Speciality Training Programme

Anaesthetist roles

Anaesthetists often occupy key management roles by working as a clinical or medical director. They often lead the clinical management of intensive care units alongside other specialties and work closely with emergency physicians to treat emergency patients.

They provide care for patients in chronic pain clinics, provide anaesthesia in psychiatric units for patients receiving electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), as well as the provision of sedation and anaesthesia for patients undergoing interventional radiology and radiotherapy.

Key responsibilities

In addition to providing anaesthesia to those in need, anaesthetists key responsibilities also include:

· getting a patient ready for surgery and looking after them afterwards

· resuscitation and stabilisation of patients in the emergency department

· pain relief in labour and obstetric anaesthesia

· intensive care medicine

· pain medicine

· transport of acutely ill and injured patients

· pre-hospital emergency care.

You will be helping people of all ages and with different medical conditions and will be constantly making a positive difference to their lives.

A career in anaesthesia can be rewarding, challenging and fulfilling.

If you are interested in becoming an anaesthetist, the Royal College of Anaesthetists can support you into your future career. Find out more information on the royal college website: https://www.rcoa.ac.uk/

Clinical radiologists are a vital part of modern healthcare, using state-of-the-art imaging techniques to understand and interpret the state of the human body.

Clinical radiologists are specialist doctors trained to read and interpret medical images, using a wide range of imaging techniques including X-ray, ultrasound, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET) and molecular imaging. Radiologists also run patient clinics, take biopsy samples and prepare patients for surgery.

Many radiologists will specialise, becoming experts in areas such as musculoskeletal, breast, cardiac, paediatric or gastrointestinal imaging.

Some radiologists will work as ‘generalists’, working on all types of hospital imaging and sometimes performing interventional work too. Find out more information on the royal college website: https://www.rcr.ac.uk/

Choose Emergency Medicine for excitement, variety, challenge and reward

Doctors and practitioners working in Emergency Medicine use their clinical skills and experience to recognise and treat the full spectrum of emergencies in patients of all ages. Being the first clinician to see a patient who is seriously ill or injured, gathering information and thinking on your feet is what working in Emergency Medicine is all about. You will use your core clinical skills to rapidly assess patients, work out what’s going on, and make quick decisions about what to do.

You will make a difference

You will learn through training and experience how to deal with anything that comes your way. In the midst of a stressful or uncertain situation, you will remain calm whilst providing emergency treatment, reassurance and pain relief. You will see patients at their sickest and they will improve in front of you as a result of your care.

It’s all about teamwork

You will be part of a team of doctors, specialist nurses, practitioners and support staff focused on providing emergency care. Senior clinicians will work alongside you, providing training and support as you assess and manage patients together.

Working in the Emergency Department, at the centre of the acute hospital, Emergency Physicians work closely with other specialties to coordinate the initial phase of the patient’s journey. You will also be in regular contact with the emergency services, and you will work with allied health professionals and social care to provide a holistic approach to your patients’ needs.

No two days will be the same

The Emergency Department is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It is where the public know to come if they need medical help. Every day you will interact with many different patients, relatives, carers, and other members of the public. You never know what might come through the door. You will deal with everything from major trauma to social and psychiatric emergencies. One minute you might be reducing a dislocated shoulder, the next assessing a sick child. The breadth of clinical practice in Emergency Medicine means there is plenty of variety and the opportunity to specialise or focus on the aspects that you find most interesting.

Is Emergency Medicine for me?

Perhaps you have already decided that this exciting, varied and dynamic specialty is for you! Or maybe you are interested in finding out more. Whether you are fully committed or still undecided, there is plenty of information here to help make up your mind.

Find out more information on the royal college website: https://rcem.ac.uk/

Acute Internal Medicine

AIM is concerned with the assessment, diagnosis and management of adults presenting to secondary care with acute medical illness.

Cardiology

Involves the care of patients with heart disease and covers a wide range of clinical activities. Management can involve interventional treatment and cardiac imaging and draws on a large evidence base of effective preventative and therapeutic options.

Internal Medical Training

Forms the first stage of specialty training for most doctors training in physicianly specialties and will prepare trainees for participating in the acute medical take at a senior level and managing patients with acute and chronic medical problems in outpatient and inpatient settings.

Dermatology

Is one of the most varied of the physician specialties allowing options for seeing all age groups of patients with inflammatory, inherited, environmental, occupational or malignant skin disorders.

