Hello, current 2nd year med student here. Next year my hospital base is going to be Salford Royal and therefore it seems to me that it might be sensible to cut down on commuting time by living in Salford rather than Fallowfield. However I don't know if this is something that people really do and I am feeling like I might need to start to think about who I want to live with next year - which is proving difficult with so much of the teaching being done online. I was wondering if any Manchester students in clinical years might be able to shine a light about where people tend to live/ how they get there. Should I just stay with my current housemates next year and do the longer commute? And if so, how do people tend to get to Salford? Are there good options for parking?
Also, where is the majority of the teaching done? Is it at Salford Royal itself with placements elsewhere or is it pretty spread out?
Thank you in advance! Sorry if it seems early I just feel a bit lost with it all.
Hi! I’m a Salford medic, but I don’t live in Manchester so I’m not much help for your first few questions, but I’ll try and answer the rest :) Your third year is split into 4 blocks, 2 months approx for your APEP and then a student selected component at the end. Where you are placed for your blocks depends on your track. You can be put at Salford or any of the district generals associated with it (Bolton, bury, oldham, Wigan etc). So there’s no guarantee that you’ll be at Salford for the majority of the year, for eg I have 2 blocks at Salford and 2 oldham, I know of ppl who will only have 1 block at Salford and have the rest at DGHs. So teaching happens wherever you are for that block. Pre-covid, TCD (clinic year ver of PBL) happened at your base hospital, so everyone would come back to their base on Fridays, but currently everything’s online so TCD happens over zoom, all other in person teaching happens at whichever hospital you’re at! I’m not sure how it’ll work when you go into third year, hopefully it’ll be back to normal, but this is what it’s like right now! I hope this helps! I’m sure someone else will comment and answer your question about moving out to Salford :)
Thank you that is really helpful! With the other placement blocks is there ever any arranged travel if its a bit of a way out? Thanks again, I realise I am early with all of this, just trying to work out my options.
Hi there! So I'm based in Wythenshawe, so I won't be of much help, BUT what I can say is it's good you're thinking about things early plus DO NOT WORRY if you feel lost !!!! Literally I am well into 3rd year and still feel lost at times LOL
Just remember to stay calm, and everything will fall into place and work out <3
i'm not sure about parking, but there's a 20 min stagecoach bus to the hospital from picc gardens- so if u live in fallow its still only 2 buses and a sub hour journey. that said, you'll probs find rent in eccles (where salford hosp is) quite a bit cheaper than central manc/around the unis, plus walking distance. you could have a chat with housemates to see if they'd mind living in salford/deansgate area?