Captain Hugo Guthrie
Name : Captain Hugo Guthrie
Employer : The Army
University : University of Edinburgh
Subject : MB ChB
Graduated : 2000
I completed a Gap Year Commission in the Army and then joined the Army University Officer Training Corps at university, so pursuing a medical career in the armed forces was a natural progression. I was comfortable with the environment and it presented me with a different way to train as a junior doctor. The whole package was attractive: adventure combined with support for my specialty training and more say in where I could train.
Medical officer training
After completing my PRHO year in the north of England and an A&E SHO job in Plymouth, I joined the Army’s postgraduate medical officer’s course. This provided education in many areas of medicine not taught in depth in UK medical schools; including trauma, tropical diseases and genitourinary medicine. I also underwent a short period of Army officer training, which covers all the things you need to know to keep yourself safe and not be a burden on your unit. I then served two years as a Regimental Medical Officer for 1st Battalion The Black Watch, during which time I accompanied the battalion on operations in Iraq.
Back in the UK
I have been back in the UK since the beginning of 2005 getting on with my basic surgical training at Frimley Park Hospital and my days are just like that of any other SHO. There are quite a few doctors from the forces working here. We don’t always wear our uniforms, so the only thing that might give us away is a crisply pressed shirt! Postgraduate training in the Army is different to the NHS in that you get better funding for training courses and you don’t have to commit to a single region as a registrar. The situations you find yourself in on operational tours make Army doctors more self-reliant than their civilian colleagues. For example, having treated casualties while under fire, I find it much easier to keep my head and manage situations when faced with stressful situations back here in a UK hospital.