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  1. Palliative medicine

    Doctors in palliative medicine provide holistic, quality-of-life care to patients with serious, advanced and progressive illnesses that cannot be cured.

    Training usually starts with a five year first degree in medicine. 2 years foundation doctor training, 2 years core training (CT1-2), followed by 4 years specialists training (ST3-6). This period of training will include your royal college exams. Length of training can vary according to your circumstances.
    Doctors may work up to 48 hours a week. The working hours may sometimes extend beyond the normal working day to include early mornings, evenings and weekends. You’ll first earn a salary when you start your foundation training after medical school. The basic salary ranges from £29,384 to £34,012. Once you start your specialty training as a doctor in palliative medicine employed by the NHS, you can expect to earn a salary of at least £40,257, which can increase to between £84,559 and £114,003 as a consultant.
    You'll need excellent communication skills to manage a wide range of relationships with colleagues, and patients and their families. You'll be emotionally resilient, have excellent problem-solving and diagnostic skills and work well in teams and under pressure. You'll also be very organised for the benefit of patients.
    There were 298 consultants in palliative medicine in England in 2016. You could specialise or conduct research or teach medical students or postgraduate students in training.
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