 This meant that doctors are required under the new system to choose a specialty midway through F2, after just one-and-a-half years of practice.Under the old system, doctors had the flexibility to try a variety of different jobs before deciding what to specialise in, and this allowed them to build a broader base for their ultimate specialism.This change ran entirely against existing and subsequent evidence that junior doctors do not know immediately what specialism they wish to pursue, with fewer than a third thinking they knew after F1 and with many forced to decide on a specialism without having had any opportunity to practice it.