First job as doctor (FY1) and first time pregnant - start or defer?

[robinfinch]

Hi everyone, I'm just finishing medical school (did it later in life as a grad) and due to start my FY1 job in a couple of months. I'll be 30 weeks pregnant at this point.

I'm weighing up whether to start my first rotation and carry on as late as possible into the pregnancy, or to defer until Aug 2024.

Once I go on mat leave, I'm also not clear if I need to take the remainder of that FY1 year off and join the next cohort, or if there's an option to come back eg after 8/9 months and do my final rotation. Would be super grateful for input from anyone who has been in a similar situation and to hear what worked for you!

Main reasons for wanting to start this year:

1. Financial (partner and I are trying to get a mortgage, plus I'm not eligible for SMP as I'm still a student, so would be helpful to have FY1 contract + some salary, albeit only for a month or two max.
2. Doing induction and starting job/having access to KIT days would I think make the jump back into full time FY1 less daunting once baby is here.

Having said this, am very mindful of the amount of running around needed in FY1 and the steep learning curve, so would appreciate any advice!

Thank you for reading :)

No personal experience, but you probably need to speak to your clinical tutor/FP director/occ health pretty soon if you haven't already. Do you know what rotation you'd be starting on? If you know or can get hold of any of the current people in that job they may be able to give you a better idea of the reality of the job/how you might feel physically. If you do start you'll probably need to come off the on-call rota after 3 or 4 weeks and stop working all together not long after that. Is it really worth the stress of starting just for 7-8 weeks?

Im a nurse so don’t know, but seeing what pressure the fy1s are put under makes me want to hug you starting out that pregnant. It’s quite uncomfortable by the third trimester, I’d make sure you get occ health involved to avoid Night Shifts/ adjust long shifts if you need to start then. That’s really hard, if you can manage financially I would leave it until next year.

Can you ask to be supernumerary for 2 months, and start officially in 2024? Good to consolidate your Med school with some clinical, rather than none. But you won’t be able to run to crash calls etc, and you’ll need to come off the OOO rota etc. So what with all the supervision you’ll need as a new starter, combined with things you need physical adjustments for, it may work out less stressful for you and them, if you’re an extra pair of hands. I don’t think they routinely offer supranumerary as it costs them extra, but they might consider it. I suspect they’ll suggest you start in August 2024.

I really think this is a question for the foundation program TPD and Director of Medical Education at the hospital you are expecting to start in August. If you don’t know who these people are then phone the post-graduate medical centre and ask them to point you in the right direction. You can discuss all the options with them then. I suspect the easiest thing would be to start in April 2024 and do your final rotation as expected. You also need to think about whether you’re going to go LTFT and what that might look like.

You may be entitled to a bit of maternity pay/allowance if you start work. And this would be something you can ask them.

Most junior doctors I know come off the on call rota is possible by 32 weeks and go on maternity leave by 36 as it’s really tough trying to work in the 3rd trimester.

Thank you everyone for such helpful replies - lots of food for thought and good to know when other doctors come off on call rota etc. I also hadn't thought about asking for a possible supernumerary position so thanks for suggesting floating the idea!

I’m a medic (although consultant now). You’ve not worked between your qualifying weeks, so probably won’t get any maternity pay. Also you’ll be exhausted as heavily pregnant and starting as a F1 which is grim! Could you maybe defer and do some odd F1 locums if needing the money? Honestly the NHS will never thank you for putting yourself under pressure!

Definitely start if you can, even for 1 or 2 weeks as then you will start accruing annual leave whilst you are off which you can take at the end of mat leave fully paid. It will also count as NHS service for pension purposes and access to other benefits.