Is a career as an army doctor a good option for people who hope to work in fields other than general practise?

Hello,

I am obviously slightly biased on this one as I have gone down the general practice route, however I do have lots of colleagues who are enjoying a career as an army doctor in other specialties.

It will depend what you want from your career. Generally speaking the Army likes a generalist. So both physicians and surgeons are often required to be general physicians/surgeons, rather than specialise in something a bit more niche. And there are specialties that the Army simply does not employ, such as paediatrics. So if you wanted to be a paediatric ENT surgeon then the Army probably won't be for you.

I would think about what it is you want from your career, the Army is a great option, but it won't be for everyone. Most army doctors will join as a bursar at medical school, or as a direct entrant after FY2 and work for the Army for 3 years as a general duties medical officer. Firstly, this is a really fun few years. But it also gives you a chance to learn more about the Army, and get to know doctors who work in the specialty you are interested in. It will help you decide if you want to apply for specialty training as a military trainee, or return to the NHS. It does mean taking a few years out between FY2 and starting specialty training, but that is fairly normal now as lots of doctors decide to go abroad for a while or work as a trust grade while improving their CV and deciding what they want to do.

So in summary, yes, the Army can still be an excellent career choice for doctors who don't choose to do general practice.

Thank you for your reply. Looking to the future a few years, I would like to specialise in emergency medicine or something trauma related. I believe this is a speciality the army allow however, do people of this speciality usually deploy or do they work in the UK primarily ?

Hello,

Yes, we usually have a couple of emergency medicine trainee spots a year. If you are interested in emergency medicine then it is also worth considering general practice as military GPs will also do pre-hospital emergency care.

EM consultants primarily work in a UK hospital. Previously Army EM consultants were deployed regularly, but as the tempo of army activity has reduced in high risk areas, there is less need for EM consultants to deploy. However, the Army, RAF and Navy medical services are moving towards working together more, which means Army EM consultants may find they deploy more as they start to share the deployments with Navy EM consultants (who do continue to deploy regularly on ships).