Careers in medicine
If you have a passion for improving people's lives, medicine offers you a career with purpose and many other fantastic benefits.
Doctors
Doctors work in all areas of healthcare providing you with endless career options.
As part of your medical training, you'll have the opportunity to try out many of these fantastic specialities and then choose the one you would like as your speciality. All of them make a difference to people's lives.
Doctors | Health Careers Information for overseas doctors | Health Careers Career opportunities for doctors | Health Careers
Roles as a doctor
Anaesthesia
Anaesthetists are the largest group of hospital-based specialists and give anaesthetics for surgical, medical and psychiatric procedures. They facilitate pain-free childbirth, resuscitate acutely unwell patients, run chronic pain services and lead intensive care units.
Clinical oncology
A clinical oncologist is a doctor who uses chemotherapy, radiotherapy and a range of other treatments to care for patients with cancer.
Clinical oncology | Health Careers
Clinical radiology
Clinical radiologists use images to diagnose, treat and manage medical conditions and diseases. Given the importance of imaging to modern medicine, you’ll play a vital role in the swift and accurate diagnosis of patients with a wide variety of conditions.
Clinical radiology | Health Careers
Community sexual and reproductive health
Doctors working in community sexual and reproductive health care for people’s sexual health by treating sexually transmitted diseases and consulting on contraception, menopause and unplanned pregnancies.
Community sexual and reproductive health | Health Careers
Emergency medicine
Doctors in emergency medicine carry out the immediate assessment and treatment of patients with serious and life-threatening illnesses and injuries. You’ll work mainly in the accident and emergency departments of hospitals.
Emergency medicine | Health Careers
General practice (GP)
General practitioners (GPs) treat all common medical conditions and refer patients to hospitals and other medical services for urgent and specialist treatment. You’ll have an important role looking after patients in your community.
General practitioner | Health Careers
Intensive care medicine
Doctors working in intensive care medicine manage the sickest patients in the hospital: critically ill patients who already have organ dysfunction and organ failure.
Intensive care medicine | Health Careers
Medicine
Medicine provides 29 different specialties and offers doctors a wide range of roles in fields as diverse as clinical genetics, infectious diseases, neurology or sports and exercise medicine.
Opportunities in medicine | Health Careers
Obstetrics and gynaecology
Doctors in obstetrics and gynaecology (O&G) care for pregnant women and unborn children, and look after women’s sexual and reproductive health.
Obstetrics and gynaecology | Health Careers
Occupational medicine
Doctors in occupational medicine work as specialist clinicians and advisers to both the employer and employee on the relationship between work and health.
Occupational medicine | Health Careers
Ophthalmology
Ophthalmologists are doctors who care for patients with eye conditions. They diagnose, treat and prevent disorders of the eyes and visual system, using medical and surgical skills.
Ophthalmology | Health Careers
Paediatrics
As a paediatrician you’ll deal with conditions that affect infants, children and young people. You could be a general paediatrician working in a hospital or be based in the community looking after children with a physical disability or with developmental, social or behavioural issues.
Pathology
Pathology is the study and understanding of how illness and diseases work and their impact on people. There are several different specialties and further sub-specialties within pathology. Each offers a fascinating and varied role and opportunities for research.
Opportunities in pathology | Health Careers
Psychiatry
Mental illness is more common and prevalent than many people think. In fact, it ranks alongside cardiovascular disease and cancer as the UK’s biggest health problems. So if you choose psychiatry, you’ll be entering a demanding and complex field.
Opportunities in psychiatry | Health Careers
Public health
Public health specialists and consultants help people and communities maximise their potential for a healthy, happy and productive life, so they can live healthier for longer.
Public health consultants and specialists | Health Careers
Surgery
Surgery offers ten main specialties including cardiothoracic or plastic surgery and even more options for specialisation within them.
Medical Associate
Being a medical associate professional means being an essential part of the NHS workforce.
Training opportunities are growing across the country so the chance of you kickstarting or progressing your NHS career in the medical associate professions is increasing rapidly.
Medical Associate professions
There are three medical associate professions
- Physician associates - You'll support doctors in the diagnosis and management of patients.
- Surgical care practitioners - You'll provide care in all phases of surgery and trained to do some surgical procedures
- Anaesthesia associate - You’ll be trained to provide anaesthetic services, under supervision, in a variety of environments.