Does anyone know if this is a reputable hospital to work for in a career sense?

[yettio]

I’ve read lots of contradictory things. I’m not a doctor but my partner is and we are moving to the uk. He has interviews at 3 hospitals, one of which is in London Great ormand street? We thought as it is London it would be the better choice but he’s also got an interview at Manchester and Leeds royal infirmaries. Thanks.

Seems an odd question to ask here. Not that we don’t have plenty of doctors on MN. But it’s a very broad profession and you haven’t said what his specialism is (or what he wants to move towards) or at what stage of his career he is. And you’re not even the doctor asking. Surely there are better places for him to ask this?

But just to add: they’re all “reputable”.

why does it matter how good it is "in a career sense"?

Will he be happy and satisfied and does the location, travel, hours and pay work for your family?

What work do you do?

It matters because he wants to reach consultant level soon, we have no idea really which hospitals would be best for that, look best on a cv etc. I work in finance and won’t be leaving my job as it’s remote!

What role is he interviewing for?

It sounds as if he e needs to research about UK medical careers a bit more - does he know about Consultant level posts?

none of them look better of worse than any other on a cv, why would it matter which hospital he works in? What matters is how good he is at his job

They are all decent hospitals as far as I know, but GOSH would be more prestigious in terms of recognisability and reputation I would say. Where are you moving from? It seems strange to be honest that your husband doesn’t know this, if he’s a paediatrician. Great Ormond Street is a world famous hospital. The path to consultant level is determined by how good you are and how hard you work really as you have to pass exams, but I don’t know what the difference in teaching opportunities would be between the hospitals. Once he has reached the required standard he would have to apply for consultant jobs.

Yes we know the process, but if you read about GOSH it doesn’t come up high in rankings!

They saved my baby's life. That's good enough for me.

whos ranking? Rankings based on what? and again, what does it matter?

What is your husbands specialism?

I have no idea where you’re coming from geographically, your question seems odd to us here. In the UK, our hospitals are all seen similarly. Because we rely on the NHS, we wouldn’t necessarily put one hospital above another, we would want to use the closest and most convenient. In terms of reputation, perhaps great Ormond Street may be more world-famous as its specialises in children’s care and is globally known, but that wouldn’t be seen necessarily as a more prestigious hospital.

If what your looking for is progression I think he’s better off asking what the teaching opportunities are and how they would support him to progress in the interviews to be honest. I’m not sure what rankings you’re looking at but I think he needs to decide does he want it to look good on a CV or does he want to progress quickly and decide from there.

How prestigious the hospital is doesn’t affect how soon you qualify as a consultant. What type of post is he applying for and what stage of training is he currently at? Also, is he intending to become a consultant in the U.K. or elsewhere?

London is vastly more expensive to live in than Manchester or Leeds. Take this into consideration, as NHS wages will be the same in Leeds and Manchester. I'm not sure the extra London weighting for a junior doctor would persuade me unless the job at GOSH was significantly more prestigious for his speciality.

🤗

Agree with this.

Standard of living much better outside London.
If nothing tying you to London, I would avoid.
Gosh is prestigious but probably doesn't mean a huge amount for career progression.

What rankings? GOSH will have a higher mortality rate because they take more specialist cases, because they're a national/international level specialist hospital.

The path to being a consultant involves mainly passing the relevant Royal College exams and fulfilling other parts of the training programmes to get a CCT (certificate of completion of training). Most registrar training programmes involve rotating round different hospitals - there may be other routes to consultant level but I suspect they're tougher so if your DH isn't applying for registrar training posts he should be asking a lot of questions about how he can get his CCT.

GOSH potentially has more research opportunities (depending on his field) which may ease the path to consultancy but it won't replace a CCT.

Is he a paediatrician? What level job is this for?

all the hospital mentioned are NHS hospitals so different to compare, but GOSH is a children’s hospital so would not suit if he is not a paediatric specialist!

Leeds and Manchester are big diverse teaching hospitals probably employing the vast majority of specialisms somewhere. And far cheaper to live in than London.

GOSH will get inner London weighting for non-medical roles and I assume doctors get something similar but it's probably not enough to compensate for the actual increased costs of living in London compared to Manchester or Leeds, especially if you need a family home.

London weighting in the NHS is very little compared to the cost of living in London.

To answer your original question, GOSH is the most prestigious, however you haven't said his role or seniority. This is also a strange place to ask the question.

Great Ormonde Street is the most famous children's hospital in the world! Frankly, if you're on here doubting its reputation, I'm doubting if yours is a serious post

@Breakfastofmilk london weighting for doctors is paltry. £2162/annum (ref: https://peoplefirst.nhsbt.nhs.uk/NHSBT-DOCUMENT-LIBRARY/PayBenefitsandPensions/Document-Medical-Consultant-Pay-Circular.pdf)

It is part of the reason my prestigious london teaching hospital struggles to retain staff.

OP he needs to look at the job.

In my specialty lots of us do a stint at GOSH at some point. Usually just before finishing training. You can do it at other centres but GOSH carries prestige both in the UK and abroad. But there are also grunt-work early year/ transition to the UK posts there in other specialties that largely exist for service provision and not training. These are not prestigious to those who know the UK system.

Jobs in London hospitals are extremely competitive. GOSH is very prestigious. It's only for specialist cases so can't be compared easily to a more general hospital.
To the pp saying quality of life is better outside London, that really depends on your own definition.
London ranks high up in league tables of best cities in the world for good reason.