During my stay I applied for a job as I wanted to work in the UK. I got a job as a junior doctor in Aberdeen! It must be my fate to go to Aberdeen. I went back to Adelaide to complete my degree and 26 years ago, I moved to the UK as a migrant doctor with a Malaysian Passport and an Autralian degree.
My friend, who also qualified in Australia, and I moved to the UK together and we supported each other settle into UK life. It wasn’t difficult. People were friendly, accepting and appreciated what we did. We made friends easily and had a great social life. We however did work hard, quite often starting work at 8 am on a Friday morning and not getting back to our junior doctor accomodation till 5pm on a Monday evening, only having had 4 hours of sleep all that time. Quite often working every day for 10 to 14 days without a break.
When I moved to Aberdeen the first person I met is now my husband .We worked well list to data together. We became good friends. If I had taken the Aberdeen offer, I would have known him 6 years earlier and we would have graduated together!
As a junior doctor, I had worked on Medical wards, Surgical wards and Accident and Emergency. Friday nights were the busiest and quite often I would be the only doctor seeing all patients from midnight till the next morning.
I then did 3 years in Obstetrics and Gynaecology and obtained my Postgraduate Degree from The Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. It was a proud moment.
After we got married, I felt being a hospital doctor woudn’t be easy if I wanted a family. There were limited options for part time working 22 years ago in the hospitals. I wanted to have time with my children when I had them. General Practice had more flexible working hours. Things have changed since, and now women have better opportunities to work part time both in primary care and secondary care.