New junior doctor reveals why she chose Wrexham to start her career in medicine

An aspiring Emergency Medicine Medic has revealed why she chose Wrexham to start her career in medicine.

Collette Cook 25, from Bristol studied at Cardiff University and is one of the new crop of junior doctors at Wrexham Maelor Hospital.

In her third year she ended up training in the Wrexham Maelor following an Erasmus medical placement in Nantes, France. It was her experience of life as a student medic at hospital made her want to apply to become a junior doctor in Wrexham.

Collette explained that it was the training at the hospital and its environment that made her want to kick start her career here.

“I liked Wrexham so much that I did what I could to get back there,” she said.

“We are allocated hospital placements at university so I would just swap placements with people who had Wrexham on their list so I could get back there.

“The staff in Wrexham are just so friendly and it makes you want to keep going back. The teaching is really excellent too – we are really lucky here.

“When I was on placements, the training I had was quite varied and that’s something I enjoy, you have a good mix of hands on medicine and then complex clinical cases too.

“The teaching is always quite interactive and we are taught a lot by other junior doctors. They are only one year ahead of us so we can ask them lots of questions.

“Doctor Fiona Rae has been amazing at teaching – she is the honorary senior lecturer. She is an Emergency Department consultant and I want to be as good as her one day.”

Collette is one of 19 Cardiff University students who have become junior doctors at Wrexham Maelor this year. All 19 completed training placements at the hospital and their experience led them to want to return to work as qualified doctors.

In the Wrexham Maelor Hospital, junior doctors get the option to secure a spot in the area of medicine they want to specialise, something which was very important to Collette.

“The third strand option we get at Wrexham really made me want to come here as I want to be an Emergency Department doctor so I think the fact that I could pick a department as an option was really good for me. It’s not something you can do at other hospitals,” she explained.

“I think emergency medicine suits me and I really want to specialise in this area of medicine, I need something that’s fast paced, I’m not very good at sitting still so I think anything that’s GP related I’d struggle with as I can’t sit in a chair for very long.

“With emergency medicine, you just never know what is going to walk through the door, it’s quite exciting and I like that – it suits me.

“Hopefully I will be a good junior doctor. I hope that it goes well, I feel like I know what I’m doing and Wrexham has been great in preparing me for the next stage.”

She also praised the staff at the Wrexham Maelor Hospital for their ‘friendly approach’ and said that she felt ‘protected’ as a junior doctor working in Wales.

Collette said: “The Maelor is the friendliest hospital I have been to. You feel like there is less of a separation between junior doctors and consultants, you feel like you really are part of the team and they make you feel so welcome, I feel lucky to work here.

“I wanted to work in Wales because I didn’t want the junior doctor contract changes and because I loved my placements so much, I knew I’d like it here.

“As a junior doctor I feel more protected in Wales going into the profession. It’s an advantage working in Wales.

“I’ve been to Bangor, Swansea and Cardiff but I have loved coming back to Wrexham.

“Wrexham is a great place to be because you have the town itself, but you are also near other places like Chester and Liverpool so there’s lots to do.”

She added: “To anyone thinking of coming to work in Wrexham as a medic? I’d definitely recommend it.”