This website is about being a doctor.

It has been created for honorary medics. By that, I mean students contemplating a medical school application, those with medical friends, or anyone who is just curious about the medical world.

The first Plague Pit articles appeared during the coronavirus pandemic. I am an anaesthetist in a large UK hospital which was one of the first to treat COVID-19 patients. Working life changed completely for me, as it did for many friends and professional colleagues.

We recorded our pandemic experience, week by week, on this website. The ‘In the Trenches’ page contains a series of posts covering the entire lockdown period – from 24th March to 4th July 2020. In my own COVID-19 posts, I tried to combine personal stories of hospital life during the crisis with interesting snippets of basic medical science, clinical practice and contemporary research.

As we move on from the first wave, I’ll be doing the same sort of thing, but on more general medical themes. The opinions I express are my own and unconnected with the institutions where I work.

Many sixth-form students have also published excellent articles on The Plague Pit, covering everything from the chemistry of soap to the use of technology in China during the pandemic. The site is intended as a forum for student writing, so I hope that lots more of you will contact me with articles, comments and corrections. I’m interested in anything you have to say about doctors and medicine. Just subscribe to the site – and you’ll find my contact details on the bottom of the regular email update.

Finally, The Plague Pit’s ‘Military Intelligence’ page currently features a list of COVID-19 related resources recommended by subscribers.

It’s been an interesting time to be a doctor. I hope I can make it interesting for you too.

The Good Soldier