH spent his whole career gearing up to it. Now he’s losing out to people technically less qualified than him because they have random undergraduate degrees in different subjects.

We have a small DC it’s a nightmare and I feel so sorry for him.

@DeliciouslyFemale you're post made me chuckle. Well said.

*your

TA: someone I know had surgery (partial lobectomy) done privately and when they sent her a copy of the itemised bill, the anaesthetist's fee was £7k!
I imagine she needed some days in Intensive Care following that operation - the anaesthetist would have had a major role in her intensive care so possibly his fee covered that too. (Intensivists are anaesthetists). Just a thought.

I completely agree that anaesthetics recruitment has been screwed up royally this year but some bits of your post don't quite make sense. If he's applying for registrar posts he has neither finished his training (because reg jobs are 5 years more training before becoming a consultant), nor passed the full FRCA (because you can't take the Final written or Viva until in a reg post). Do you mean he has completed core training and passed the Primary FRCA? Because that's a significantly different scenario.

If he wants to continue in UK practice, he will need to pass the full FRCA at some point, so it's not money/time wasted. It's a bloody awful exam but a necessary evil to work in an awesome specialty.

Posters talking about networking or working in the private sector don't really understand UK medical training.

Minty Oh it was if you read it correctly it states all the qualifications they claim to have in other words they were lying .and as a child of an immigrant it was a bit daft to say obviously more angry than anything. But still a bit nasty

[quote RufusInTheLibrary]@NurseButtercup

I assume you’re not actually a nurse as then you’d know that ‘networking’ plays absolutely no part in securing a registrar position. Being good at your job barely plays a part. It’s all numbers and tick boxes on a faceless NHS IT system.

The fact that DH is well liked and good at his job is the only reason he got a trust grade role at his hospital In Feb! (When most of the roles given were awarded to overseas doctors and taken at their word on all the qualifications they claimed to have)[/quote]
Sorry, but this is bullshit.
The NHS HAS to offer to UK or EU (I assume still the case for now) candidates before it can start to recruit overseas. They have to prove that there is no suitable person in the whole EU or UK who has the right skills.
And if you think that the NHS just hires someone who says they are a doctor with x qualification, then you are deluded.

It’s not racist, it’s fact, that a lot of medical jobs are given to overseas doctors. Not sure how that can be racist?

The poster was claiming that the doctors from overseas are not properly qualified and/or lie about their qualifications. Pretty racist, IMO to suggest that they couldn't possibly be as qualified as their UK counterparts.

Would your DH consider doing a more junior training post in anaesthetics rather than remaining as a Trust grade? In some specialties a Trust grade job can be seen as a “dead end” that’s hard to get out of (I’ve been there).

Been there, done that (in a different speciality). It's totally crap, and no, the exam fees are not tax deductable (well they weren't when I did them, worth checking with BMA). Just got to keep on applying unfortunately. At least if he's well liked in current department a locum post will hopefully come his way? Do LAS or LAT posts exist for anaesthetics anymore? Good luck!

Minty Oh it was if you read it correctly it states all the qualifications they claim to have in other words they were lying .and as a child of an immigrant it was a bit daft to say obviously more angry than anything. But still a bit nasty

Very much speed typed due to small children kicking off. It’s been a bad day in our house today!

I have no doubt they have the qualifications but it’s self assessment so you fill in all the ‘extra’ stuff like audits, teaching, research (often hard to evidence when completed abroad) and they give you points for it. This stuff apparently (pretty credible source) wasn’t really checked because Covid! No it’s not essential to do the job but when it’s widely known that a lot of U.K. (already working for the NHS) Dr’s are being massively disadvantaged by Covid already it does add insult to injury that they’ve been beaten by people whose point scoring hasn’t actually been checked!

What I meant and should have typed is ‘Dr’s already working for the NHS’ regardless of race, age, gender, ethnicity... in light of Covid and all they have done should they maybe not get a bit of priority?

Does it make much difference financially right now, if at all?

One of my immediate family members is an anaesthetics trainee. Has done the first 2 years of training and started the third and final year in August. They are paid at registrar level now as most other training programmes are only 2 years. I think it's to supposed to avoid people being put off the course for financial reasons. Pay went up by 20k this year but will stay the same now until they reach consultant level which could be several years away.

