Date created: July 2026, written by Grace Wheeler
Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, Shropshire
Mentor bio
Name: Grace Wheeler
Background: From south Manchester, studied medicine at Oxford
Choices: I wanted Northwest (to head back home after 6 years down south) and ended up being given West-Mids North (my 7th choice)
Interests and hobbies: Eating out, having drinks with friends, walks by the river, swimming
Best thing about training in this location: The hospital is relatively small and incredibly friendly. During my time in Oxford, I trained in 11 different hospitals and this has been the friendliest by far – even the surgeons! You get lots of clinical exposure in a range of environments – ED, resus, SAU, including the opportunity to scrub in theatre even as an F1. Overall, I have found it a relatively relaxed and supportive environment to get to grips with being a doctor, compared to the tertiary big city environments I was used to at university.
Contact details: Feel free to email me on gracewheeler10@gmail.com if you have any questions at all about Shrewsbury and Telford!
The hospitals
Our trust is made up of two main semi-rural hospitals, the Royal Shrewsbury and Princess Royal (in Telford), about 25min drive from each other.
Accommodation
There is little accommodation on site (called Rooftops) so roughly half of F1s choose to live in Shrewsbury and half in Telford. We recommend reaching out to other F1s on group chats and house hunting together.
Positives of working in Shrewsbury and Telford
- Teaching and self-development time is well protected (unless on call)
- As smaller hospitals you get to know colleagues very well, making it friendly
- Trusted to clerk patients in A&E (when on medical take) and cover ward from day 1, although scary initially it means you learn lots!
- Many opportunities to practice skills and observe procedures (endoscopy, ascitic taps and drains, etc.)
- If on surgery, F1s report lots of opportunities to attend theatre if interested
Our recommendations
Having a car is not essential but makes travelling between the two hospitals and into surrounding areas much easier
Download the BNF and always carry several pens as we are still on paper including prescriptions. You get used to it very quickly so don’t worry!
What we love about living in Shrewsbury and Telford
- From our experiences, cheaper than being in a big city
- Lots of amazing foodie spots including Beefy Boys (home to the UK’s best burger) and many pubs (>90!!)
- Lots of independent shops in town, including the Market Hall
- River Severn loops around Shrewsbury
- Lots of sporty activities – running clubs, rowing, paddle boarding
- Surrounded by beautiful Shropshire and Welsh countryside
- The Telford Centre has over 160 different shops
Additional resources
PDF poster of The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust thrival guide [.pdf 460 KB]