1. GPST Training in Orkney | NHS Education for Scotland (nes.digital)
Dr Ume Onengiye-Ofori has been living and working in Orkney since 2020. She had moved from Canada and quickly settled into Orkney life, her children at local schools and her husband works for Orkney Islands Council.
Her trainer, Dr Holly Tyson, has helped guide her through the GP training program and she plans to qualify in 2024.
Orkney has lots of training opportunities, indeed 3 out of the 5 GMS surgeries undertake training and all practices host students. Following CCT, most GPs stay on the island, developing specialist interests and achieving a broad level of skills necessary to practice in a remote environment.
2. NHS Shetland – Make Shetland your next career move
Rise to the challenge and enjoy the opportunity to join NHS Shetland. Becoming an “Island Medic” is a job like no other. Not only will you get a chance to work in one of the UK's most rugged and beautiful communities, you will get the opportunity to work in a busy healthcare environment where true “generalism” is practiced on a day to day basis.
The Gilbert Bain is a busy Remote and Rural Island hospital providing healthcare to it 22,000 inhabitants as well as visitors and North Sea workers. There is an A&E department, medical and surgical wards, a two bedded critical care area as well as a 6 bedded consultant led maternity unit. The work is varied and trainees are exposed to a breath of emergency and elective medical presentations under the supervising eye of the consultant in charge.
There are a number of training opportunities available on Shetland - Foundation Years 1 and 2, Core Surgical Training, Internal Medical Training as well as Rural Tract GP training schemes. Rotas are designed to meet each trainee's curricular requirements and are working time compliant. Shetland training posts are often found in the top 2% of all Scotland training posts with supervision and work life balance quoted as key benefits of living and working in Shetland. Trainees enjoy the varied work and the ability to provide continuity of care to their patients from admission to discharge.
Whether you plan to become a GP or a hospital specialist, undertaking a remote and rural job brings real personal and career benefits - you will get to practise medicine in a place where you have to rely on your clinical acumen rather than tests, you get to know your patients and gain a real understanding that healthcare sits at the heart of the community.
Outside work, Shetland is a wonderful place to live with 1,679 miles of coastline and many beautiful unspoiled beaches. Shetland is a great place for a real adventure – an archipelago primed for hiking, active adventures and wild swimming.
If you are interested in finding out more about remote and rural medicine please do get in touch: pauline.wilson2@nhs.scot.
3. Gilbert Bain Hospital
As an internal medical trainee having done no general practice or emergency department work, I had been spoiled by the luxury of always having a senior filter in the decision making process especially with discharges. So having to be the senior on call for the whole hospital, initially seemed a daunting task.
But from the moment I landed on the runway strip that allowed for normal cars to drive over, with views that would beggar belief even in Tolkien’s world, I knew I was in for a treat. Not only were the staff extremely warm and welcoming, everyone you met from the local pubs to the leisure centre were keen to host you and show everyone a good time.
The learning experience was really what made me not want to leave. In one weekend, I was the lead to thrombolyse a pulmonary embolism, MI and an ischaemic stroke. Even though it is small population, it has a large sea based out reach (summer time cruise ships, off shore oil and gas workers etc), which added to the variety of cases I’d managed to come across - from complex neurology to congenital paediatrics; extremely unpredictable, extremely interesting.
The consultants and other health care staff are very supportive and are easy to contact at all hours of the day, so you’re never left alone to feel out of your depth. They also live in close proximity to the hospital which makes on site support also a straight forward option. In hindsight the biggest gain I’ve had from 6 months in Shetland is confidence. I’ve become more self assured with decision making and more comfortable in making diagnoses based on clinical presentation.
I’d highly recommend working in Gilbert Bain Hospital and looking forward to the next time I’ll be there.
This page was last updated on: 28.02.2024 at 14.30
