How to become a hospital doctor in the UK
To become a hospital doctor (the most senior role is a hospital consultant) you will need to complete:
- A degree in medicine recognised by the General Medical Council. These usually take 5 years. Some (post-graduate degrees) take 4 years, and Oxbridge takes 6 years. Non-UK based degrees are recognised
- A foundation course of general training which takes 2 years after you qualify. This is like an apprenticeship and you are heavily supervised. They are called the FY1 and FY2 years
- A specialist training course, which usually takes 8 years depending on the speciality.
So what’s the total training time?
15 years. 5 at medical school and 10 years afterwards. A long time? Maybe. But it takes that long to become a good specialist hospital doctor.
After this, you can apply for a hospital consultant post which is a permanent position.
Intercalated medical school year
A medical degree normally takes 5 years to complete. Some courses have the option to include an extra year if you want to study a subject further. This is called an intercalated year. It is usually focused on research and writing a thesis plus/minus publications.
