Sports and Exercise Medicine in the East of England

The East of England training programme aims to provide excellence in all aspects of Sport and Exercise Medicine training, education and assessment. Our mission is to produce consultants for the future with the skills and knowledge to care for those who exercise as an essential part of a healthy lifestyle.

The training posts are new and as such require the appointment of progressive forward thinking trainees with an appetite for development and innovation. We already have a group of experienced and enthusiastic trainers from nationally and internationally recognized institutions keen to provide the very best opportunities in learning in this new specialty. Institutions such as Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Papworth Hospital, England Institute of Sport and Ipswich Hospital together with links to many and varied sports organizations make up a fantastic portfolio of knowledge and skill on which to base a training programme. To find out more about training in Sports and Exercise Medicine visit the Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine and Royal College of Physicians.

There is a national trainee email list and trainees should register for this on appointment to post. Trainees can contact the Faculty of Sport and Exercise Medicine to be directed to the trainee representative.

Training Programme

The programme will be offered in two halves: the first half covers the more fundamental modules while the second half offers further specialist options alongside an innovative vertical strand of population level experience in public health.

In the first 2 years (ST3 & 4) the trainee will rotate through what we have termed ‘basic training’ in SEM. This will include 4 six-month modules comprising General Practice, Rheumatology/Musculo-skeletal Medicine/Rehabilitation, Emergency Medicine and Trauma and Orthopaedics. This part of the training will prepare the trainee for the Diploma in Sport and Exercise medicine.

In the second half of the programme (ST 4 & 5) the trainee will gain experience in service and academic public health, cardiology, respiratory medicine and performance and clinical exercise testing. Experience in sports medicine will involve pitch-side experience in professional and amateur sports regular sports injury and musculo-skeletal clinics and attachment to an EIS physician. These attachments will provide experience of sport and exercise medicine at all levels from community exercise programmes to elite sport.

Trainee Testimonial

I joined the training programme in SEM in 2010 from Emergency Medicine and started the first year of my training in Ipswich Hospital where an innovative integrated rotation in Emergency Medicine, Rheumatology and Orthopaedics provided me with a year-long continuous parallel exposure to all three specialties including weekly sessions in Exercise Tolerance Testing.

The second year of the rotation was based in Cambridge covering General Practice and further experience in Rheumatology, Musculoskeletal and Rehabilitation Medicine at Addenbrookes Hospital. All my supervisors and the consultants I worked with have invariably been very supportive, enthusiastic and SEM orientated often with high level involvement with the practice of SEM or care of athletes. There are ample opportunities and support for pitch-side experience in both amateur and professional sports and I feel well-prepared for my role as a Field of Play Medical Team Leader during the London Olympics.