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A free video series from the IMG Hub

The NHS, Explained

Twelve short films — one idea each, under a minute, always captioned — that explain how the NHS actually works, made for doctors joining it rather than for policymakers. Season one follows the same journey as the IMG Hub: the system, then the job, then growing here.

Every episode ends the same way, because we mean it every time: your NHS career starts here. Transcripts are below each film — most people watch on mute, and reading along helps every viewer whose first language isn’t English. Which, in the NHS, is a lot of excellent doctors.

Episodes 1–4 · The system

Ep 1

Why does everyone start at the GP?

Animated · captioned · about 57 seconds

The gatekeeper model — why NHS care starts at the GP, and why that one idea explains half the system.

Read the transcript
  1. In many countries, a patient books a cardiologist directly.
  2. In the UK, that arrow doesn’t exist.
  3. NHS care is free at the point of use — funded by taxation.
  4. No bills. So instead of a price… there’s a gatekeeper.
  5. That gatekeeper is the GP.
  6. GPs manage most problems themselves —
  7. — and refer the rest: routine, urgent, or emergency.
  8. Understand this one flow, and half the acronyms explain themselves.
  9. Your NHS career starts here.
Ep 2

Who’s who in a GP practice

Animated · captioned · about 55 seconds

Partners, salaried GPs, trainees, the practice manager who fixes everything, and the MDT.

Read the transcript
  1. A GP practice isn’t owned by the NHS.
  2. It’s usually a small business — run by GP partners — holding an NHS contract.
  3. Partners own it. Salaried GPs are employed by it. Trainees are learning in it — that’s you, maybe.
  4. The practice manager runs the business side. Befriend them early. They fix everything.
  5. Practice nurses run clinics for asthma, diabetes, immunisations.
  6. Reception aren’t ‘admin staff’ — they’re the front door of the NHS. Colleagues, always.
  7. Through the primary care network you’ll meet pharmacists, physios, paramedics, social prescribers —
  8. — the multidisciplinary team. MDT. You’ll hear that word a lot.
  9. Your NHS career starts here.
Ep 3

Your first day

Animated · captioned · about 53 seconds

Smartcards, logins, bleeps, and why you should bring biscuits in week one.

Read the transcript
  1. Nobody expects you to know everything on day one. Truly.
  2. Three things to collect: your smartcard, your logins (there will be many), and the wifi password.
  3. The smartcard unlocks the clinical computer systems. Guard it like your passport.
  4. Learn two names first: the practice manager, and the rota coordinator.
  5. If you’re in hospital first: the bleep. Yes, a pager. Yes, really. It’s 2026. We know.
  6. Asking questions early isn’t weakness here — it’s read as safe practice.
  7. And the tea point is where the real induction happens.
  8. Bring biscuits in week one. This is not a joke. It works.
  9. Your NHS career starts here.
Ep 4

How the money flows

Animated · captioned · about 44 seconds

Taxes to national budgets to your practice — and what that QOF nagging on your screen actually is.

Read the transcript
  1. No one hands the NHS a bill. So where does the money come from?
  2. From taxation, to national budgets, to your region, to your practice.
  3. In England, regional boards — ICBs — plan and fund services for their local population. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are organised differently.
  4. Most GP practices are small businesses holding an NHS contract to care for a registered list.
  5. And the computer nagging you for blood pressures? That’s QOF — payments for good chronic care.
  6. Follow the money, and the paperwork starts making sense.
  7. Your NHS career starts here.

Episodes 5–8 · The job

Ep 5

The referral system, decoded

Animated · captioned · about 41 seconds

Routine, urgent suspected cancer, emergency — the three doors, and what a good referral letter does.

Read the transcript
  1. GPs manage most things themselves. For the rest, three doors.
  2. Routine — an outpatient clinic. Fast track, for suspected cancer. Emergency — admitted today.
  3. In England, a fast track referral means the Faster Diagnosis Standard: a diagnosis, or an all-clear, within 28 days.
  4. A good referral letter does four jobs: asks a clear question, tells the story briefly, gives your findings, says what you need.
  5. Letters that ask a clear question get clear answers.
  6. Your NHS career starts here.
Ep 6

Who looks after patients at 3am?

Animated · captioned · about 41 seconds

111, out-of-hours GPs, urgent treatment centres, A&E — who looks after patients at 3am.

