Case Studies

Name: Dr Bronwen Thomas - from Wales to New Zealand

My current job: I have been a salaried GP in Ystrad Mynach in the South Wales Valleys for 18 months. It is a busy practice of over 13,000 patients with a mixed socio-economic background. I work part-time, 7 sessions a week and I am now the respiratory lead in the practice and also do minor surgery sessions.

My story: I went to medical school in my home town of Cardiff, aged 20, as a single parent with a six month old baby; slightly mad I know! I graduated from the University of Wales College of Medicine in 2004 and started my house jobs in South East Wales. Following this I took a career break and travelled round the world for 3 months with my daughter who was then six. Since my return I have completed GP training in Gwent and worked as a locum GP for a year before commencing my current post.

How the BMJ Careers Fair helped me: I went to the BMJ Careers Fair 2011 with my daughter (then 12) in order to make a decision about working overseas for a year. A germ of an idea about moving had been born in the summer of 2011 on a car journey from North to South Wales and somewhere around Brecon the subject of working and living overseas emerged. By October, this had become a serious plan but I needed to know what would be involved to make it happen and I did not really know where to start. The fair was extremely helpful and reassured me that it was a very real proposition. All the exhibitors were very enthusiastic and informative. After some deliberation about what I wanted from the trip I chose to use Head Medical to assist me with finding a post and with all my immigration hurdles. They have been wonderful every step of the way and we leave for New Zealand at the end of June. Needless to say everyone is very envious!

Moving to New Zealand: I have a 12 month salaried GP contract in a practice in Taupo, New Zealand and will be working 4 days a week with a small amount of on call cover outside normal hours. The practice is a similar size to my practice back in the UK but Taupo is less than a tenth of the size of Cardiff in terms of population. Initially I will be covering mostly emergency appointments until I am more established. I hope to develop my minor surgery skills, understand a different healthcare system and experience a different culture. I'm also very much looking forward to the skiing, sailing, kayaking etc! My daughter will enrol in the local high school and she is pretty excited about the move too.

The recruiter’s view, Head Medical: As a UK based recruitment agency specialising in international medical jobs, the BMJ Careers Fair is an incredibly important event in our calendars and one we really look forward to. For us it’s a great opportunity to meet with a large number of doctors and have a chat about our jobs and the locations we recruit to (Australia, New Zealand and the Gulf) and to answer the many questions that people will have when they’re thinking about a move overseas. It was a pleasure to meet Bronwen at the 2011 event and of course we were delighted that she chose to work with us. Our specialist GP team were quickly able to find Bronwen a suitable practice in a great location. We then handled all of the paperwork for registration and immigration from our Edinburgh based office. We’re the UK's only specialist in international medical recruitment, so our experienced and knowledgeable team is in an ideal position to take care of candidates’ job search and relocation. We understand how important it is to achieve a good balance between career and lifestyle and we’ll work with everyone to find the right role in the right location, just as we did with Bronwen. If you’re interested in finding out more about what we do, the areas we recruit to and how we can help you turn your ideas into reality then please take a look at headmedical.com and come and meet us at the BMJ Careers Fair in 2012.