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Do you want to become a Doctor? Here is some information to help point you in the right direction:

Job Description - Print Page

Doctors are concerned with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of illnesses, diseases, disorders and injuries.

There are over 60 different types of medical work that doctors can specialise in.

General Practitioners (GPs) - there are about 40,000 GPs in the UK. They diagnose and treat a wide range of health conditions.

Hospital doctors - there are about 80,000 hospital doctors in the UK. Their specialist areas include:

• Medicine - treating general medical conditions and emergencies.
• Surgery - carrying out surgery and looking after patients before, during and after operations.
• Pathology - working in laboratories investigating the cause and effect of disease.
• Psychiatry - working with patients with mental illness or disability, including prescribing and managing drug regimes for them.

Other specialisms include:

• Pharmaceutical medicine - concerned with the discovery, development, evaluation, licensing and monitoring of medicines.
• Occupational medicine - providing health advice to organisations and individuals to ensure the highest standards of health and safety at work.
• Public health medicine - monitoring the health of a population, identifying its health needs, promoting health and evaluating the health service.

The working hours of doctors vary, but tend to be long and can include evenings, nights and weekends. They work indoors in clean surroundings.

Salaries range from between £20,000 and £35,000 a year for a pre-registration house officer, to around £63,000 a year for a senior house officer.

A doctor should:

• have a strong interest in healthcare and science
• be interested in the care and well-being of people.

The number of doctors has steadily increased and there are now over 150,000 practising in the UK. However, there is still a shortage of doctors.

To become a doctor it is necessary to study for a degree in medicine. Courses last five or six years. Entry to courses is usually with at least three A levels, or five H grades and two or three Advanced Highers. Equivalent qualifications are considered.

The time taken to train after completing a degree in medicine varies according to the specialism, eg four years for a GP, seven to nine years for other specialisms.

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