Views of UK-trained medical graduates of 1999–2009 about their first postgraduate year of training: national surveys

BACKGROUND: In the UK, doctors’ first year of medical work is also their first year of postgraduate training. It is very important that their experience of work and training is good. DESIGN: Surveys of entire cohorts graduating in particular years. SETTING: UK. METHOD: Questionnaires sent 1 year after qualification to all UK medical graduates of 1999, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2008 and 2009. RESULTS: The study comprised 17 831 respondents. Variation in views across cohorts was modest. Overall, 30% agreed their training had been of a high standard; 38% agreed educational opportunities had been good; 52% agreed they had to do too much routine non-medical work; and 16% agreed they had to perform clinical tasks for which they felt inadequately trained. Job enjoyment, rated from 1 (‘I didn't enjoy it at all’) to 10 (‘I enjoyed it greatly’), improved from 70% of doctors in the 1999 cohort scoring 7–10 to 75% in the 2009 cohort. Satisfaction with available leisure time, rated from 1 (‘not at all satisfied’) to 10 (‘extremely satisfied’), rose from 24% scoring 7–10 in the 1999s to 49% in the 2009s. Male–female differences were small. CONCLUSIONS: There was improvement over the decade in some aspects of work, particularly satisfaction with time off work for leisure, and overall enjoyment of the job. There was little change in doctors’ views about the training experience offered by the F1 year.