UK Life, Two years on.

I completed two years of my work/stay in the UK on the 16th of November last year. Nearly two more months have elapsed. It is time to take stock of where I am, what I am doing, and what my future plans will likely be.

Let me begin with the good news. I am moving on to become a full registrar at Blackpool from coming March. The progress my consultants have seen in me and my work have finally convinced them that I am safe to be a full-time registrar and manage the department on my own. Thus, instead of working 40 hours per week, I will be on the full rota. This will mean that my locuming days will probably get reduced drastically. However, it will also mean that I WON'T need to work elsewhere, as my emergency hours work will get me extra income from within my own trust. 

This has been a very satisfying bit of news. I have the most extensive experience as a Paediatrician - even more in the number of years I have worked as a children's doctor than most of the consultants I am working under. However, thanks to my complete inexperience with the working requirements of the NHS, I was unable to inspire, so far, the confidence that I can manage patients on my own - until now. Come March, things will change, I hope.

How has life been? I could have had better life had I seized all the opportunities at my disposal and used them optimally. However, to be fair, I have tried to live a balanced life; this has meant that while I have worked very hard to earn the maximum possible money and experience, I have also enjoyed on those weekends when I haven't worked but roamed around the countryside, or within Blackpool, or even visited more distant landmarks within the country. The farthest I have ever been on my own is the Peak District National Park, the nearest, the Marton Mere Nature Reserve. I have undertaken many different railway-bus-car-on-foot journeys, some of which are definitely worth repeating.

I have taken up new hobbies such as learning to play the keyboard and learning how to colour pictures with a pencil colour set. I have persisted with my old hobbies such as cooking, travelling, birding and bird photography and a bit of writing and a lot of reading. 

The arrival of Sky TV/Telephone and Network changed a lot in my life. I now record a lot of programs, look up things I have missed and catch up with those, rewatch a few programs that I recorded earlier, and so on. I also purchased the mid-range New Amazon Echo, and with it, I am now able to listen to old, golden songs from the super singing sensations of the yesteryears, such as Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshikar, Asha Bhosale, and many others. 

In the UK, I have also made a lot of new friends. More about this in my next post. 

Thanks for reading. 

Dr Taher

Writing after a long time

It is true that I have been very busy the entire last month. Just last week, I had to rush home to India to help my family look after my mum who took suddenly and critically ill and was admitted to the ICU. She came down with sepsis secondary to infection in a bed-sore. With treatment, during the three or four days that I was there, she managed to pull out of the critical stage and has gradually improved over the last 10-12 days that have elapsed since. 

In other news, I am trying to get a visa to visit the U.S. to present a paper (a poster, actually) in Orlando, Florida, in mid-October. This would be at the World Congress of Gastroenterology. Towards this end, I went for an interview at the US Embassy in London. The interview went off well, I think, and I should be granted a visa to go there. 

Now, I am shifting to new rented premises outside the hospital. It's bye-bye to the rooms I resided in for the last over 20 months. It will be a bitter-sweet parting, as these 1 1/2 years have taught me a lot ... and not just about my work, but also about living alone in a developed country, where one can have anything one wants by ordering it online or buying it in a store. I have hoarded so much stuff that when the van-renter came to pick up my things to transport it to my new premises, he simply gawked and said he had never seen as much luggage with a bro! Well, my luggage was phenomenal in volume - stretching to over 300 kg by his estimate. It consisted of several cardboard boxes and literally dozens upon dozens of plastic bags. As I write this, I have shifted all my luggage to the new premises, but a lot is still to be unpacked and put away in its proper place. 

In the afternoon, I visited the Furniture shop of the British Heart Foundation and bought several used pieces of furniture that will be delivered to my new place tomorrow. These include a dining table, two chairs, a glass display case, a computer table, and several other smaller items. Once they are all set-up, I should be ready to live in my new place.

So, where is it? It is a mere 5 minutes' walk away from the hospital in what is known as Victoria Mansions. Hopefully, I will complete my move within the next 36 hours. HERE is a map showing my new place. It is only 300 meters away from my current location (and the hospital) as the crow flies, but translates to about half a km if you follow the roads.

In quite other news, I went to the Blackpool Livewire 2017 event at the Promenade yesterday. The event organisers had offered free passes to the concert as well as to the after-dinner party for the first two days of the event, viz. on Friday and Saturday. I had requested passes for two people only for the Saturday, and the passes were waiting for me in my inbox when I returned from India. They had upgraded my pass to a VIP pass. This pass enabled me to access the VIP area on the promenade. This was an elevated shamiana facing the large stage where singers and performers came, traipsing in a line, to entertain the crowds. 

Is anything else happening? Yes. I did a few registrar locums now. One was at Whiston last month and the second was just a few nights ago at Oldham. Both of them were in Paediatrics and I guess they went reasonably well. 

At my own trust, I am now a person that is increasingly entrusted with tasks done by middle-grade doctors, and I guess my progression is just about at par with my expectations. I should be looking at better prospects once my current tenure expires in February 2018. Whether it will mean a proper middle-grade job in Blackpool, or whether I will have to look elsewhere, I do not know. We will have to wait and see. 

And that brings me to the end of the post. Do let me know your reactions to this post and comment on what you think. Thank you.

Working Registrar shifts this weekend

Yes, that happened this weekend. I had originally a 2-day off, but I had booked a locum shift in Bolton NHS hospital in Neonates. I received a request to work as a registrar within my own trust as they had no one to cover the shifts. I agreed and worked these two days with Dr. Mohammed Ahmed as my consultant. I think it went well. 

