Friends train as doctors together in Lancaster
07/18/2012 00:00:00
Anneka Clarke and Lauren Elliott met as students at Lancaster Medical School where they lived on campus before moving to a shared apartment in the city centre.
They have enjoyed their five year course so much that they have both opted to stay in the city and train together as junior doctors at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary, part of the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust. They plan to eventually specialise in General Practice and Anaesthetics.
Lauren said: “It’s good that we don’t have to move for our training but can stay here, because I really like the city and I’ve got to know people not only on the course but at the hospital, who I am looking forward to working with. The course at Lancaster University has given us a great grounding for starting our careers. ”
Anneka said: “I love Lancaster as a place, everyone’s friendly and there’s a nice sense of community so it’s like home.”
Both graduates are from Southport, though they attended different schools and did not know each other. Lauren attended Greenbank High School in Southport followed by King George the Fifth College while Anneka attended Merchant Taylors School in Crosby before completing a degree in Life Sciences applicable to Medicine at the University of Liverpool.
Anneka has also spent six years working as an auxiliary nurse at Southport and Formby District General Hospital during university.
“It was very physically demanding because I was on my feet all day but I really enjoyed it. It’s definitely helped my training as a doctor because I can see how important it is to work as a team.”
Both women have links to medicine, with Anneka’s mother a staff nurse and Lauren’s a practice manager in a GP’s surgery, and they both wanted to be doctors from childhood.
Lauren said: “It will be different being a junior doctor because of the responsibility but I’m looking forward to it and I can’t wait to get started.”