NHS Forth Valley: 51 new junior doctors arrive on the wards across the district

The latest intake of junior doctors by NHS Forth Valley saw 51 first-year foundation doctors arrive.

They have spent the last week taking part in induction and shadowing opportunities before starting work in local wards as part of their ongoing development and medical training.

The first-year foundation doctors, who come from across the UK, including London and Belfast, will work on rotations through several specialties including medicine, surgery and anaesthesia.

Pictured are four of them during a shadowing and training day - Jenna Paterson, Julia Hegarty, Daniel Johnstone and Samii Ross, all of whom say they are very excited to be working in the health board area as they have heard good things about Forth Valley Royal Hospital or have worked here before as medical students and were looking forward to returning.

After completing medical school, junior doctors have to complete a two-year foundation programme in both hospital and primary care, where they gain a wide range of experience before deciding on which areas they want to focus on in the future.

Dr Kate Patrick, director of medical education, said: “I’m delighted to welcome our newly qualified doctors to NHS Forth Valley this week to continue their training and gain valuable experience working alongside a wide range of colleagues and teams across local wards and departments.”

Mr Andrew Murray, medical director at NHS Forth Valley, said: “These junior doctors are a key part of our future medical workforce and will make an important contribution to local wards, departments and services over the next year.

“I know they will receive a very warm welcome from local teams and patients as they embark on the next chapter of their careers.”

At the end of last year the Scottish Government committed £32 million to create a further 139 trainee doctor posts to support services under greatest pressure during the ongoing recovery from Covid-19.

Trainee doctors currently make up 44 per cent of doctors employed by NHS Boards.

A working group set up to look at working conditions for junior doctors concluded in October 2021 that the current structure and demands placed upon the NHS Scotland do not allow a move to a 48 hour working week for junior doctors, at the present time.