Phase II

Phase II is the final 2.5 years of the MBChB program at the university.

3rd year is referred to as Junior rotation where you rotate between 6 blocks:

MSK
Peri-operative
Clinical Methods (Primary care) - 3 days at the GP and 2 days local teaching
Gastrointestinal (alongside renal and endocrine)
Cardiorespiratory.
Mental Health (based at St.Andrews for MKUH and BHT and The Railings Community Mental Health Centre for SWFT)

4th year is referred to as Senior rotation where you will complete 6 further blocks:

Child Health
Special Sense
Elderly and Chronic Care
Acute Care
Reproductive Health
Cancer Care

You will usually have SSCs after the 3rd/9th block.

5th year is also referred to Senior rotation where you will complete you assistantships and electives.

Assistantships: working like a FY1 at your LEP

Electives: work elsewhere within or outside UK

Phase II is designed to give you an in-depth insight into what it feels like to work as a doctor in different specialties. You will be learning through lectures, ward rounds, ward-based teaching and simply by speaking to many more patients than in Phase I which will definitely make you more prepared to enter such a challenging career.

placement areas

Milton keynes university hospital

Standing Way, Eaglestone, Milton Keynes MK6 5LD

MKUH is a large yet focused hospital including dedicated clinical divisions for Women and children; Surgery; Medicine and Core Clinical. Being a larger hospital allows you to see more patients and possibly rarer conditions to help expand your clinical knowledge alongside numerous opportunities to see the specific index cases. MKUH benefits from the separate academic centre, which is convenient to study at and is separate from the wards, making it great for group work. There are frequent bus facilities to the town centre. Within the hospital you have a couple of food places to quickly grab something on busier days too!

South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust

Lakin Rd, Warwick CV34 5BW

SWFT is full of friendly staff that are happy to teach you and empower you to become the best doctor you could be. It is a moderate-sized hospital, you will feel well-supported and fit right in. Warwick Hospital is located near a lovely, student-friendly town called Leamington Spa filled with restaurants and cafes.

Stoke Mandeville Hospital

Mandeville Rd, Aylesbury HP21 8AL

Medical students here have the privilege of working in both Stoke Mandeville and Wycombe hospital (part of the Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust/BHT). The educational team and the admin team at BHT work together to provide holistic support to students. There is a small group of students at BHT, which makes it possible for every student to gain individual attention and broad clinical experience. There are different styles of teaching ranging from lectures to simulations, while most of the learning at this stage is expected to be self-directed.

The town centre is a 5 minute drive away and buses operate frequently to the town centre too.

Frequently asked questions

Q: Do you have to go elsewhere for any of the blocks from your LEP?

A: In JR: you have to go to a completely different hospital for the whole 7 week during your Mental Health block (specific details are in the page intro), although some days will be online. During your PCB block: 3 days will be at your allocated GP and 2 days will be at the MK Academic centre or local MK GP for students at MKUH and BHT and at the Education centre for those at SWFT.

In SR: almost everything is based at your LEP other than when visiting care homes etc.

Q: What are the timings like?

A: During the PCB block: since you are placed at a GP, days a longer with scheduled patients. You are expected to see them yourself and debrief them to your supervisor and will likely be similar for the total 7 weeks. Each GP will also have a different timetable varying from 8am-9:30am starts to 5pm-6:30pm finishes.

For the remaining blocks: since this is based at the hospital it more depends on what you are scheduled specifically for each day. Some days you will just have lectures for half a day; some days lectures and ward rounds; some days only ward rounds; some days long surgeries. Again the hours you stay in for are very varied!

Q: What are the essentials to take/how to prepare for exams?

A: Oxford Clinical Handbook of Medicine, Top 100 drugs are your 2 new best friends! For specialty-specific; they are usually recommended by the block leads and it is up to you what you feel is essential. In terms of preparing: know your index cases inside out; make notes from lectures early on so you develop them once seeing patients; create an efficient way to log interesting patients you see; do lots of PassMed questions and of course use GP Soc's resources to further enhance your knowledge(more resources coming soon)!

Q: What are index cases?

A: Each block will have a list of 'index cases' that are clinical presentations which are more prevalent in that block eg. URTI in the Primary care block. You are expected to log encountering at least one pt with that condition in the portfolio. But most importantly, they are an indication of what conditions you should know deeply about for the exams.

Q: Which hospital to choose?

A: There are a lot of factors to consider. Firstly, in terms of learning, all hospitals have their own benefits. BHT and SWFT are smaller than MKUH so you may have more time to spend with patients and supervisors. On the other hand, MKUH may have a wider range of cases to explore due to being larger. Other than that, it is up to you as an individual which location you like, if you are okay travelling (between Stoke and High Wycombe occasionally) and more.

Q: Can you choose your partner?

A: You may put in a request and usually if it's boy-girl or both individuals are not doing the QE, it will most likely be accepted.

Q: Do you still have lectures?

A: Yes you will have lectures- some f2f and some online. Some LEPs will have all of them in the first few weeks while some LEPs will have it more spread through the block.

Q: Anything to prepare?

A: I would recommend enjoying the break you have so that you feel ready to start Phase II with a free mind. Trust the process once you start, it may seem stressful at the start but you will get the hang of it if you give it time and have a fairly efficient process to log your learning. E-portfolio is something that is a huge step up from Phase I so make yourself familiar during induction week with what is required because it's hard to chase doctors last minute to sign you off!