DS has work experience at drs surgery..

[4andnotcounting]

He is wanting to study medicine at university. He has really struggled to get any work experience. We are from a disadvantaged background and I am limited to how much I can help him. He’s got to where he has pretty much on his own. He has had a response from only one gp surgery - for three day work experience. However, When I googled the surgery, I realised it has really shockingly poor google reviews. (I’ve never seen a surgery receive so many poor reviews (2 stars from 57 reviews) he was initially happy he got a response but now he’s realised the surgery is so poor he is visibly upset (he usually has a very good poker face)
he doesn’t know whether it will harm his ucas application by even mentioning the surgery and is now in two minds whether to go. I can’t advise as I never studied beyond my alevels so feel a bit clueless. He will be entering ur 13 in September this year. Wwyd?

Go for it. It’s a surgery and it will be great experience. If it’s as bad as the reviews say, it will be something to talk about at interview. Not being rude about them, but spinning it into a positive learning.

I would not think there’s any chance it would hurt his UCAS application. My own observation is that many GP surgeries get bad reviews as only those with some sort of ax to grind will review them. Certainly the surgery I go to has shit reviews, but that’s not my experience . And if he gets the chance , he could ask the manager how he/she deals with bad reviews.

Universities aren't going to google reviews.

He should do it even if it's shit and boring and pop it on his applications.

Go in the placement. It doesn’t matter at all, he just needs to be able to tick the right boxes on his UCAS form. I did exactly the same thing as a A-level student, it worked out for me.

Also bear in mind Google reviews aren’t going to be the most objective measure of how good an NHS service is. No-one ever posts a review after a perfectly normal and uncomplicated appointment, only when they have something major to say.

I also volunteered in a local hospice, making tea and fetching meals. Has he looked into things like that? It all counts.

Has he looked up the “widening participation” programme? He may be entitled to some extra support with his application. https://www.bma.org.uk/advice-and-support/studying-medicine/becoming-a-doctor/widening-participation-in-medicine

Of course it won't make a difference! The patients will still be patients needing medical support and the GPS are still qualified GPs. He absolutely should NOT criticise it though regardless of its google review. (Who reviews their local GP though!)

As an aside, just three days probably won't be enough. Has he tried care homes, hospices, hospital volunteering, volunteering with disabled children/adults? It doesn't have to be medical experience - but consistent work with vulnerable people.

It won't make the slightest bit of difference. I would also make sure he realises he may spend the whole 3 days photocopying and other admin tasks.

It doesn't matter! He should definitely go.

What would be interesting would be to look at the reviews in detail. What are they saying? What themes are coming out of them? It's really unusual to get this kind of work experience (well done him) but it suggests that the surgery may have a different attitude to others. Maybe he could compare what the reviews say with what he sees at the practice? If he's feeling very brave and very tactful he could even ask the team about the reviews - ' I read a review of the practice that said the receptionist was really rude. I've seen the receptionist being shouted at by three patients in a row. How do you support your staff?' All interesting stuff to talk about in an interview.

Universities are not going to Google the reviews of a place an applicant did three days of work experience at. Not that bad reviews would be any reflection on the applicant anyway

My sister is a doctor- she volunteered at the local hospital once a week for around 2 years before uni. I think every Trust has a volunteer coordinator,might be worth a go

He needs to go for it.

Has he also looked at the NHS Observe GP programme?
http://www.rcgp.org.uk/training-exams/discover-general-practice/observe-gp.aspx

And looked what is available through your local NHS Trust? They often have work experience for students. Eg, this is Nottingham: https://care4notts.org/work-experience/#what-is-on-offer

Definitely won’t matter (I’m a GP who works at a medical school). Experience that gives him insights is what matters so I agree that some volunteering could be useful. Brighton and Sussex medical school have a useful virtual course he could have a look at too https://bsmsoutreach.thinkific.com/courses/VWE. Good luck to him.

Definitely do the experience and don’t worry about it the reviews - anyone can write a review and people are more likely to do so if they’ve had a bad experience as they want to rant about it. As others have said, they will be qualified doctors working there so definitely do it - even if just to have some experience on his personal statement.
I asked my local GP about experience for my daughter and he said that the practice don’t allow it as it’s possible the student might end up with a patient they know (seems a bit daft to me as they could just sit out if that happened) - so I think GP work experience can be hard to come by.
Have you looked into whether there is a St John’s Ambulance Cadets locally? That’s a good way to volunteer with a medical emphasis. Also, if he is coming from a disadvantaged background a number of unis that support students during yrs 12 & 13 and some require reduced A level grades if you meet their “contextual criteria”.
if you go over to the Higher Education thread and search on the medicine threads there is loads of great info, including “virtual work experience” that you can do online and provides loads of info. Definitely do the experience and good luck!
Also look at the Southampton student mentor website: http://www.wamsocsoton.com/a-first-year

I have had 6th form students in our practice. We are a training practice but our google and nhs reviews are not great. They are an outlet to grind an axe and it's demoralising when we work so hard. Our friends and family reviews are great but not easily seen by the public. GPs are so busy at the moment that if he's got 3 days work experience I would guess that those GPs are really keen to support your DS in his application to med school. For information, the 6th formers we have had have sat with the receptionists because that's where the heart of the practice is, the nurse to learn about chronic diseases, with me in my surgery, and they have attended meetings and been on visits.
I sent links to our 6th formers so they could do some pre- placement reading.
I hope he enjoys himself. I'd also second PPs that a weekly volunteer session in a nursing home or hospice would go down well and it will help him build up his communication skills.

