Absolutely terrible experience. Unfriendly registrars and little middle grade presence when I was there. Friendly nursing staff though with some shockingly glaring exceptions. Few opportunities to train/learn. No coordination of the (sometimes 5 in a day) ward rounds and little appreciation of the workload from seniors. Toxic department.

This post has a well established reputation as being one of the most demanding particularly for FY1s in the hospital. This has resulted in successive cohorts being hugely overworked, regularly staying very late as well as missing breaks and teaching opportunities to keep the wards functioning. The department has been aware of these pressures for some time but has not acted until recently. Thankfully some changes to the rota and staffing are now being made and there is evidence of real improvement but it remains to be seen what the final outcome will be. I would encourage future post-holders to be vocal about any shortcomings to ensure progress is maintained and enhanced and not rolled back. The positives are that you will be exposed to a wide breadth of surgical presentations and have ample experience in dealing with unwell and deteriorating patients. Additionally senior support for unwell patients was usually forthcoming when asked for. With the right adjustments to workload pressures this has the potential to be a very beneficial placement.