Non-urgent advice: Kaveeta Malhi, FY2, Aberystwyth (West Wales)
As part of my UKFPO Fellow role for 2025-2026, I have developed The Left Field Shift project. This initiative aims to support foundation doctors relocating to remote and rural areas where they may not have pre-established networks, while celebrating the unique benefits this can offer.
We have produced a growing library of “thrival” guides, containing useful information and insights from foundation doctor mentors across the UK. A thrival guide is a location‑specific resource created by foundation doctors to help their peers navigate both hospital life and living in the surrounding area, supported by insights from near‑peer mentors.
Motivation
Moving to Aberystwyth for Foundation Training was quite an unexpected plot twist to say the least. I was hoping to stay in Oxford, but the first year of Preference Informed Allocation found me packing my belongings into a hatchback and driving alone to a Welsh Town I couldn’t pronounce. I knew nothing about what I was heading into and had nobody to ask. In all honesty, I was dreading it. I seriously thought about dropping out and trying again next year.
18 months later and I can’t imagine training anywhere else. There are so many benefits to working somewhere like this that I never considered. I now own an ice axe, a surfboard and some industrial strength waterproofs. I swim in the sea in January. I have an elementary understanding of Welsh. I feel safe enough to run in the dark. I have assisted in over 100 surgical cases throughout FY1. I live in a flat with a balcony over the seafront for less than a third of average London rent. Perhaps most importantly, I have made some friends for life. Living and working together in small rural places leads to the development of really special bonds. This is difficult to replicate in larger urban centres with a much higher volume and turnover of foundation doctors.
Some general benefits of living and working rurally include:
- Everybody remembers you
- Already knowing seniors and colleagues in other departments, which makes referrals and asking for support easier
- Greater clinical exposure and responsibility – it is often easier to gain experience with practical procedures and surgical cases in smaller places with fewer foundation doctors
- Financial benefits – may offer free accommodation/cheaper cost of living
- Closer social communities and friendships with different colleagues, compared to larger big city hospitals
- Work life balance – proximity to coastline, mountains, outdoor spaces
- Exposure to new culture and language
- Unique professional opportunities such as rural trauma and pre-hospital medicine
Relevance
Rural healthcare inequality is a well-documented issue. Some of the main factors underpinning this are issues with staff recruitment, retention and burnout. Most medical schools are in and around cities by necessity, so many of us lack true rural medicine experience by the time we graduate. People usually prioritise places close to where they trained, and due to the nature of allocation, some of us will end up somewhere we hadn’t expected. Doctors working in rural areas are statistically less likely to be there as their first choice, lacking support networks on arrival and contributing to isolation and burnout. Near-peers are an invaluable resource in preventing this.
Much as I am grateful for my experiences of Foundation Training, it has been challenging in many ways. I wish I’d had access to a resource like this and someone I could speak to before arriving. It would have made my decision to give it a go easier, and relieved some of my avoidable anxieties. The hope is that this foundation doctor driven project can support others in a similar position.
Getting involved
Is this project resonating with you? Could you produce a thrival guide for your area?
Please visit our getting involved webpage and get in touch if you’d like to hear more about getting involved!
Your work would be published on the UKFPO website and you would receive a certificate of participation from the UKFPO.