Doctor (hospital)

Hospital doctor job description: Typical employers | Qualifications and training | Key skills | Useful links | Find jobs and courses

Specific responsibilities vary greatly depending on the area of specialism. However, generic duties of the job may include:

• undertaking patient consultations and physical examinations
• organising workloads
• performing surgical procedures
• providing general pre- and post-operative care
• monitoring and administering medication and intravenous infusions
• assessing and planning treatment requirements
• liaising daily with medical/non-medical staff including other doctors and healthcare professionals
• writing reports
• making telephone calls
• maintaining records
• promoting health education.

Typical employers of hospital doctors

• National Health Service
• private sector hospitals
• charitable/voluntary organisations
• the armed forces.

Vacancies for hospital doctors are advertised online on the NHS website, in national newspapers and publications such as British Medical Journal.

Qualification and training required

Qualification as a doctor is a lengthy and expensive process consisting of several related stages. These have undergone significant changes in recent years as part of the Modernising Medical Careers programme. The first stage is undergraduate medical education at a medical school attached to a university.

Applications to most medical schools are made through UCAS and should be submitted in the autumn of the year before the course starts. The standard length of this stage is five years but medical students who are already graduates may be able to take an accelerated four-year course.

The next stage is the two-year Foundation Programme, entered via a national application process that is largely online. The final stage is run-through training, when doctors specialise. On average this takes three years for general practice and five to seven years for other specialties. Doctors are awarded a Certificate of Completion Training when they have satisfied the assessment requirements for this stage.

Key skills for hospital doctors

• ability to work long hours, often under pressure
• good practical skills
• ability to solve problems
• effective decision-making skills.