Wessex Deanery

Recruitment

The Core Medical Training (CMT) programme in the Wessex Deanery – which is co-terminus with the Oxford Deanery in NHS Education South Central / NESC – recruits in January / February through the national CMT recruitment process.

In 2009, Wessex received 81 first-choice applications for 56 posts, and interviewed 135 potential trainees over two days, using a fair and robust process which received no complaints.

Location

Wessex is a naturally beautiful area in the prosperous south of England, with major population centres in Southampton, Portsmouth and Bournemouth and Poole along the south coast. Training rotations are based in nine Acute Hospital Trusts, including Basingstoke (North Hampshire Hospital), Dorchester (Dorset County Hospital), St Mary’s Hospital (Isle of Wight), Salisbury District Hospital, and Royal Hampshire County Hospital (Winchester), which are smaller District General Hospitals, in addition to the above.

Rotations

The majority of the posts rotate through six four-month posts, but some are through four six-month posts, or one year in four-month posts, and the other in six-month posts. All will provide experience and training in at least three of the ‘big six’ (Cardiology, Respiratory Medicine, Gastroenterology, Diabetes & Endocrinology, Elderly Care Medicine, and Acute Medicine) to give adequate training in the acute medicine aspects of CMT. Some rotations contain other specialty posts (e.g. Dermatology, Rheumatology, Renal Medicine, Haematology, Oncology, and Palliative Medicine). CT1 and CT2 rotations are not necessarily linked in each Trust, so there are opportunities to move between rotations in each year, and sometimes between Trusts. However, CMT is seen as a continuous 24-month programme in Wessex.

Training Opportunities

Each Trust has its own protected-time teaching programme for CMT, with topics mapping to the CMT curriculum. Individual departments will have their own specialty teaching, and Wessex consultant physicians are enthusiastic about on-the-job learning and assessments.

There are many training courses run through the Wessex Courses Centre (https://secure.intrepidonline.co.uk/CourseManager/NESC/sys_Pages/Common/Login.aspx), and local and regional (Southampton-based) MRCP training. A generic session on preparing for new PACES examinations will be introduced. The majority of 2007 entrants to CMT obtained full MRCP in 2009.

Education Supervision and Appraisal & Assessment

Educational and clinical supervision and the appraisal process is well-developed in Wessex. Supervisors have been trained using the Workplace-Based Assessment tools to help trainees develop their training, and the learning ePortfolio system is in full use. Education Supervisors are responsible locally for appraisal and produce an Education Supervisor’s report before each Annual Review of Competence Progression (ARCP) with their trainees. ARCPs are at 8, 16 and 23 months, and are always face-to-face with a three of four-member panel, including the CMT Programme Director and Lay Advisor. Trainees have an opportunity for confidential feedback and evaluation of their training and posts. Such evaluation has been used to improve our CMT Training Programme.

The CMT Team

The Wessex CMT Team is headed by Dr Andrew Brooks (Programme Director), Elizabeth Martin (Programme Manager for Medicine) and Jemma Fisher (Specialty Programme Administrator). Further details of CMT in Wessex Deanery are available on the Deanery website (www.nesc.nhs.uk), where there are more details of the Wessex Deanery general and CMT induction presentations, and one on CMT ARCPs in Wessex for 2009.

Contact details:

Wessex Deanery
Southern House
Otterbourne
Winchester
Hampshire
SO21 2RU

Email: wessexrecruitment@nesc.nhs.uk