Diabetes / Endocrinology
Diabetes and Endocrinology Training runs for 5 years for the current specialist registrars and the new run-through programme trainees commencing at ST3 level.
The training programme in Yorkshire is currently divided into 2 sub-rotations: East (York, Hull, Scarborough, Scunthorpe) and West (Leeds, Bradford, Airedale, Harrogate, Mid-Yorkshire, Huddersfield and Calderdale). This encompasses both district general hospitals and teaching hospitals with major tertiary workloads such as Leeds and Hull. There are professorial units attached to Leeds (headed by Professor Peter Grant) and Hull-York (Professor Steve Atkin) with strong track records for attracting grant support for out-of-programme research leading to MDs and PhDs.
At present all trainees will train to CCST standard in both diabetes and endocrinology, and all trainees to level 2 standard for acute medicine, given that the majority of trainees will be aiming for senior hospital posts that will encompass unselected general and acute medicine commitments.
Research, Study and Personal Development
Specialty Postgraduate education has been a major area of development over the last 3 years. We run a 2 day regional training training course every autumn in Diabetes and Endocrinology. We run 3 annual regional “days” centred on Growth Hormone/Endocrinology, Diabetes and Diabetic pregnancy which all registrars are expected to attend. There is a bimonthly afternoon training programme covering the diabetes and endocrinology syllabus as well as a clinical “Hot Gland” club dedicated to case presentation and clinical topics. In addition trainees are encouraged to attend and contribute to national specialist society scientific meetings and training programmes such as the Endocrinology Summer School.
The Training Committee is aware that the organization of NHS diabetes care in particular is changing very rapidly and we are currently developing the provision of community diabetes training in anticipation of this.
This is in addition to the regional RCP training days in General Medicine, co-ordinated by Viva Baillie at the Royal College of Physicians and the Deanery courses in generic and management skills.
Undergraduate and Postgraduate Teaching
There are plenty of opportunities for undergraduate and postgraduate teaching. Trainees who are interested in clinical teaching can pursue the Certificate or Masters in Clinical Teaching.
Study Leave
There is a designated study leave budget for trainees to attend courses and meetings. These include Specialist Society meetings, various general medicine courses (run by the RCP) and the different Yorkshire Deanery Courses such as Core Module, Reseach Skills, Skills of Effective Teaching, Legal and Ethics, Leadership and Management modules.
Support for Trainees
There is plenty of support for trainees who encounter difficulties or have concerns about training. Each trainee will have a designated mentor for the duration of their rotation (usually their first clinical supervisor). Trainees can also seek help from their clinical supervisors, educational supervisors, rotation co-ordinator, Drs Gilbey and Jennings (Speciality Training Committee), personnel or educational staff at the deanery. There are also trainee representatives in the Speciality Training committee, currently Dr Ben Ng and Alison Dawson who are there to represent the interests of the trainees and any concerns that may have been expressed to them.