Advice in where to live please!

Jat1

Winchester is definitely the best option. However, prices tend to be higher here due to the location and class of people, it's a very affluent area.

Winchester is an hour away from London Waterloo on the train, by car its 20 minutes to Southampton/ Basingstoke, 30 minutes to Portsmouth and around 45 minutes to Bournemouth.

You have the added benefit of the airport being located in Eastleigh, around 15 minutes by car. I'm sure Flybe fly direct to Manchester.

Being a Southampton lad, it's like Beverley Hills compared to Manchester (!). Like any city, you have the good and bad parts.

The New Forest is lovely but a bit out the way. Avoid Basingstoke and Portsmouth.

Good luck.

southoftheriver

Firstly, everywhere in Wessex is smaller than Manchester! So no issues there.

Wessex is a great really underrated deanery (Southampton graduate myself). I know a lot of the hospitals and the surrounding ares having done placements in them.

Don't live in Southampton. Don't work at the general. The rota is rubbish and the juniors get treated like crap (anecdotal evidence from friends). Hospital accommodation is based around 40 mins from the hospital, the mess is a dive. Yes i'm a bit biased. It does have the new forest nearby and apparently working at Lymington is lovely but yeah, i'm not convinced.

Dorchester is going to be too far if you want to be able to commute to London (even on an ad hoc basis). Is a bit out of the way but has a cinema where you can bring your own drinks and all films are £2.50 apparently!

Poole is lovely, has a good mess from what friends have said. Sandbanks is epic. Hospital accommodation gives you amazing views over poole harbour and sandbanks. Popular place for foundation jobs.

Bournemouth is a small DGH, I loved it there and would have picked it had I stayed in Wessex. Nice town, lovely beach, cheaper to live in and closer than Poole. Train is around 1hr50 to London. Accommodation for students was nice, doctors was slightly worse but may have been refurbished. Good mess life, supportive consultants.

Portsmouth has a shiny newish PFI hospital. Okish accommodation but a few people live nearby. Less well to do than Poole or even Bournemouth but it would have been my second choice in Wessex. Ok mess from what I remember, some nice parts to the town although lots of it is a bit run down. Close to waterfront and gunwharf quays is nice. Supportive consultants generally, huge MAU if medicine is your thing.

Winchester is a lovely cathedral city. Cobbled streets etc. Quite expensive in comparison to other areas. Good links to London <1hr to Waterloo on train. Awful hospital accommodation unless its been upgraded but people still had a good time there. Not much in the way of nightlife although there will be some due to the Uni.

Amazingstoke/Basinghole depending on your perspective. Popular with those who wanted London but didn't get it due to transport links. New town, a bit generic but nice enough. Don't know much about the hospital but friends who were there had a good time.

IOW. Need to get a boat.

Jersey (was that one of your considerations?) Need a boat/plane.

Hope that helps, I have rambled on quite a lot!

Yodabeaumont

Hi All

Thank you for all your detailed help. It has been useful to hear from some people and doctors living in the area themselves.

I am just a few months off finishing medical school and have chosen Wessex as my deanery. I will probably choose to remain in the same place for both F1 and F2.

It appears that Winchester is my best option based on what people have said. I have also heard that Southampton is a nightmare of a hospital to work in- can't be as bad as Manchester Royal, can it?!

I think I also need to look in more detail at what Poole can offer.

Thank you all again

phoebe1989seb

southoftheriver wrote: »

Don't live in Southampton. Don't work at the general. The rota is rubbish and the juniors get treated like crap

Portsmouth has a shiny newish PFI hospital. Okish accommodation but a few people live nearby. Less well to do than Poole or even Bournemouth but it would have been my second choice in Wessex. Ok mess from what I remember, some nice parts to the town although lots of it is a bit run down. Close to waterfront and gunwharf quays is nice. Supportive consultants generally, huge MAU if medicine is your

Just wanted to add that if you did consider Portsmouth, whilst the city itself is awful, Southsea is lovely. I lived there from birth to age 40 and was very happy there We rarely ventured into Portsmouth city centre though, apart from going to Gunwharf Quays (which is kind of on the fringes between Old Ports and city centre) for cinema etc.

DH's (late) father used to work at Southampton General and as a family they lived in the city for many years, whilst the New Forest is lovely and on your doorstep, I think he would have echoed the sentiments expressed above by southoftheriver

Gwhiz

I live half way between Poole and Bournemouth and lived in the New Forest for a year before that.

At 25 you may find the forest too quite although you get loads of great country pubs.

Where I am, you do get pubs, especially in Poole itself, but most places are bars. The advantage is that the sea is on your doorstep with loads of sports available, you are spoilt for great restaurants and both Poole and Bournemouth have multi screen cinemas. I would not live anywhere else, but I am biased

I have a friend who lives in Christchurch which I also find a great place and closer to the forest..