Which Foundation Training specialties work you the hardest?

In this article, we’ll break down the data from Messly’s Training Navigator to answer the question: Which Foundation Training specialties work you the hardest?

Below you'll find a chart breaking down each specialty with a score out of 100. This represents an averaged Workload Score based on the GMC's National Training Survey. A higher score equates to Foundation Trainees who are more satisfied with their workload in a given specialty rotation. See the Methodology below for more details.

What is the Training Navigator?

Rank your Foundation Programme rotations with confidence with Messly’s Training Navigator. See how rotations are rated by last year’s foundation trainees to make smarter decisions about where you’ll spend your Foundation Training.

You can use it to answer questions like:

👉 Which are the best-rated and worst-rated rotations in my Foundation School?
👉 How do the rotations compare for Workload, Learning and Satisfaction?
👉 Which is the best hospital for my favourite specialties?
👉 Within a hospital, which rotations are best-rated?

Insights

We’ve broken down the average Workload Scores for each specialty, from our Training Navigator, so that you can see which rotations have the best and worst ratings to help you with your Foundation Programme rotation preferences.

😃 Which specialties have the most manageable workload?

As you might expect, the specialties with the most manageable workloads are: General Psychiatry, General Practice and Anaesthetics with scores of 82, 79 and 77 respectively.

On average these specialties feature fewer on-calls, nights, weekends and care tends to be Middle-Grade and Consultant led. This means Foundation Trainees will find themselves more likely to leave on time, as well as having more opportunities to learn and attend procedures too.

The national average Workload Score across the was 54 in 2021, making all of these more than 25% higher than the average.

😡 Which specialties work you the hardest?

The 3 specialties with the least manageable workload in 2021 were: Vascular Surgery, Gastroenterology, and General Medicine with scores of 38, 43 and 45 respectively.

These specialties tend to feature very unwell and often complex patients, so it’s understandable that there would be a lot more work involved in these specialties.

It’s also worth noting that Vascular Surgery was also scored as one of the least happy specialties for Foundation Doctors to do a rotation in, suggesting that higher workload results equate to less Satisfied Foundation Trainees. If you’d like to read more about which specialties make the happiest Foundation Trainees, then click here.

Data and Methodology

The above data is based on an analysis of Workload Scores from the Training Navigator.

Workload Scores are calculated based on the feedback provided by trainees when asked about their workload and teamwork in the survey.

Only specialties that featured more than 12 rotations in the Training Navigator in 2021 were included in this analysis. Additionally, for a rotation to count and be included in our Training Navigator, they must have a minimum of 3 trainees who completed the GMC’s 2021 NTS.

The Training Navigator also provides a Learning Score (based on experience, clinical supervision, curriculum coverage and others) and a Satisfaction Score (based on overall satisfaction and support) for each rotation, plus and Overall Score that combines all of the above. Check out our Training Navigator to see review these in detail.

To learn more about our Training Navigator’s methodology, check out this link.