They did the exam I believe you're referring to aswell recently, passing it didn't have any impact on salary though obviously but it's required to be completed to move to the next level.

Anaesthetics is a good career for those who want it - I’m sure you know it’s a unique specialty and the people who love anaesthetics don’t usually have the inclination to switch to anything else. Your husband’s efforts towards exams and previous track record with interviewing well holds him in good stead. Trust grade jobs are not to be sniffed at - it is still employment with the potential training opportunities despite the name - I don’t believe that a trust grade anaesthetic SHO would be ever turned away from teaching / in-house workshops if he wants to join in.

It is a big setback to contend with mentally, but he is still working towards a specialty of his choice. I would sincerely recommend you both have a good rant, debrief, then get on with the new job and bide your time till next recruitment round begins. Good trainees are like gold dust. It’d be a shame to give up!

The RCoA for better or worse have tried to make it as fair as possible for candidates no haven’t been able to sit and therefore pass the primary FRCA to get an ST3 number. There are always limited places for the Feb intake compared to August (and there was a recruitment round in August - based on self assessed score but with no interview because of covid).

It is hard and there will be the next recruitment round in August and I know the college are trying to be as fair as possible.

Sadly he still has the final FRCA to go no matter what and good luck to him. It is amazing once it is behind you as I know all too well.

@mrsjoyfulprizeforraffiawork

TA: someone I know had surgery (partial lobectomy) done privately and when they sent her a copy of the itemised bill, the anaesthetist's fee was £7k! I imagine she needed some days in Intensive Care following that operation - the anaesthetist would have had a major role in her intensive care so possibly his fee covered that too. (Intensivists are anaesthetists). Just a thought.

I had no idea about this!

It’s true though.
www.rcoa.ac.uk/training-careers/considering-career-anaesthesia/what-do-anaesthetists-do

Sorry forgot to say that the full FRCA will be absolutely necessary in applying for completion of training and any consultant post. So even those who may have gotten in without exams this time round, will have to prove their ability. There are drop outs at every level, and these include those who have not been able to pass the exam. No exam fee or effort has been wasted here.

@GreyishDays I’m an anaesthetic registrar and amuses me greatly when I tell people what I do on a daily basis. Sadly it is a speciality most people know little about but we are the largest speciality in hospital and the estimates are that almost 1/3 of inpatients will have some input from us in some capacity. It is a brilliant job.

@Puddlepop indeed. The college have done their best because so many couldn’t sit the exams when they were cancelled because of covid. They have put on further sittings as well as trying to not disadvantage anyone who couldn’t sit it due to covid but obviously they will have to have the final FRCA by ST5 (at the moment by the end of ST5 but think usually it is the middle of ST5).

Many, many people are being 'massively disadvantaged by Covid' and professional goalposts regularly move (sometimes to your benefit and sometimes detriment).

Yes it's a bit unfair, but you seem very upset about it.

@RufusInTheLibrary in the last round they couldn’t check anyone’s scores because of the clusterfuck that is covid so that is a bit of an unfair point to level at those EU and overseas doctors when your husband would have had the same!!

OP lots of overseas workers take jobs everywhere, not just your husband’s job. You will have to start campaigning for the BNP or something. I don’t know what else to suggest to solve that problem.

@NurseButtercup

If I'm reading this correctly, your DH has had one interview, it's unfortunate he didn't get that job, better luck next time.

Thats how I read it. Someone else was better at interview

@countbackfromten love the username 😴

@Puddlepop thank you! Only ever had one patient ask to count backwards, most listen to me chatting away until they beg me to put them to sleep!

Fabulous name @countbackfromten - thank you for everything you do. I think Anaesthetists are the best. Especially the one who refused to send me to sleep as I had a fever- quite rightly was not an emergency. I sobbed and sobbed - he was so understanding and apologised, until I finally could explain, the surgery got me out of my massive external audit at work (am in corporate finance) and now I would (after a day or two’s rest) have to spend 6 weeks dealing with the audit. He laughed - and was so kind - even if he did think I was barking mad.