Portiuncula University Hospital

West/Northwest · Ballinasloe, County Galway

public hospitalModel 3

On-call: what to expect

Rota: Other
Nights per rotation: 0
Busy-ness: 8/10

The rota

The on-call rota is organised by the interns themselves, with a designated intern lead coordinating scheduling.

There are no night shifts.

The structure is agreed at the start of the year: opting for full weekends, roughly every 6 weeks, reduces the number of weekends worked overall, though it can mean up to 12 consecutive days if leave is not arranged before or after.

Workload & stress

The first on call carries the arrest bleep and the medical call and is generally busier, while the second covers a mix of surgical and medical work.

The workload can be very high intensity, with large volumes of bleeps, many of them inappropriate, and frequent simultaneous requests from several wards.

Support on call

There are typically two interns on call per day covering all ward patients regardless of specialty.

Senior support is sometimes limited and handover quality is variable, with poor or absent handovers not uncommon.

Worked here? Add your experience or suggest an update

13

Interns at any time

38

Posts including this site

Interns in Ballinasloe do not currently undertake night shifts, although this may change in future. If introduced, nights would be more appropriate in the second half of the year after gaining experience in Galway. The post has a smaller intern cohort, and patients are rarely acutely unwell, resulting in a generally lighter and more manageable workload compared to larger centres such as Galway. There is no distinction between medical and surgical responsibilities, with interns expected to manage both.

Pros

Commutable from Galway (~45 min drive)

Good group around you, close-knit

Cons

Can get a difficult team

Commute is quite long and petrol expensive

LeaveDays off call are built into the intern-led rota process. Preferences are submitted in advance, and single days or blocks can be requested. Annual leave is organised with teams across both sites, so single days off can still be arranged and swaps can be used for the on-call part. Because weekend call can create a 12-day stretch, annual leave can be used before or after to break that up.

TransportCommute from Galway is about 45 minutes by car. It is commutable, but the drive is fairly long and petrol costs can add up.

On-Call

Overall

8.2

Overall

Nightlife & Social

2.3

Transport Links

3.7

Accommodation

7.5

Affordability

5 reviews

Living in Ballinasloe as an NCHD→

Respiratory

3.5/5

Would do again

Mixed views

55–75h per week (reported hours)

Overall

Staffing Levels

5.5

Teaching

Workload

Enjoyment

Supervision

Career Value

7.5

Advice

Start early + be organised for day

Day to Day

Exceptionally busy job. Starting around 7am most days updating list/bloods etc. Typically high patient load on team. Generally note writing/admin tasks etc as well as being first called for jobs/ deteriorating patients. Interns typically do not do clinic on this team.

Adapted from 2 intern responses; read individual reviews below

Intern 1

Advice: This job is busy and the department is dysfunctional. You need your SHOs to be helpful. Might be worth talking to them if they are not.

Day to day: Ward rounds, reviewing patients, doing most of the ward jobs and discharge summaries.

Intern 2

Advice: Start early + be organised for day

Day to day: Exceptionally busy job. Starting around 7am most days updating list/bloods etc. Typically high patient load on team. Generally note writing/admin tasks etc as well as being first called for jobs/ deteriorating patients. Interns typically do not do clinic on this team

General Surgery

4.5/5

Would do again

Would choose again

50–80h per week (reported hours)

Overall

8.5

Staffing Levels

4.5

Teaching

6.5

Workload

Enjoyment

8.5

Supervision

Career Value

6.5

Advice

This was my first job. Baptism of fire really. Limited senior support sometimes. Can be very busy. Just be organised, prioritise time sensitive tasks first. You’re the only intern so you will be doing a lot of the paperwork etc. Get over that early on and you’ll enjoy it.

Day to Day

Ward rounds, ward jobs, time to go to theatre, opportunity to scrub in, admit for scopes weekly, documentation. Limited senior support.

Adapted from 2 intern responses; read individual reviews below

Intern 1

Advice: This was my first job. Baptism of fire really. Limited senior support sometimes. Can be very busy. Just be organised, prioritise time sensitive tasks first

Day to day: Rounds. Documentation. Management of patients on ward. Limited senior support.

Intern 2

Advice: You’re the only intern so you will be doing a lot of the paperwork etc. get over that early on and you’ll enjoy it

Day to day: Ward rounds, ward jobs, time to go to theatre, opportunity to scrub in, admit for scopes weekly

General Internal Medicine

4.5/5

Would do again

Would choose again

35–50h per week (reported hours)

Overall

Staffing Levels

7.5

Teaching

Workload

8.5

Enjoyment

7.5

Supervision

7.5

Career Value

5.5

Day to Day

Work is centred on ward rounds and routine ward jobs, including scopes lists where relevant. There are opportunities to attend consults if interested and ward work is covered, and some interns attend clinic depending on the team and rotation. Overall workload is light, with significantly more free time than most other intern posts, making it well suited to audit work or exam preparation; without this, the role can feel very quiet. On-call occurs approximately every 8 days. Post-take days are busy, but these are typically the only consistently demanding periods, with the remainder of the workload generally manageable.

