Can Army doctors pursue any medical speciality?

Hello,

The Army will never prevent you from following a particular career pathway, but they will not always be able to cater for every specialty. If you choose to do something that is not available to Army applicants that year, then they will help you with your NHS application and your transition out of the Army and back to the NHS. Every year the number of training spots will vary for all specialties. You will never be made to apply for specialty that you do not want to do.

I admit I did not pay too much attention to the rules of secondary health care (I am a GP trainee now), but from what I remember, the Army does have respiratory physicians, but you must also be a general physician, I don't think you can specialise solely in respiratory medicine.

I have had a quick look at the jobs available last year when I applied and 'Internal Medicine (IM) stage one for unspecified Medical Specialty' is one of the options.

You haven't mentioned what stage of training you are at, but I would highly recommend joining the Army, even if just to do the 3 years as a GDMO. It is essentially a 3 year break from training, but one which helps you build up your CV and get some great life experience at the same time!

Alternatively, if that doesn't sound appealing, you could look at remaining in the NHS but joining the reserves?