Key Contacts
Training Programme Director for Palliative Medicine - Candida Cornish
Head of School of Medicine: Dr Carolyn Mackinlay
Associate Dean for Medicine: Dr Jon Francis
Education programme Manager: Louise Peckham
Education programme coordinator: Vacancy
Health Education South West Severn supervises all postgraduate medical specialist training in the region.
Information about the Specialty
Severn Postgraduate Medical Education offers a comprehensive and popular 4 year Higher Specialty Training programme in Palliative Medicine centred in Bristol. The rotation provides posts in 5 clinical sites with opportunities to gain a wide range of Palliative Medicine training in addition to experience of other relevant specialties such as Oncology, Chronic Pain and specialties treating non malignant life limiting conditions. Working as part of a multidisciplinary team, posts in hospice inpatient units and Community Palliative Care are based at St Peter’s Hospice, Bristol and St Margaret’s Hospice in Taunton. Posts in Hospital Palliative Care Teams are based at University Hospitals Bristol (UHB) and Cheltenham General Hospital (both include oncology centre experience), in addition to Southmead Hospital, which includes experience of supportive care in end stage renal disease. Out of hours experience is provided by on-call duties for St Peter’s Hospice.
To fulfil the requirements of the new curriculum and achieve dual accreditation in Internal Medicine there are a wide range of general medical opportunities in the region at the hospitals that are currently included in the rotation. An example of the rotation which will include 9-12 months of internal medicine is shown below.
Training Opportunities in Southwest - Severn
Training in Severn is supported by a friendly group of Palliative Medicine consultants who meet regularly to discuss local training and service improvement in addition to a regional Specialty Advisory Committee which includes the Peninsula Training Programme. Palliative Medicine Specialty Trainees organise monthly teaching in Bristol and bi-annual training days with Peninsula trainees. They also take part in the weekly virtual journal club based at UHB and are encouraged to attend the monthly virtual Complex Pain Meeting based at St Peter’s Hospice, which includes input from a pain anaesthetist and interventional radiologist. In all the posts there are plenty of opportunities for audit and quality improvement projects. There is a strong tradition of Palliative Medicine Research in the region with regular regional research meetings supported by one of our local consultants , who also founded the UK Palliative Care Trainee Research Collaborative.
For general information about applying to the specialty please see this web page and the associated links. https://phstrecruitment.org.uk/
The Training Hospitals
2. St Margaret’s Hospice, Inpatient unit, Taunton
3. St Margaret’s Hospice, Somerset, Community post.
4. University Hospitals Bristol
5. Southmead Hospital (North Bristol NHS Trust)
6. Cheltenham General Hospital
|
ST4 i |
SPH inpatient unit |
|
ST4 ii |
UHBW HPCT |
|
ST5 i |
UHBW Internal Medicine (Geriatric Medicine) |
|
ST 5 ii |
SMH (inpatient and community) |
|
ST6 i |
NBT HPCT |
|
ST62 ii |
GHNFT HPCT |
|
ST7 i |
Internal medicine UHB/ GHNFT/ NBT |
|
ST 7 ii |
SPH/SMH (inpatient unit and community) |
This is an example for illustration. Principles which will govern rotation include, wherever possible first placement is in a hospice inpatient unit; posts will usually be 6 months duration and at least 3 months of acute medicine will be in the last year of training.
Please also see principles of IM implementation which will be incorporated into the Severn Programme: https://www.jrcptb.org.uk/news/guidance-implementation-imt-during-hst
Related sites
For general information about the specialty and training please see this web page and the associated links. Information on Palliative Medicine
For further information on eligibility please see the Palliative Medicine ST4 Person Specification here. Person Specification
The joint Training Programme Director Candida Cornish would welcome contact and further discussion from anyone who is interested in training in this area.
Email: TPD@stpetershospice.org