February–March 2025
As an IMG, you’re often thrown into the deep end. No map, no support, just vibes and a full bleep. I’ve lived that reality — starting in a new system, with new expectations, zero induction, and barely a handshake. One week in and I was already doing on-calls, figuring out how to clerk patients and survive. It wasn’t brave. It was traumatic.
So when I applied for a clinical attachment at Ashford & St Peter’s NHS Foundation Trust, I wasn’t just hoping for experience — I was hoping for a softer landing.
And to my surprise, that’s exactly what I got.
Even before stepping into the hospital, the structure and intentionality of the program blew me away. The first email wasn’t just “show up and start” — it was an invitation. An actual scheduled interview, with a human tone, clear instructions, and even a request for a PowerPoint titled: “My journey so far.” Not “present your qualifications” or “tell us why we should pick you.” Just… talk about yourself and your hobbies.
That might seem minor. But to someone like me — someone who left home partly to escape the burnout machine and find a place where doctors are seen as whole people — that little detail was everything.
It told me: you’re not just a body in the rota here. You’re a person. A multidimensional one. And we want to know you before we work with you.
Even though the interview date changed three times (true NHS energy), the tone never shifted. Polite. Apologetic. Respectful. No one was brushing me off or ghosting me. They treated me like a future colleague from day one — not a disposable extra.
It might sound dramatic, but this was a healing moment for me. One of my biggest fears about starting in the NHS was being thrown into chaos again, the way I had been back home. I wasn’t sure I could handle it twice. But ASPH made space for something different — and for the first time in a long time, I felt like I could breathe.
That feeling of being valued before you’ve even started? That’s priceless.