Our history

Once upon a time...... there was a doctor. She enjoyed many aspects of being a doctor - the intellectual challenges, helping patients with their health problems, the sense of doing something really worthwhile. However for a variety of reasons she felt that she had some skills that were not being utilised or maximised.

She looked around - both within and outside the profession - for sources of objective careers advice. That from within the profession was rather uninspired and blinkered at the time.That from outside the profession was incredulous that a doctor might not want to not continue down this hallowed path and they had no idea how to translate medical skills into any other routes.

No one (after several thousand pounds spent on so-called professional careers advice) cottoned on to two very important issues. Firstly she wanted to continue using her medical knowledge in some way and secondly she wanted to build something that would have an impact on the welfare and well-being of her fellow human beings. In other words the values and reasons why she had become a doctor in the first place had not evaporated - merely pupated.

How did Medical Forum start?

The above mentioned doctor was Sonia Hutton-Taylor - an opthalmologist who had just achieved her FRCS. The idea for Medical Forum was born at a kitchen table in Richmond, Surrey, UK and the name Medical Forum resulted from a brainstorm between her and her mother. She placed an advert in the back of the British Medical Journal saying "We meet to talk about career issues in a Notting Hill wine bar on the first Thursday of every month - come and join us". The phone started ringing.

Why were the wine bar meetings not enough?

Doctors rang from all over the UK and beyond - so the concept of an evening London informal meeting was not that helpful to anyone outside the M25 motorway. This was in the days before the internet so the next step was to run some one day workshops entitled "What else can a doctor do?" - the first one of which was held in April 1990. Incidentally this was a big PR gaff (though we didn't know it at the time) as over the years it became increasingly obvious that many doctors despite saying that they wanted a career change - actually did not and what they really wanted was someone to listen to their career dreams (or lack of them) and to help them make changes in how or where they worked. Career change is now a relatively small part of our work but nevertheless at times a very important one.

Why were the workshops not enough?

Folk appeared to enjoy the workshops - but it became clear that many of the doctors were there not because they wanted to change career but because they could not forge or find the right career route for themselves within medicine - or paradoxically that they had so many options they couldn't decide between them. Many just hadn't a clue about what they wanted, what their skills where or what the options might even be. Some of them asked if they could have private discussions.

But there was a problem. They were often so very badly prepared to answer even the most basic questions about themselves and their career - that the one to one meeting did not always achieve enough progress. The idea for the workbook emerged. It started out as a two page questionnaire but now - this 34 page document forms the core around which the rest of the Medical Forum facilities revolve.

Since then....

The services established and experience gained by the Forum just kept on growing. Things took a particular leap in 1997 when the internet started to become an obvious medium in which to provide careers support and information. Things move fast on the net - this current web site is a "mark V" version (each version thus far has been totally upgraded and redesigned) and mark VI is already on the drawing board.

From a beginning where people often said "but surely doctors don't need career guidance" the Forum has achieved an expert status and a reputation for being at the forefront of innovations in medical career guidance. Doctors find their way to us via a variety of routes - the Royal Colleges, the BMA careers office, various deaneries and clinical tutors - although we emphasise that those getting in touch must do so entirely under their own steam (ie we no longer accept "referrals" as the whole point of career guidance is that it has to be sought by the individual - you can't "send" someone to get career guidance).

The concept of doctors needing careers guidance in 1990 was almost heretical ( more than a few people thought the Forum's founder had lost her marbles and even recently we had an anonymous complaint written to the GMC about our "reprehensible activities"!!! - sad! )

Fortunately (for the vast majority that is) opinions have moved on and the situation has turned around dramatically into one where careers guidance is now high on medical school and training programme agendas and even for GP and consultant. Our recently distributed discussion document from 2003 "delegating and elevating career guidance" is worth a read as corroborates why career guidance is now so firmly on the agenda in the NHS and why the need for careers support needs to be integrated into the medical training system from the word go (ie medical school).

With getting on for two decades of experience in providing careers support to doctors - Medical Forum is well placed to advise upon career guidance facilites now being set up within the NHS as well as to spearhead and design training for those involved in providing careers guidance "in- house". We also advise doctors who are based in other countries through our distance learning Career Review Programme - most recently a hand surgeon in Siberia, a GP in Italy and a junior doctor in Malaysia.

Sonia Hutton-Taylor - after many years of not practicing clinically - has recently completed a diploma in occupational health course - given that there is quite an overlap between OH and careers guidance. Thus demonstrating there is hope for most "returners" and that it is really quite hard to "leave medicine" (in its broadest sense) completely and forever!