December Bulletin

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Christmas decoration background with the word December in the middle

World Aids Day – 1 December

International Day of People with disabilities – 3 December 

Other national campaigns this month 

Action for happiness calendar – ‘Do Good December’ 

In this edition

Introduction

Welcome to the December bulletin! 

I was in clinic earlier this week (as I am every week!). Every time I went out into the waiting room to call a patient, the radio was playing a different Christmas song – all the classics, and a few new-ish ones too. It’s that time of year again… 

Thinking forward 

For me, it’s also a time of the year where I am asked to be a referee for the excellent foundation doctors I’ve worked with. Thankfully the bad old days, where your referee had an undue influence on the likelihood of you getting a job, are gone, but nonetheless it remains a stressful time in trying to think forward about what you’re going to do after you finish your Foundation Programme. 

There are lots of options open to you – apply for a specialty, take a locally-employed doctor post, work abroad, take a career break. It’s really important that you have a think about what you want to do and not be influenced by others, well-meaning as they may be. A few personal tips: 

  • Think about what you like doing (and what you don’t like doing) 
  • Think about what you’re good at: we are all different, we have different strengths and weaknesses; whilst it’s unlikely you’ll be good at everything, you will be excellent at some things, concentrate on these skills and behaviours and think about what careers they might lead to 
  • Think about the short term: what are your aims and priorities over the next year or two? 
  • Think about the long-term: whatever specialty* you go into, you will be training for a few years, then you will be working as a senior doctor in the specialty for many years, so it’s really important that you have a good idea of what that entails (to use myself as an example, after medical school, I trained to be a physician for 10 years, I have been a consultant for 21 years so far, with a few years to go) 

*I use the term ‘specialty’ for brevity – this includes general practice, hospital and community specialties 

Talk to others 

Reflecting on your own skills and strengths is important, but it might also be a good idea to talk to others and seek advice. Ask senior doctors about what they do, take any opportunity you can to see what they do (a good use of self-development time if you have it), try to find out the career pathway and how to get into it. There are online resources too – there are Royal Colleges for all of the specialties*, so it’s worth looking at their websites to see what it all entails.

Put all the information together and think whether it’s a specialty that you would be good at, and whether it would be a good fit for you as an individual. Good luck with your decision making! 

Take care of yourselves and your colleagues. Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, and whether you are religious or not, I hope that over the festive season you get some time off to rest, relax and see your friends and family. 

Best wishes 

Dr Mike Masding, Co-chair of the UKFPO 

Reflection

Life after Foundation 

Deciding what to do after your Foundation Programme? Have a look at our Careers page for information, including a webinar we held in February 2024 around some of your options. 

Spotlight on educational resources

Sustainability  

Have a look at the resources we have collected on sustainability and quality improvement, including a webinar we ran in January 2024 on Sustainability in Healthcare. 

In addition, the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare held a SusQI showcase event in June 2024 – information about the speakers and recordings of presentations are available for free on their event microsite. 

Giving feedback 

All doctors need to develop their skills in both receiving from and giving feedback to their colleagues. Have a look at UKFPO resources on giving feedback, including a webinar with a section on good quality written feedback specifically. 

Webinars

Recordings 

We held an important and interesting webinar on ‘Sexual safety in the NHS – An introduction for foundation doctors’ on 28 November 2024 (see the webinar advert for further information). The recording will be posted shortly on our webinars webpage and the UKFPO YouTube channel.

Opportunities and Events

National Foundation Doctors Presentation Day (NFDPD) 2025  

Well done to everyone who has been invited to present at this year’s NFDPD! We’re looking forward to welcoming around 300 delegates to the event on 17 January 2025 in Sheffield. Further information is on our NFDPD pages. 

Elearning for healthcare Update 

Review the November 2024 elfh update