Academy Guide: Yeovil

Getting there

Yeovil is tricky to get to without a car; in fact, it’s quite tricky with a car! The most direct route is the A37 – this is mostly a single carriageway road and a result if you get stuck behind a lorry or tractor you’re stuck there for some time! The record to beat is 2 ½ hours to get there… if you really fancy trying. Takes about an hour and half normally.

Accommodation and Facilities

This is under review – generally 3rd years and 4th years stay in a house about 5 minutes walk from the hospital. It’s quite basic with shared bathrooms/toilets and kitchens. You might want to bring your own bedding and a LAN cable for internet (the network in the house isn’t wireless) apart from that, most things are catered for or can be borrowed from one of the permanent tenants.

Facilities
There is a communal TV room at the house but not a lot else to keep you entertained – you should probably bring a book, a big book.

Parking
Again, this is shared with the permanent tenants, there are generally enough spaces and the parking is relatively safe. Don’t bother trying to park at the hospital site – it’s a tiny place and probably a lot of consultants don’t even have a space!

The best option is to walk from the house to the hospital (effort, I know) as it only takes 5 minutes. Its best to avoid walking alone in the dark too and from the hospital.

Nearest Supermarket
Further up the road from the houses is a large ASDA and in the centre of Yeovil about 5 minutes drive from the hospital is a massive Tesco whose car park has a much larger area that the hospital!

Nearest Pub
The most lively places ar ein the centre; we were warned to be careful out of the town as apparently it can get a bit rough….not sure how far they have ventured out of their town though, as it was the calmest place I’d seen for a while!

The Hospital and Teaching

In third year only AERN is taught in Yeovil so you’re going to need to get on with your firm pretty well. The hospital is small and a lot of complicated and interesting stuff gets sent to the arger Taunton hospital. Teaching was more variable than Taunton and you really have to push for it – it’s a good idea to get an idea of what you need to know from anything on Blackboard and really pester people for teaching.

Yeovil itself

Yeovil is a small country town, a million miles away from Bristol. It’s highly likely that you will want come back to Bristol as often as possible to keep yourself entertained – just remember if you’ve got 9am start to leave really really early to make it on time!