Read the transcript
  1. Patients don’t stop being ill at half past six.
  2. The out-of-hours system, door by door:
  3. NHS 111 is the front door: free, 24/7, and it books people into the right place.
  4. Safety-netting means naming the door: say which service, and when.
  5. And in GP training you’ll work out-of-hours shifts yourself — it’s where the system makes sense.
  6. Your NHS career starts here.
Ep 7

One NHS, four nations

Animated · captioned · about 39 seconds

England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland: what changes at the border and what never does.

Read the transcript
  1. The NHS is really four systems wearing one badge.
  2. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each run their own health service.
  3. Some policies genuinely differ — prescription charges exist in England, but not in the other three.
  4. Structures and job titles differ too. The clinical day? Nearly identical.
  5. Your GMC registration covers all four nations — just learn the local wiring when you move.
  6. Your NHS career starts here.
Ep 8

Prescribing culture shock

Animated · captioned · about 40 seconds

Generic prescribing, the BNF, antibiotic stewardship, and why the pharmacist ringing you is good news.

Read the transcript
  1. First surprise: we prescribe generically. Amlodipine, not the brand name.
  2. Second: the BNF is the bible. Free online, free app, always current.
  3. Third: antibiotic stewardship is taken seriously — ‘just in case’ is not a UK indication.
  4. Fourth: the pharmacist will ring you about your prescription. That’s teamwork, not criticism.
  5. The prescription’s journey: in England, EPS — the Electronic Prescription Service — sends it on to the patient’s pharmacy.
  6. Your NHS career starts here.

Episodes 9–12 · Growing here

Ep 9

“Doctor” means something different here

Animated · captioned · about 39 seconds

ICE, shared decisions, safety-netting — the consultation culture the SCA examines.

Read the transcript
  1. Where you trained, perhaps the doctor decided. Here, you decide together.
  2. Three habits UK consulting is built on:
  3. ‘What were you hoping we might do today?’ isn’t weakness. It’s the examined standard.
  4. Even doing nothing — watchful waiting — is a real option, offered honestly.
  5. These are learnable skills — and the SCA exam marks them. Our phrasebook exists for exactly this.
  6. Your NHS career starts here.
Ep 10

The exams roadmap

Animated · captioned · about 48 seconds

MSRA, AKT, SCA — the exams road, honestly, including what differential attainment does and doesn’t mean.

Read the transcript
  1. The road into and through UK general practice:
  2. The MSRA gets you in. The AKT tests knowledge. The SCA tests consulting. Portfolio runs alongside.
  3. Honest bit: IMGs, as a group, pass at lower rates. Researchers call it differential attainment.
  4. The causes are multiple and still debated — not simply a matter of ability.
  5. Some of it is learnable: the exam formats, and how UK consultations work.
  6. Know each exam. Know yourself. Plan the weeks. Practise actively. Calmly.
  7. Your NHS career starts here.
Ep 11

Your deanery, decoded

Animated · captioned · about 39 seconds

TPDs, supervisors, the ARCP without fear, and the IMG support your region already runs.

Read the transcript
  1. The ‘deanery’ is your regional training organisation. Its official name keeps changing. Nobody uses it.
  2. The people who run your training: the TPD — Training Programme Director — runs your local scheme; your educational supervisor holds your year; your clinical supervisor holds your post.
  3. The ARCP is the yearly review of your portfolio. It’s a checkpoint, not an ambush.
  4. Little and often beats heroic deadline uploads.
  5. And ask about your deanery’s IMG programme — many run inductions, buddies and mentors.
  6. Your NHS career starts here.
Ep 12

One year in

Animated · captioned · about 47 seconds

A letter to yourself at the airport — the season finale.

Read the transcript
  1. This isn’t a testimonial. It’s what we’d tell you, honestly, about your first year.
  2. You will feel slow for a while. That’s adjustment, not inadequacy.
  3. Ask early. Here, asking is what safe doctors do — and everyone knows it.
  4. Find your people. The network is not a luxury; it’s how you’ll flourish.
  5. The consultation style will feel strange. Then one day, it will just be yours.
  6. Twelve months from now, you’ll be the one explaining the bleep to someone new.
  7. Board the plane. You’ll be glad you did.
  8. Your NHS career starts here.
Prefer reading? Everything the films cover is also written up in the IMG Hub — the Understanding the NHS guide, the Jargon Decoder and the Consultation Phrasebook. Free, no sign-up.

Made by the IMG Hub at Core Revision · episode 10 pairs with the complete MSRA guide for IMGs.