Endocrine and Diabetes Mellitus

Is a broad ranging specialty encompassing basic mechanisms of physiology and pharmacology coupled with the ability to improve quality of life and long-term outcomes through effective disease control, and often cure.

Gastroenterology

The trained gastroenterologist will be able to develop and run endoscopy services for diagnostic, therapeutic and screening endoscopy. All trained gastroenterologists will be competent at upper and lower gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy.

General Internal Medicine

Many patients are cared for under the umbrella of general internal medicine.

Geriatric Medicine

Offers a stimulating intellectual challenge as illness may present in unusual ways in older people, they frequently have multiple pathologies that interact and they particularly prone to adverse drug reactions.

Haematology

This specialty encompasses both clinical and laboratory practice. As a result, this dual role provides a unique opportunity to combine clinical skills with appropriate, often cutting edge, science to make a diagnosis, choose the optimal treatment plan and monitor progress.

Respiratory

Respiratory physicians have considerable technical skill and have expertise in cardiopulmonary physiology and run lung function laboratories in most hospitals for the interpretation of complex lung function testing, a cornerstone of respiratory diagnosis.

Rheumatology

Incorporates the investigation, holistic management and rehabilitation of patients with a wide spectrum of disorders of the muskuloskeletal system encompassing the locomotor apparatus, bone and connective tissues and blood vessels.

Stroke Medicine

The primary purpose of sub-specialty training in stroke medicine is to promote the development of physicians with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to function as an expert consultant resource within specialist stroke services.

Find out more information on the Royal College Website https://www.rcp.ac.uk

Obstetrics & Gynaecology

O&G is a wide-ranging specialty with an extensive training programme, offering numerous opportunities for personal career development in both medical and surgical fields.

Healthcare professionals specialising in O&G will complete a training programme that lasts up to seven years in the UK. The core training (ST1-7) includes three exams (MRCOG), which trainees must pass to earn the Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) and be entered on the Specialist Register.

Working in obstetrics and gynaecology (O&G) gives doctors a chance to play a part in some of the most significant and memorable moments of a woman’s life, be it pregnancy and childbirth, conception or the treatment of long-term gynaecological problems. Doctors who choose this career are dedicated to improving women’s health at all stages of their lives.

By choosing a career in O&G, you will be able to develop a wide range of interests and skills, whether performing cutting-edge surgery or resolving complicated therapeutic problems. The common link is women’s health: before, during and after the reproductive years. However, O&G work also includes women’s partners, family and children too. Doctors in this field must draw on both medical and surgical expertise, as well as strong decision-making abilities and superb communication skills.

Opportunities for personal development, career progression and subspecialisation are available for all doctors in O&G. Where your O&G career takes you will depend on your interests and abilities. If you decide to enter the specialty training programme, in the final three years of training, trainee doctors are required to complete two special interest training modules (SITMs) or one subspecialty programme to be eligible for CCT. While working in O&G you may wish to pursue the opportunities available to you via an academic pathway. As a consultant, specialty or specialist doctor, you could work across a range of clinical areas or you could choose to work purely in one field.

Whatever you decide to do, a career in O&G can be flexible, exciting and motivating; at times demanding and challenging, but always varied and above all, rewarding.

Find out more information on the royal college website: https://www.rcog.org.uk/

Ophthalmology is a small but highly competitive medical and surgical specialty, dealing with diverse ophthalmological problems and a wide range of patients from premature babies to the older population. Working alongside other professional colleagues, you will have the chance to offer sight-saving microsurgical or pharmacological treatments to patients of all ages, along with sub-specialty work in rare diseases.

Doctors training to be consultant ophthalmologists are trained in a variety of special interest areas and go on to make a career in one or more of the following:

· Oculoplastics and Orbit

· Cornea and Ocular Surface Disease

· Cataract Surgery

· Glaucoma

· Uveitis

· Medical Retina

· Vitreoretinal Surgery

· Ocular Motility

· Neuro-ophthalmology

· Paediatric Ophthalmology

· Urgent Eye Care

· Community Ophthalmology

What to expect as an ophthalmologist

Whilst the surgical workload of a general ophthalmologist may include squint and glaucoma surgery, oculoplastic and nasolacrimal surgery, cataract is the most commonly known eye condition that ophthalmologists deal with. Many of the population will need cataract surgery at some point in their lifetime. Because of the diversity of eye disease and patients, ophthalmologists may discuss a patient’s care and co-morbidities involving many other areas of medicine such as diabetes, rheumatology, neurology, ENT and maxillofacial surgery, plastic surgery, paediatrics and genetics. Read the short career guide So you want to be an Ophthalmologist? for more information.

