Junior Doctors: Life on the Wards

It's a gruelling life being a junior doctor in NHS Scotland after the Covid pandemic. With a shortage of doctors, and waiting lists for life-saving operations at an all-time high, we focus on six First Year Junior Doctors (FY1s) embarking on their medical careers at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

Having one of the largest, most highly respected teaching health campuses in Europe, it stands to reason that over a thousand international students, and as many homegrown young medical minds, do their training and embark on their careers in Aberdeen every year.

In at the deep end, first time junior doctors start work on the hospital front line. Tobias is left to man the ward as the surgical team work to save 11-year-old Tyler's arm.

Bilal gets hands on experience of intricate pre-op examinations on patients ahead of major brain surgery and attends theatre to observe life-changing surgeries. Sarah has worked across a number of departments, and is likely to become a GP. She strikes a life work balance by running with a group of friends into the icy North Sea once a week. Callum's dedication to his burgeoning medical career is matched by his passion for musical theatre. When he's not assisting with life-saving operations in the hospital's theatres, he is treading the boards, entertaining Aberdeen's theatre goers.