UCAS won't Google the quality of the surgery but like others say, reviews are biased anyway. I haven't needed to see our doctor but my DH has had great experiences. You wouldn't expect it if you've looked at their reviews. He's left a positive Google review out of gratitude but most people probably don't think to do it unless they are furious.

I have seen many UCAS forms for Medicine and nobody puts the name of the GP surgery down. It’s a waste of precious characters! He has done well to get this. He needs to write down what he learned from the experience rather than detail what he saw.

Advantage comes across in the statements. If someone writes about watching brain surgery at Queen Sq followed by paeds OP at GOSH, you start to think they may have contacts. If people talk about two days in a nursing home, you think they may have struggled to access experience.

I have never judged someone negatively about the exact location or nature of their experience. It’s unfair.

My daughter has had no clinical work experience. She’s done the online WE courses, and other community based stuff. Universities know it’s not possible for everyone to do WE.

I wouldn’t think too much about the reviews most of them will more than likely be because they can’t get through to them or an appointment when they want

Well done on getting the experience, it’s a great opportunity. There is as much to learn from places with poor reviews as there would be from places with 5 star reviews. In any case, I don’t think a 5 star NHS practice would exist as people with good experiences tend to take it for granted and not bother writing a review.
As others have said, if you Google your local NHS trust they often have a work experience programme.
Not sure how it’s working this year but when I assisted with the covid vaccines programme there were lots of would-be medical students volunteering.

It's work experience regardless of the rating of the particular surgery - he's lucky to get it. The chances of anyone reading his UCAS application recognising the name of the practice are miniscule, and they're not going to care even so. What would you worry about? If he sees a doctor being abrupt, he'll learn from it. If he sees people being told their are no appointments available, that's just how things are at the moment. He's not going to be contaminated by it!

Might be very worthwhile looking for some work experience in a care home, too. So much of medicine is with older people, and getting a sense of how their health affects their daily life would be very useful.

The work experience will still be really valuable. It will be something to put on his personal statement and discuss at interview, as others have said. He'll need to apply pretty soon, and applying with a small amount of clinical experience is definitely better than applying with none.

In terms of work experience, it's worth bearing in mind he doesn't need lots of clinical experience (although IME, having none isn't great). Anything customer facing, or involving caring, or working with children can be really useful too- it's all about the skills you learn from it, rather than just what you've done.

You might want to look at the long running medicine thread on the higher education forum here: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/higher_education/4704552-medicine-2024-entry

There's also often some useful stuff for prospective applicants on TSR.

How much help is his school?

Many unis will also have outreach programs for disadvantaged students who want to study medicine- he's left it a bit late, but he may still be able to join one of them.

Do it. No one will care where he got experience and he can use it to reflect on how things are done in the NHS and how that can be perceived by patients.
Also do the BSMS MOOC work experience as it it's fantastic and other Unis like it.
It's not what you do but how you reflect on it.
Then join us on the Medicine 2024 thread for advice and hand holding. It's a tough process.

@4andnotcounting if disadvantaged then look at Newcastle Partners and Bristol Insight. Both offer summer schools and contextual offers.

Thanks for your replies. I’ve shown him the replies to read and he seems more ok with it now.

He has recently completed summer school with the Sutton trust and he said he can get in to that uni on reduced grades ABB and guaranteed interview.

he has also done online work experience things too (I think uni led) He has also done one week Covid clinic work experience and he has set up and runs a medical society at his school.
he has also supported year 7 science students in their classes as work experience in his school.
He did well imo in his GCSEs despite his home life having been not good for the past few years. He did the ebacc and triple science , further math etc and got 999988777 without tuition as I couldn’t afford it. He is doing math Chemistry snd biology at alevel.

I think his worry now is that he hasn’t done any ONE job/ experience consistently . He has helped out a lot at home with younger siblings - Sch pick ups , morning routines etc as unfortunately I haven’t been well. He’s the oldest and has had the brunt of everything that went wrong at home. Year 12 flew past and I’ve told him year 13 will go even quicker.

Strategically I’m not sure how best to advise him moving forward given the time , what job/ experience to aim for? Will try hospice as some people have suggested.

He’s been doing ucat revision over the summer - exam in couple of weeks. Ideally he should have got something lined up to do over the summer but for whatever reason he hasn’t.

What should his focus be on now? Would working once a week in a charity shop be beneficial if he can’t find anything else? I will suggest applying to hospice. Not sure , given the time what else he could apply for?
he’s sorting everything out himself. I know he will have to do his personal statement soon and ucas. I’ve never been university so will check out the links posted.
Thank you for all your help

He said the doctors surgery expericne will be for just 3 days, no shadowing a clinician unfortunately- only working in reception

Actually, now you’ve written more about what he’s been doing, I think it’s really good. I don’t think volunteering in a charity shop will help, though the hospice would be good. Better to concentrate on his A levels instead.