Another important part of the patient care involves partnerships with other professions that ensure a joined up approach across primary and secondary care.

The road to qualification is challenging, but there are plenty of rewards and career routes to pursue, including academic research. Click here for more information about the Ophthalmic Specialist Training (OST) Curriculum.

Find out more information on the royal college website: https://www.rcophth.ac.uk/

Paediatrics is a medical specialty that manages medical conditions affecting babies, children and young people.

Paediatricians are doctors who look at specific health issues, diseases and disorders related to stages of growth and development. This is an area of medicine where the doctor works closely with the patient and their family. Paediatrics is a diverse, stimulating and hugely rewarding specialty. As a paediatrician you could be working in:

• General paediatric units seeing a wide range of conditions affecting children
• Community-based settings managing long-term care of children and young people
• Highly specialised units working in a wide range of sub-specialties such as neonatal medicine

Paediatrics is a broad-based specialty which allows doctors to be generalists and see children and young people with a wide range of illnesses and disease or to become very specialised in certain areas.

Paediatrics is a competence-based training programme which generally takes eight years to complete. It is a run-through programme, meaning that the years of training run continuously, dependent on satisfactory progression.

Find out more information on the royal college website:https://www.rcpch.ac.uk/

Pathology is the study of disease. It is the bridge between science and medicine. It underpins every aspect of patient care, from diagnostic testing and treatment advice to using cutting-edge genetic technologies and preventing disease.

Doctors and scientists working in pathology are experts in illness and disease. They use their expertise to support every aspect of healthcare, from guiding doctors on the right way to treat common diseases, to using cutting-edge genetic technologies to treat patients with life-threatening conditions.

Pathologists play a critical role in research, advancing medicine and devising new treatments to fight viruses, infections and diseases like cancer.

In the last 100 years, we’ve seen significant reductions in illnesses such as polio across the world, as well as major advances in blood transfusion, vaccination and treatment of inherited conditions. This is all thanks to the pioneering work of pathologists.

Pathologists are medically or scientifically qualified and work in hospitals and laboratories with other doctors and healthcare professionals. Every blood test, biopsy sample, cancer screening test or search for infection will involve a pathology team. Many also conduct research, lead on training and education, and act as expert advisors to healthcare organisations and the government.

Broadly speaking, those working in pathology focus on one of 8 areas. The 4 most common are:

· tissues and cells, studied by histopathologists, who play a key role in diagnosing or excluding cancer, and are the only pathologists to carry out post mortems

· blood, studied by haematologists, who diagnose and treat people with blood disorders

· the chemistry of the body, studied by chemical pathologists, who help diagnose and plan the treatment of diseases such as diabetes

· infection, studied by microbiologists and virologists, who work together to diagnose and manage infections in patients and communities.

Other pathologists work in smaller, but no less important, fields, e.g. focusing on immunity, genetics and reproduction, toxins and animal disease. There are actually 17 pathology specialties in total, offering a diverse array of career options. Find out more information on the royal college website: https://www.rcpath.org/

Breast Surgery

Surgical trainees at Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust will be placed as registrars in 6-12 month breast posts as part of their general surgery training.

Core Surgical Training

HEE KSS curriculum provides comprehensive exposure to and grounding in general surgery, trauma and orthopaedics, ENT surgery and urology. We accomodate all these specialities at East Surrey Hospital.

General Surgery

A large specialty containing many sub-specialties including: breast, colorectal, endocrine, upper and lower gastrointestinal (GI), transplant (of kidney, liver, pancreas) and vascular. Laparoscopic surgery may also be practised as a sub-specialty and is used across all general surgery.

Otolaryngology (ENT)

Includes all aspects of the head and neck region, skull base and facial plastic surgery. Specialist areas include: paediatric ENT, head and neck, voice and complex airway, otology (ear) and rhinology (nose). ENT manages surgical and medical disorders and involves many paediatric cases.

Trauma & Orthopaedics (T&O)

Works on bones, joints and their associated soft tissues, including ligaments, nerves and muscles. Trauma work involves fractures and other injuries. Specialist areas include: lower limb joint reconstruction, hip or knee, ankle and foot, upper limb, spine, bone tumours, paediatric orthopaedics, rheumatoid surgery, and sports and exercise surgery.

Urology

Deals with the urogenital system: kidney, bladder and urinary problems, as well as men’s sexual and reproductive health. 

Find out more information on the royal college website: https://www.rcseng.ac.uk/