Palliative Medicine

Welcome to the East of England Palliative Medicine training page. We are passionate about training the next generation of Palliative Medicine consultants to meet the growing needs of our population.

This is an exciting time to start your specialist training in Palliative Medicine – we are a new group 1 speciality, which gives trainees the opportunity to work across all settings, leading to a CCT in palliative and internal medicine. You will gain the necessary experience to work as a consultant in hospice, community and hospital posts.

Palliative Medicine is suited to doctors who thrive on clinical challenge, working with patients of all ages with cancer and a range of life limiting illnesses. Changes in treatments mean that our expertise is required both earlier and for longer on the patient’s journey. You will need to be an excellent communicator and a leader who works effectively in a multi-professional team. You will become an inspirational teacher and we will help you to gain the resilience and skills required to manage both the physical and emotional burden of the work. We offer regular supervision to trainees, and through our trainee representatives and training units we provide tailored support and mentoring at all stages of the training programme.

80% of our trainees who gained their CCTs in the last 5 years have gained substantive posts in region and there are likely to be consultant opportunities in all settings across the region in the coming years.

The Training Programme

The East of England is a large and diverse region. Your training will include time spent in teaching hospitals, district general hospitals, hospices and in community teams working in both rural and urban settings.

We have close links with the research teams in Cambridge and Norwich and support ACFs and ACLs to train in clinical and academic palliative medicine.

Trainees rotate annually to benefit from the experience offered by the different training posts. At least 9 months of the 4 year programme will be spent working in Internal Medicine and participating in the acute unselected medical take. On call for palliative medicine in non-resident throughout the region.

We pride ourselves on providing a bespoke programme, tailored to the needs of the individual trainees. Following their feedback, we have divided the region into three training areas, each one providing the trainee with the chance to work in all settings, whilst providing peace of mind in knowing which areas they will rotate through during the programme (see below). We understand that training needs to be flexible to the needs of trainees, and have a 100% record of agreeing LTFT training plans with trainees over the last 5 years, allowing them to find the balance between work and home life.

The trainee representatives and the TPD work closely together, allowing the chance to raise any issues and to share any ideas to improve the training programme.

Essential Qualifications for Entry

Personal Qualities

Assessments

Work Based Assessments — the requirements are changing annually, but will comprise a number of the following:

Mini-CEX
DOPS (directly observed procedural skills)
sub section: Syringe driver set-up and Paracentesis are compulsory over the 4 years
MSF (multi-source feedback) formerly known as 360 degree assessment
sub section: Currently an annual requirement
are likely to include in the future:
sub section: Case Based discussion
Patient survey
Assessment of audit
Assessment of teaching

These are set against the curriculum drawn up by the RCP. The required number must be completed each year and will be checked at your annual review. It is the responsibility of the trainee to ensure the required number and type of assessments are carried out.

It is recommended that trainees meet with their Educational Supervisor prior to, or shortly after, commencing in post to discuss their 'job plan' and requirements for the year. They should also meet half-way through and then at the end of the post, to review progress made and to consider future needs. A number of competencies and skills must be signed off against the curriculum during the training period.

See the JRCPTB website for Assessment forms and updates.

RITA (Record of In-Training Assessment) and ARCP (Annual Review of Competency Progression)

Currently trainees are invited to attend annually to meet and discuss the progress of their training. The purpose of the meeting is to ensure that trainees are making satisfactory progress and that they are able to move on to the next year of training. Usually present at this meeting are:

Associate Dean
Chair of the Speciaty Training Committee
Programme Director

You may be asked to make a presentation about your achievements over the previous year and plans for the forthcoming year. You will be required to provide evidence of your achievements, for example:

Study days attended, with programme
Teaching sessions given, with evidence of feedback
Weekends on-call worked (eg copy of rota)
Completed assessments
Copies of audits / research undertaken

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