The result of my accepting these two shifts will, of course, be good for my wallet, as I will get paid for them. For my work-life balance, though, these two shifts were poorly placed. In fact, I have been doing continuous duties from the 10th of this month. In the week from last Monday to this Sunday, I did nearly 80 hours of work! That is at least 11 hours per day! I feel fatigued. 

However, professionally speaking, the two duties I did will count towards improving my confidence of working as a middle-grade doctor, so I have no regrets. All credit to my head of the department for allowing me this as it is only thanks to him and his other colleagues that I was allowed to work in the capacity of a registrar. 

The best thing about working as a middle grade, though, was the fact that I was working with my own colleagues who were filling in as SHOs while I worked as a middle grade. Their inputs were precious and very useful in making my job look much easier than it probably is. It also helped that the nursing staff was very supportive. There were a few quibbles with my writing down the doses that they thought were "unconventional", but Dr. Ahmed was supportive and helped clear such hurdles.

All in all - a very good pair of days indeed. 

Thank you for reading!

Weekend update

I have been quite irregular of late - in updating this blog. My apologies to the regular readers. If you are stumbling upon this blog for the first time, welcome. I am an Indian-origin Paediatrician who writes about his life in the U.K. here. My name is Taher. It has been over 18 months since I moved to Blackpool. This is a coastal vacation town on the Irish Sea coast and geographically belongs to North-West England, and to Cumbria, and even more specifically, to Lancashire. 

I am working as a junior doctor in the NHS-run Blackpool Victoria Hospital. I am gradually learning a lot of practical skills and am able to navigate the system almost 100% now. 

Last week, a few positive things happened. I inserted a peripheral long line into a newborn baby for the first time - and it was quite easy. I was supervised by the consultant who is in charge of neonatal services at our hospital, and who is also MY educational supervisor. The baby was the second of twins and was born, like his sibling, 9 weeks earlier than term. I had observed this procedure 2-3 times but had never done it myself. Hence, doing it accurately and correctly the first time was extremely satisfying. To understand what this procedure is all about, see THIS YT video. 

On Saturday and Sunday, I went to Whiston Hospital to do locum duties. They had arranged for my accommodation within the Neonatal unit by allocating to me one of the rooms reserved for relatives of babies who are admitted to the unit. Hence, it was a breeze to work. The Paediatric department of the hospital has two wards - one each on the third and the fourth floors. This can mean a bit of running around between two floors. Their A & E is located on the bottom floor, and one keeps getting called there to see new patients who have been referred to them through the G,P, or the community walk-in centre. While Saturday was a relatively quiet day, I had several calls from the A&E on Sunday. I did, however, find the time to go for lunch in the hospital's top floor restaurant on both the days. They had a lamb rogan josh with rice on Saturday. It was very good. On Sunday, I had their lamb hot pot with pastry. This was so-so, but wholesome, to say the least. 

On both the days, I had dinner from my own supplies that I had brought with me from Blackpool. This was mostly a collection of samosas and lamb pattice with chappatis. In addition to the meals, I had a lot of tea and some coffee - machines with free tea and coffee are installed in every clinical area. Overall, it was a good experience. 

That's it for now. See you around. Do follow me if you wish by adding your email ID to the Follower's list. And, if you feel like it - do comment in the space below this post to tell me what you thought about this post. 

And hey, do view that video ... Thanks. 

Locum work at Bassetlaw District General Hospital

For the Christmas holidays, I chose to work this year. I secured a rather good hourly rate and so went to work at the BDGH located in British midlands area of Doncaster. I would do 2 long days - on the 24th and the 25th of December, and a night duty on the 26th night. I reached only around 11 a.m. on the 24th, as Bassetlaw, located in Worksop town, is over three and a half hours by train from my place in Blackpool. I caught the first train from Blackpool to Manchester Victoria at 06.38 a.m. From there to Man Piccadilly, and from Picadilly to Sheffield took nearly one and a half hours. The final leg was a train to Lincoln, which took me to Worksop. There, a short walk later, I was at the bus stand where I caught a 22 no bus to the hospital, a mere mile away. Arriving at the main reception, I was asked to contact the security for my accommodation keys and directions. I found my way to Cochran lodge for accommodation. There are three security gates with number pads to reach the floor where rooms are located. You then open your room with a traditional key.

My first impression of the accommodation was very positive. The room was large, with an attached bathroom. There was a tea-maker, a mini-fridge, and not one, but two almirahs -albeit without any hangars! The study table and chair were utilitarian and the bed was quite comfortable. Additionally, the room had a full-length wall mirror, a wall bookcase, an easy chair and good illumination. Outside, there was access to a large common kitchen, a TV viewing area (lounge) and a pool table as well. Impressive.

I returned to the hospital and went to the Paediatric department to commence my first shift. The ward is quite spacious and attractive. I would learn later that the department itself is in a process of shutting down its admission services from February next year and will continue to function only as an out-patient assessment unit from then onwards. Currently, it is sanctioned to accept no more than 6 patients on the admission roster. It takes patients for assessment only from around 8 a.m. until 7 p.m. Outside these hours, it compulsorily refers all patients to Doncaster Royal Infirmary, its parent organisation. The DRI and the BDGH are part of the Doncaster and Bassetlaw NHS Foundation Trust.

There was minimal work as most work is now shifted to DRI. However, the staff was very friendly and cooperative with me. All in all, I had a good time. In fact, on Christmas day, they even served a free Christmas lunch; the Indian-origin registrar made a unique Tamilian gravy from pre-assembled ingredients and I had that with rice. It was very delicious.

During my night duty, I even had time to doze off in one of the empty rooms at the back. To summarise, therefore, no issues. I had a good time.