BBC 'Junior Doctors' Returns with a London Twist
Ken Wu interviews ICSM Alumnus Akira Fukutomi on his experiences on the new series
The new series of the BBC's program 'Junior Doctors' returned to the screens of BBC 3 on January 24th. Filmed at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, this series brings a distinctive London flavour to the audience and the lives of the new FY1 doctors in the program. The Medical Student caught up with one of the junior doctors, Akira 'Aki' Fukutomi, an Imperial College School of Medicine alumnus and spoke to him about his experiences on what it is like to be on the program.
KW: First of all how did you manage to get involved in the Junior Doctors program?
AF: All of the FY1s who are starting in August were emailed and it basically said that the second series was going to happen at Chelsea [and Westminster hospital] and asked if anyone was interested.
KW: What motivated you to sign up to the program?
AF: Well I knew about the first series and I thought it was quite interesting and that it was an opportunity that was never going to happen again and I thought it would be quite fun!
KW: When you signed up to do the program, what did you want to achieve out of being in it?
AF: First of all it gave me the opportunity to meet different people such as people who are in the media and who I would have never met if I wasn’t working in that particular field. I’ve actually met loads of the BBC production team who were really nice and who will probably be friends for the rest of my life. It is actually quite a big opportunity to reflect on my own work. You are never able give a true objective view of yourself but by having cameras follow me I can actually look back and reflect on what I’ve done right and what I’ve done wrong.
KW: Bearing in mind that some of the audience will be students who are aspiring to be doctors, did you have in your mind that by appearing on the program you could essential inspire those types of people?
AF: Well you see I didn’t think that I would be a good example for the public! However, having started, I’m getting lots of tweets thanking me for really enforcing me on what I want to do in the future which is really nice. I don’t know what I’m doing that they like but it seems to positively reinforce them on wanting to be a doctor.
KW: On the whole, did you enjoy the process?
AF: Yeah generally it was really good. I’ve done so many things that I wouldn’t have done such as going into the BBC studios and meeting famous producers. However, there were a lot of times when it was quite stressful. You had the film crew there when you wake up in the morning, having breakfast, when you go into work and on the wards. Everything you do they would film so sometimes it would be a too much and it ended up with you having to wake up half an hour earlier or going home an hour later because everything took time.
KW: How did the rest of the hospital staff react to being filmed? Did they treat you any differently compared with any other first year junior doctor?
AF: Because we had a camera following us and we in fact had a microphone on all the time, other people were being cautious about being caught out and saying something inappropriate. I think the attitude towards me was very much the same. Now that the filming is over everything is still the same.
KW: So did you feel like you had to censor yourself every time because you were constantly being filmed?
AF: At the beginning I was really careful about what to say and what I did but after a few weeks I didn’t care anymore.
KW: Given the personal nature of medicine, how did the patients react to being filmed?
AF: Generally there is actually a lot of freedom with the patients. The cameras are actually very good at backing off if anything personal comes up and if it disrupted patient care.
KW: Having watched back the program, did you like the way you were being portrayed?
"Some of the doctors were worried that it was going to be like ‘Made in Chelsea’ but in a hospital and that everything would be elegant and posh with people drinking champagne!"
AF: Well so far I think it’s been quite a fair reflection. One particular example on the first episode is the question I got asked about the clinical trial [on statins] which was portrayed as something that everyone should know but I got a lot of sympathy for that.
KW: Did you think that the program was a fair reflection of the medical profession?
AF: Yeah I think it’s been quite a truthful reflection although I don’t think they showed quite how busy it was on AAU. It was super-manic there, especially in the first two weeks. For example, the jobs Lucy [on Rheumatology and General Medicine] had to do were completely different from what I had to do and the workload was completely different as well. I did think they portrayed the night shift really well, especially since it was the first night shift after the new junior doctors had started so Milla had to pick up all the slack that the other juniors had left so essentially she was doing 20 junior doctors’ work at once!
KW: How do you think this series compared to the first series?
AF: Well some of the doctors were worried that it was going to be like ‘Made in Chelsea’ but in a hospital and that everything would be elegant and posh with people drinking champagne! I think it’s a bit more exciting than the last series and it seems like more stuff was happening. I suppose it’s for you to judge because I think it’s more exciting because I’m in it!
KW: What has been the reaction of family and friends to you being on TV and doing your job?
AF:Ha! Yeah they just laugh. It’s definitely massively cringe! Although I did expect that.
KW: How did you find living in a house with seven other doctors? Did you not feel that it was too intense having essentially the same environment at home and work and not having the opportunity to escape?
AK: The house was actually the incentive to be on the program for most of us since you essentially live in a free house for three and a half months. The house was really, really nice: it was a ten bedroomed house with a massive lounge, dining room and garden. It was quite like being back in halls again. Having said that there were people who are never in the house and never hang around with the rest of the house just because of the different characters that you have on the show. It was actually better living with other doctors because you can go home and share what you’ve gone through, especially with all of us sharing the unique experience about being filmed so you can go home and bitch about hospital and being filmed.
KW: Finally do you have to say or any advice to give to any medical students or prospective medical students from your experiences?
AF: Have as much fun as possible whilst you are a student because once you start work you can’t have as much fun anymore. Say good bye to weekends, say goodbye to after five o’clock drinks. Just get all the fun all out of your system now before you start.
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