Adapted from 2 intern responses; read individual reviews below

Intern 1

Day to day: Ward round, scopes list, jobs. Every other intern in Ballinasloe will be doing more work than you. You need to find an audit or exam study to crack away at or you’ll be bored to death. Excellent rotation in terms of free time though. On call every 8 days and the post take days are busy, but they are the only busy days.

Intern 2

Advice: No specific prep needed.

Day to day: Mainly ward rounds and the associated jobs Can usually join for consults if you are interested in the speciality and have the ward jobs covered. Some interns do clinic but varies from team to team and rotation to rotation.

Sites you may rotate to

Posts based here share rotations with these hospitals; check the commute before you rank.

UHG38 shared posts · 48 min · 61.4 km Roscommon15 shared posts · 45 min · 55.5 km Galway Clinic3 shared posts · 40 min · 54.7 km Claddagh Medical Centre2 shared posts · 49 min · 61 km Arlington House Medical Centre1 shared post · 38 min · 52.6 km Bon Secours Galway1 shared post · 44 min · 57.8 km

Intern posts at this hospital

38 2026/27 posts include at least one rotation at Portiuncula, most often lower gi/general surgery, general internal medicine, endocrinology/general internal medicine. Blocks at this hospital are highlighted; the rest show you where else the post takes you.

Rotation blocks for posts including Portiuncula, 2026/27
Post	Block 1	Block 2	Block 3	Block 4
WNW/001	Vascular SurgeryUHG	Breast SurgeryUHG	Endo / GIMPortiuncula	General Internal MedicinePortiuncula
WNW/014	Geriatric MedicineUHG	NeurologyUHG	Lower GI SurgeryPortiuncula	General Internal MedicinePortiuncula
WNW/016	General SurgeryGalway Clinic	UrologyUHG	NephrologyPortiuncula	PaediatricsPortiuncula
WNW/062	UrologyUHG	ENTUHG	General Internal MedicinePortiuncula	Medical Assessment UnitPortiuncula
WNW/063	RespiratoryPortiuncula	NephrologyPortiuncula	Vascular SurgeryUHG	ENTUHG
WNW/067	Endo / GIMPortiuncula	General Internal MedicinePortiuncula	OrthopaedicsUHG	Lower GI SurgeryUHG
WNW/100	General Internal MedicinePortiuncula	Medical Assessment UnitPortiuncula	Plastic SurgeryUHG	Breast SurgeryUHG
WNW/103	NephrologyPortiuncula	PaediatricsPortiuncula	Lower GI SurgeryUHG	OrthopaedicsUHG
WNW/108	OrthopaedicsUHG	Gastro / GIMUHG	Lower GI SurgeryPortiuncula	Endo / GIMPortiuncula
WNW/118	General Internal MedicinePortiuncula	Obstetrics & GynaecologyPortiuncula	Vascular SurgeryUHG	Breast SurgeryUHG
WNW/119	Medical OncologyUHG	Lower GI SurgeryUHG	General Internal MedicinePortiuncula	Obstetrics & GynaecologyPortiuncula
WNW/122	Obstetrics & GynaecologyPortiuncula	Endo / GIMPortiuncula	Lower GI SurgeryUHG	General Internal MedicineUHG
WNW/148	Lower GI SurgeryPortiuncula	General Internal MedicinePortiuncula	CardiologyUHG	NeurologyUHG
WNW/015	RheumatologyUHG	Medical OncologyUHG	Emergency MedicineUHG	General SurgeryPortiuncula
WNW/017	ID / GIMUHG	Lower GI SurgeryPortiuncula	RadiologyUHG	Gastro / GIMUHG
WNW/018	Endo / GIMUHG	Lower GI SurgeryPortiuncula	OphthalmologyUHG	CardiologyUHG
WNW/019	Lower GI SurgeryPortiuncula	OrthopaedicsUHG	Geriatric MedicineUHG	General PracticeUHG / Claddagh
WNW/038	RespiratoryUHG	AnaesthesiaUHG	Geriatrics / GIMRoscommon	Lower GI SurgeryPortiuncula
WNW/039	General SurgeryPortiuncula	General Internal MedicineRoscommon	PsychiatryUHG	Geriatric MedicineUHG
WNW/040	Geriatric MedicineUHG	RheumatologyUHG	General SurgeryPortiuncula	OrthopaedicsBon Secours Galway
WNW/041	General Internal MedicineRoscommon	Lower GI SurgeryPortiuncula	Geriatric MedicineUHG	RheumatologyUHG
WNW/043	Lower GI SurgeryPortiuncula	Medical OncologyGalway Clinic	CardiologyUHG	RheumatologyUHG
WNW/044	Medical OncologyUHG	Geriatric MedicineUHG	Lower GI SurgeryPortiuncula	Vascular SurgeryUHG
WNW/050	General PracticeUHG / Claddagh	ENTUHG	RespiratoryUHG	Lower GI SurgeryPortiuncula

Every specialty rotated here (9)

Specialty	Blocks
Lower GI Surgery	13
General Internal Medicine	12
Endo / GIM	4
General Surgery	4
Medical Assessment Unit	4
Nephrology	4
Obstetrics & Gynaecology	4
Respiratory	4
Paediatrics	2

Showing 24 of 38.

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