Hi there Emma,
I have spoken off board to one of the other posters from this forum (above) - but figured that I should probably put the advice online.
Basically the first thing you need to do and need to do now (if you haven't already) is contact Africa Health Placements because the process to get to SA is pretty complicated and long. The first thing and the lengthiest is to get validation of all your certifications etc from a company in America called EICS -ECFMG. this can take up to 6 months to get fully sorted so best start soon! These do the checking of your degree etc for the HPCSA. As long as you have sent this off and got the ball rolling it doesn't matter if the full form is not back - you can still gain full registration without it.
The next step is to get forms filled in for endorsement from the foreign workforce management programme of the department of health . This is a fairly complex form, with lots of certified copies of certificates etc.. this is fairly quick once you have filled it in. then you are offically allowed to look for work in SA.
Thankfully SA and the HPCSA recognise degrees from University of Southampton so I didn't have to sit the entrance exam - a big relief.
Now comes the tricky bit and the bit that I am still struggling with:
Where do you want to work when you come to SA?
If you are happy to work in rural SA, then AHP will find you a placement and a specific job and do all the leg work for you... however If you want to work in urban JHB/Durban/Cape Town rather than rural SA then as an NGO, AHP aren't funded to find work for you as supposedly (despite the shortfall in posts) cities like Durban/Joburg/CT are already seen as places that are oversubscribed already. As such, although AHP will help with all of the process with FWM/HPCSA etc they won't actually find you a job, that's up to you, and that can be hard going.
As a post F2 Doc, you will be looking for medical officer grade one posts. You probably are best off speaking to the superintendants or CEO of the hospitals that you want to work at. This is quite difficult to do from over here as these hospitals don't often have websites so finding out how to speak to is tricky.
Once you magically get a job offer, AHP have a man in the UK will go through the process of getting a work permit - he is very helpful and it seems that the whole work permit process is pretty simple and not an issue.
There are also forms for the HPCSA that need filling in for gaining registration - these need notarised copies of certain documents and getting notarised copies can cost up to £65 per document!!
Are you looking just for a year abroad or as an emigration?
If you have any more questions - feel free to ask.