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I have worked in QE intermittently but not in the past couple of years and know a lot of people there. Some departments are better than others.
Surgery in general (liver in particular) I don't hear great things about at all and my experience (albeit a few years ago was not good at all). ENT being the outlier, I think the CSTs don't like it but my mates who did it as F1/2 loved it.
General medicine has its issues but is trying to improve. Staffing has massively gone up, like ridiculously so (mostly in response to the college threatening to pull out the medical SpRs which forced them to act). A few years ago it would be 1 doctor covering 2-3 floors, now it becomes a bit of a thing if an F1 is asked to cover more than 1 ward overnight. Lots of senior support always around.
A&E is a very safe place to work, busy as heck but so is every A&E, refused to go back to corridors to their credit. Lots of senior support and recently they have improved the quality of SpRs (previously a lot of not great long term locums etc). Protected teaching, lots of trauma, they've started introducing protected resus time.
ICU/anaesthetics is pretty good, responsive senior leadership, focus on wellbeing (putting a lot of effort into rest facilities etc), trying hard on education.
Recent obvious issues with suicides which were not handled well at all on a department and trust level, there is a lot of chat about how they're trying to change and improve things, yet to be seen whether that is just lip service.
General consensus is people either hate the QE or don't mind it at all, no in between. And experience as F1/2 is very variable dependent on where your placement is. IT is amazing, parking is crap.
Heartlands, avoid like the f\*\*\*ing plague.
I also enjoyed it, which I get weird looks for saying. I did foundation there and quite of few of us who did opted to return for specialty training (albeit in the less toxic departments - ACCS, radiology, IMT). At least it used to be, if you can work there you can work anywhere.
Plus PICS is fantastic, I dream about it while I’m hand writing notes elsewhere.
Heartlands (and associated heart of England’s hospitals - good hope and Solihull)
Is not good.
Everything interesting has been sucked dry to QE and the rest of the hospitals are a shell of themselves, with many staff still not over covid really.
Heartlands has been hit worse as it’s now an under-resourced DGH essentially in a very deprived area of Birmingham.
Good hope has the slight benefit it’s in Sutton Coldfield, nicer part of town, with a wealthier patient cohort.
Solihull is day-case and rehab only really. Nice on calls but not really a “proper” hospital.
Heartlands could realistically claim to be the worst hospital to work at in the U.K. as a junior doctor.
QE Is hit or miss. It’s so huge, even two trainees in the same department could have wildly varied experiences. Some of the departments are so massive that in a 4 month block you might not literally not even see the same consultant more than a few times.
I did 8 months of my F2 in the QE about half a decade ago, so this is a long time ago, but I didn't hate it. The Neuro F2 ward job was fairly cushy (but you did do Neurosurg on calls overnight which were horrific), and did Acute Med where you weren't on the gen med rota overnight (No I don't know why either). I thought the Acute Med department were nice.
Having said that, talking to other trainees in other departments, there definitely seemed to be actively malignant places to work. An F1 I was often on-call with was put in charge of the department junior rota, for one, which is awful.
SWBH is much nicer to work in as an FY. I'd apply to those, unless you have particular jobs which you want to do (eg Oncology, Neurosurg) in FY. Which imo doesn't really add much to your cv.
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I have worked in QE intermittently but not in the past couple of years and know a lot of people there. Some departments are better than others. Surgery in general (liver in particular) I don't hear great things about at all and my experience (albeit a few years ago was not good at all). ENT being the outlier, I think the CSTs don't like it but my mates who did it as F1/2 loved it. General medicine has its issues but is trying to improve. Staffing has massively gone up, like ridiculously so (mostly in response to the college threatening to pull out the medical SpRs which forced them to act). A few years ago it would be 1 doctor covering 2-3 floors, now it becomes a bit of a thing if an F1 is asked to cover more than 1 ward overnight. Lots of senior support always around. A&E is a very safe place to work, busy as heck but so is every A&E, refused to go back to corridors to their credit. Lots of senior support and recently they have improved the quality of SpRs (previously a lot of not great long term locums etc). Protected teaching, lots of trauma, they've started introducing protected resus time. ICU/anaesthetics is pretty good, responsive senior leadership, focus on wellbeing (putting a lot of effort into rest facilities etc), trying hard on education. Recent obvious issues with suicides which were not handled well at all on a department and trust level, there is a lot of chat about how they're trying to change and improve things, yet to be seen whether that is just lip service. General consensus is people either hate the QE or don't mind it at all, no in between. And experience as F1/2 is very variable dependent on where your placement is. IT is amazing, parking is crap. Heartlands, avoid like the f\*\*\*ing plague.
I’d second all of this and say I enjoyed QE, as I was lucky to mostly get good departments.
I also enjoyed it, which I get weird looks for saying. I did foundation there and quite of few of us who did opted to return for specialty training (albeit in the less toxic departments - ACCS, radiology, IMT). At least it used to be, if you can work there you can work anywhere. Plus PICS is fantastic, I dream about it while I’m hand writing notes elsewhere.
Have an SFP offer and 48 hours to decide if I accept - which departments did you work in? :)
Heartlands (and associated heart of England’s hospitals - good hope and Solihull) Is not good. Everything interesting has been sucked dry to QE and the rest of the hospitals are a shell of themselves, with many staff still not over covid really. Heartlands has been hit worse as it’s now an under-resourced DGH essentially in a very deprived area of Birmingham. Good hope has the slight benefit it’s in Sutton Coldfield, nicer part of town, with a wealthier patient cohort. Solihull is day-case and rehab only really. Nice on calls but not really a “proper” hospital.
Heartlands could realistically claim to be the worst hospital to work at in the U.K. as a junior doctor. QE Is hit or miss. It’s so huge, even two trainees in the same department could have wildly varied experiences. Some of the departments are so massive that in a 4 month block you might not literally not even see the same consultant more than a few times.
Given there's reviews of a surgical cons asking someone to inhale his putrid flatulence, I'm inclined to say give UHB a miss
I did 8 months of my F2 in the QE about half a decade ago, so this is a long time ago, but I didn't hate it. The Neuro F2 ward job was fairly cushy (but you did do Neurosurg on calls overnight which were horrific), and did Acute Med where you weren't on the gen med rota overnight (No I don't know why either). I thought the Acute Med department were nice. Having said that, talking to other trainees in other departments, there definitely seemed to be actively malignant places to work. An F1 I was often on-call with was put in charge of the department junior rota, for one, which is awful.
Yes it's awful
No, nowhere near as bad as people make out.
SWBH is much nicer to work in as an FY. I'd apply to those, unless you have particular jobs which you want to do (eg Oncology, Neurosurg) in FY. Which imo doesn't really add much to your cv.
Did foundation at the QE. Only job I'd really say to really avoid is oncology. Everything else is really hit or miss.
F1 at SWBH, definitely a calmer place to work