Blogs

SAS Week 2024 - Dr Karl Jackson

I’m Karl and I work across the trust as a specialty doctor in respiratory. I chose to become a specialty doctor when my partner was pregnant, as she was in rotational training and it was important that one of us knew where we would be year on year and with a structured timetable.

I do on-calls on general respiratory wards at the Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital (NSECH) in Cramlington and procedural and clinic lists at base sites. Since I started in the department, specialty doctor recruitment has expanded significantly and there is now week-round specialty doctor cover at NSECH.

I’ve been able to develop my subspecialty interest in pleural disease and thoracic ultrasound and become independent with advanced pleural procedures such as thoracoscopy. I’ve received funding from the SAS budget to allow me to attend international courses and the respiratory department have allowed me flexibility in the rota to obtain experience across the specialty to support my progress towards completing the alternative pathway. I’ve also been supported to obtain an honorary contract at Newcastle Hospitals to gain experience in subspecialty areas we do not cover locally.