F3 Stories by Messly

I have known Mike for a very long time and if you’d told me a decade ago that he’d one day be a Navy Doctor, I’d never have believed it. The carefree and, to put it delicately, untidy Mike that I knew did not seem the type of person to choose the rigid and structured life of a military officer. Yet seeing him now I can completely appreciate how the opportunity has opened up and elevated his life i...

Kelsey knew she wanted to pursue surgical training as a foundation doctor, but also knew that her 4-month surgical post in F2 wasn’t enough to get her onto a training programme. She needed additional application points that could only be gained on an F3 Year. Despite securing a Plastic Surgery fellowship for her F3 Year, she was unfortunately unsuccessful in her first CT1 application. Using the le...

Laura is an F3 doctor currently working in Psychiatry in Jersey. She graduated medical school at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and was thrust into the chaos of working without a break for what were probably the two most difficult years for UK doctors in recent history. Understandably, she needed a break after finishing foundation training, and she decided to take a few months to travel. A...

Omer is an F5 doctor currently working in ED. While following the traditional pathways of medical school and foundation training, he always felt that something was missing, as he wasn’t finding his chosen career as fulfilling as he had hoped. When he started his F3 Year, he began to explore what it was that was missing by trying new experiences, testing ideas, and reaching out for mentorship and g...

Razaz is an F4 International Medical Graduate (IMG) currently working in ICU. She studied medicine in Sudan and Saudi Arabia before deciding to return to the UK, where she’d grown up, to continue her medical career. After 9 months of applying for NHS roles, she managed to snag a Trauma fellowship in Cambridge that seemed to offer everything she wanted. However, she quickly discovered that the job...

In this episode, we speak to Dr Esra Arslanboga who is currently an F3 doctor in Wales. Esra Arslanboga came to medicine as a post-graduate student after studying psychology and neuroscience. Her foundation training years were heavily impacted by the covid-19 pandemic and she wanted a break to travel as an F3. After a bit of travelling, she realised that what she actually was craving was the oppor...

In this episode, we speak to Dr Amanda Pallister who is currently an F3 doctor in London. Amanda has faced a series of disappointments throughout her F3 Year but by being flexible and keeping a positive attitude she has ended up better off each time. From losing out at the last stage of a competitive public health fellowship at an elite university to being made unexpectedly redundant from her job...

Alex and I studied together in London. From the moment I met her, she was irresistibly likable. She was always a source of calm confidence and seemed to effortlessly balance her busy work and social lives. When the pandemic struck, Alex was working in ED as an F2 and when she started F3, she chose to take the unusual position of ED night registrar. This contracted role required Alex to act up as a...

Luiza Guimarães is a UK-trained junior doctor who is now working as an ITU trainee in Australia. She started her medical career with absolute certainty that she was going to become a CAMHS consultant and she devoted herself to the specialty throughout medical school. She even wrangled a foundation training job that had the rare combination of two psychiatric posts. However, halfway through her fou...

Shona Johnston is a post-CCT Paediatrician who has taken a winding and unpredictable route to consultancy. Over the course of her career, she has held a number of non-training roles including overseas work with NGOs,  clinical fellowships, and teaching roles, as well as working for herself and becoming a personal coach for healthcare professionals. Shona is an expert in taking time out of tra...

Welcome to another exciting episode of the F3 Stories Podcast by Messly. The goal of this podcast is to share the stories of doctors who've had really interesting and successful F3 years, to give you the inspiration and confidence to make the most of your own. In this episode, we speak to Dr Amelia Webber, who was a Foundation Trainee in South Yorkshire, then went on to enjoy a successful year of...

From a family of teachers, Katy is passionate about Medical Education and widening access to medicine. She's built her F3 year around that passion, securing roles as a Lecturer in Physician Associate Studies and Clinical Small Group Facilitator at the University of Plymouth. She combines that with locum work in the ED at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust. She's also the Communications Lead f...