Welcome to Acute Care Common Stem (ACCS) in the East of England

By choosing ACCS, you are embarking on a training program that will provide you with knowledge and skills to manage the acutely unwell or deteriorating patient and will enhance your ability and confidence to respond urgently and appropriately in moments of stress and in high intensity situations.

Trainees wishing to pursue higher specialist training in Emergency Medicine, Acute Medicine, Anaesthetics and/or Intensive Care Medicine may apply to ACCS. The first two years of the ACCS program are common to all trainees, regardless of the stream of entry and are comprised of 6 month rotations in each of the following:

Year 1 - Acute Medicine and Emergency Medicine

Year 2 – Anaesthetics and Intensive Care

In the third year, trainees will enter their parent specialty to complete the competency requirements for progression to higher specialty training.

The East of England ACCS Program benefits from an excellent working relationship between the three core specialties.  Our ACCS Handbook outlines the program in detail and summarises the competencies you will gain over the first two years.

In addition to your hospital-based experiences, all ACCS trainees will have numerous training opportunities including:

·                     Consultant-delivered Regional Training Days

·                     ACCS Simulation Courses

·                     Anaesthetics Simulation Courses

·                     Local specialty teaching

·                     Specialty-specific regional training

·                     Quality Improvement Projects

·                     Clinical Governance meetings

We have an active and engaged Trainee group with two elected ACCS Trainee Representatives per training year and two elected Trainee Educational Resources Leads representing ACCS 1 and 2.  You will have the opportunity to put yourself forward for one of these important roles on the ACCS Induction Day in August. At the end of each training year, we hold a combined ACCS/ST3 Presentation Day for trainees to present their accomplishments including Quality Improvement Projects, Clinical Audit and Interesting Clinical Cases to an audience of their peers and consultants from the region.

Although the East of England is a large geographical area, you will find that Regional Training Days and active exchanges on Social Media present excellent opportunities to meet your colleagues, discuss experiences and learn from one another.  During each year of training, you will be asked to complete a mandatory survey that is used to gather the trainee feedback that continues to shape the training program.

The East of England is served by eighteen acute hospital Trusts including two university teaching hospitals (Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital). Each ACCS trainee is posted to one hospital or two nearby hospitals to complete their first two years of training.  In the third year, trainees have the opportunity to express their preference of hospital assignment, which is most commonly to continue in their current Trust.