For those of you who are new to London, get used to seeing the logos above everywhere. The TFL website (http://www.tfl.gov.uk/) is a great starting point to plan your routes to work and work out where to move into so that your placements are easily accessible. Travelcard fares are also listed on the site. 

One of the four specialisms available is Radiotherapy. This tends to be the specialism that most trainees do (subject to available places) and has in the past been offered by the Royal Free, UCLH, Queen’s Hospital, Barts, Mount Vernon and Imperial.

Unlike some of the other training centres, the structure of the STP for London North trainees differs slightly. 

The first 3 months of your training (mid September to end of December) will be spent full time at King’s where your lectures will cover the basics of medical physics with an exam in December. 

In December you will find out where you will be placed for your rotations. This is determined by the Training coordinator and subject to change. Expect to be going to 4 different hospitals with no say on where you will be placed. The following 12 months (January to Dec) will be spent doing your 4 rotational placements which are roughly 3 months each. At the end of Nov/beginning of Dec your Training Coordinator will ask you to rank your choices of specialism from 1 to 4. THERE IS NO SCOPE FOR CHOOSING WHERE YOU WILL BE PLACED FOR YOUR SPECIALISM. This will be determined by the specialisms on offer. The Training coordinator will do everything in their power to satisfy all trainees but at the end of the day they have to work with what is available as well as the overall industry needs. In case of too many trainees and too little places for a specialism it will go down to an interview with the host departments to determine who gets the places available. It is important to note that in recent memory everyone has been assigned at least their second choice but in most cases first choice placement but this may not always be the case. 

Once you have been assigned your specialism you will complete your training with that department. You will have specialist lectures (1-2 weeks) in Spring of your second year with exams in May and some further modules in your 3rd year with exams in December of your second year. From April in your second year to February in your 3rd year you will be working on your MSc research project. 

In your third year you will have your final OSFA assessment which will be your final assessment of the training scheme. (More on this later).