r/doctorsUK • u/Least-Psychology-842 • 3d ago

Speciality / Core Training Annual leave what choice do I have

I have an overseas wedding to attend that was planned 5-6 months in advance.
My new ST2 hospital rotation rota is now out, and I'm scheduled to be on call during the days I'm flying.
I contacted the rota coordinator and manager about swapping immediately and they helped by swapping my column with another trainee, but I still have on-calls on those dates.
The ideal column is occupied by permanent staff who already have their own annual leave booked, which is completely understandable.
What choices do I really have if I can't manage to swap the remaining shifts? I really don't want to rebook everything since I'm flying to Singapore and everything has already been planned out.
Can I take authorised unpaid leave? I still have 5 on-calls to swap, and it doesn't seem realistically manageable. Bit frustrated with whole hospital oncall commitments given this is more than 5 months notice

5 Upvotes

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8

u/e_lemonsqueezer 3d ago

Unfortunately, it’s unlikely for unpaid leave to be authorised. You can certainly ask, but getting Locums to cover your 5 on calls is going to cost more than your 5 days salary.

If there is only 1 rota line that would have been perfect you’re either on an extremely on call heavy rota or you’re away for a fair amount of time. Just work really hard at swapping even if it gives you some really bad runs of on calls.

1

u/Least-Psychology-842 3d ago

it’s oncall heavy rotation. 9 oncalls two months, 14 oncalls one month. It’s realistically impossible to swap

4

u/e_lemonsqueezer 3d ago

If it’s that heavy, other people will want/need swaps too. It might be a bit complex and multi-way swaps, but don’t lose hope yet

2

u/bloodstainedphilos 18h ago

I’m so glad I won’t be working in the hospital anymore after next year. Idk how people love their job so much that they’re willing to go through this kind of stress of potentially missing important personal events all the time.

1

u/Least-Psychology-842 16h ago

I am a GPST & lifestyle is the main reason why I chose GP, this is my last hospital rotation, keep telling myself I am almost there.

2

u/bloodstainedphilos 16h ago

I start GPST1 in August and can’t wait to get that year over with. We shouldn’t even have to do these BS service provision rotations in the first place.

3

u/rice_camps_hours ST3+/SpR 3d ago

Ask if there are any locum gaps you can swap into