Jersey

The Harvey Besterman Education Centre is a multidisciplinary education centre and is based on the main hospital site. The medical education office is located in the education centre and has an open-door policy, ready to give advice, answer questions and support you, as best we can. The centre has 5 well equipped training rooms, 2 clinical skills labs and a 95 seat lecture theatre, with spaces to study and meet with colleagues.

Our clinical skills and resuscitation service teams operate from the education centre and are on hand to offer group or 1-1 training sessions as well as courses such as ILS, ALS, NLS, PILS & APLS.

Modern and comfortable accommodation is provided within 5-10 minutes walk from the hospital, main town and shops as well as the beach. The rental cost of accommodation is substantially subsidised.

We provide self-contained studio or 1 bed units that have their own kitchen, lounge and bathroom and WiFi. The majority of foundation doctors are house in the same block in a self-contained unit, which gives a great sense of community but also allows you to have your own space.

Accommodation for married couples is provided at a higher rental cost.

For information on rental charges please email: accommodationoffice@health.gov.je

Please note that some colleagues will be allocated temporary shared accommodation when they start, to allow us to prepare units currently occupied by foundation doctors leaving us.

We have a specialist Medical Library that offers resources and services to support research and evidence-based medicine. We have an e-portal for our e-library; the flagship online resources are UpToDate and Clinical Key, and Foundation Doctors have access to BMJ Best Practice via OpenAthens. For further support the Library provides a free inter-library loans service for journal articles, as well as a literature searching service. The library itself is a welcoming, quiet area. It is open 24/7, and has study spaces, computers and comfortable seating.

Computers are available on the wards and they are transitioning to a new EPR system. Foundation doctors are given access to Office 365 and Microsoft Teams.

There is no on-site parking available at the hospital and no parking provided with the accommodation. You are able to rent parking privately in the area for approximately £200 per month.

There is a public car park situated next to the hospital, and approximately 5 minutes from the accommodation.

Please note that parking is provided on-site for foundation doctors who need to use a car for their role i.e. GP or Psychiatry posts.

We have secure bicycle parking.

We have an active doctor’s mess committee who put on regular events ranging from beach BBQs, beach and water sports, cinema trips, boat trips and the Summer Ball! Joining the mess costs £10 per month and gives you access to free and discounted events. They also arrange treats for their members such as easter eggs and coffee shop vouchers.

Although there is no dedicated doctor’s mess area on site, there is a rest facility which has its own lounge, kitchen, bathroom, rest areas and lockers. It has a number of games consoles and ways to spend time relaxing.

There are good transport links to and from Jersey. There are over 40 departure points to Jersey across the British Isles and 12 flights a day to and from London airports. There are also daily flights from Jersey to various European destinations.

You can travel to Jersey by boat from the south of the UK (Poole or Portsmouth), and France. The main ferry operator is Condor Ferries. Excursions with other operators are available to smaller ports such as Dielette, Carteret and Granville. You can also travel to the other Channel Islands of Guernsey, Sark, Herm and Alderney.

Locally we have a good reliable bus service offering routes to most locations. The hospital and accommodation is in St Helier and is very close to the main town, restaurants/cafes, shops and the beach. There is also a local company that hires out electric bikes at a very reasonable cost.

Although only 45 square miles, Jersey is full of things to do outside of work, people to see and life to live. From traditional seaside-town charm to a vibrant city flavour, our Island is waiting to show you what we have to offer.

Jersey is ideal if you love the outdoor life, and there are many local sports clubs. HCS enter a team to the Jersey annual Dragon Boat Festival and we have staff discounts offered for local gyms.

Jersey has over 400 bars, restaurants, cafes and clubs offering a variety of cuisine in beautiful settings. It also boasts annual music festivals that attract internationals performers, an annual carnival, the ‘Battle of Flowers’, and an annual International Air Display to mark the Battle of Britain.

Sites showcasing Jersey’s unique history can be visited across the island including ancient burial grounds, farmhouses, castles and caves.

Jersey is a multicultural island and is welcoming and inclusive. There are large Portuguese and Polish communities who both have annual events to celebrate their cultures, and the island celebrates its multi-faith communities. The Channel Islands also host an annual Pride event which alternates between Jersey and Guernsey – this is all-inclusive for anyone wanting to support the LGBTQ+ community and celebrate and promote equality for all in the Channel Islands.

If you are interested in volunteering there are many opportunities across the island. The Jersey Charity Association is a great place to find local charities, clubs, societies and support groups.

FY1 doctors commence in post 7 working days prior to the August ‘changeover date’. During this comprehensive shadow week programme you will complete an ALS course, attend simulation training, meet your F1 buddy, do a virtual on call, receive induction talks from different specialties, get your ID badge and computer logins and spend some time shadowing the existing F1 doctor. You will spend time getting familiar with the wards, the responsibilities of the role and the layout of the hospital. You receive a payment for the shadow week activities.

The main induction day takes place on the first Wednesday of August.

We also offer you a chance to take part in our Training Carousel, which is two days of clinical skills stations, offering training and practice in a supportive environment.

You will be allocated an F1 buddy as well as a mentor.

A number of social events are organised during the induction period.

F1 and F2 doctors may apply for “taster” periods in other specialties, with support from their Educational Supervisor. Tasters are a good opportunity to try specialties that are not in your foundation rotations, but you are considering as a potential future career. F1s can borrow up to 5 days study leave from their F2 study balance to undertake tasters.

We have a simulation faculty that are passionate about teaching and developing you as foundation doctors, in a supportive environment. We receive fantastic feedback about our simulation training and it features as a large part of your foundation teaching programme.

We have invested significantly in our VR equipment and have a Sim Man 3G Plus, he even sweats!

We use Oxford Medical Simulation as part of some of our simulation sessions, providing training in a unique and interactive way.

You will have complete control of the simulations you go through, being able to practice as you would in real life. You will see accurate representations of clinical presentations, treat them and see the effects of your actions dynamically take effect. This allows you to engage cognitively and emotionally, learning from experience.

The OMS platform is the only one of its kind to offer truly personalised, completely standardised and objective feedback on a participant’s performance in simulation with the ability for the learner to view this on any device. This allows linking of learning to portfolios.

We hold our Junior Doctor Forum four times year, which is chaired by the Foundation Programme Director. There is good attendance from our executive management team. All of our foundation doctors are invited to attend and raise issues, and work with those in management to resolve them.

You will be allocated a Clinical Supervisor for each 4 month placement and an Educational Supervisor for the full 2 years of your Foundation Training.

The Clinical Supervisor has direct responsibility for your induction and supervision, and provides day-to day access for clinical issues as required, providing honest and constructive feedback. Your Educational Supervisor will support and monitor the your progress in a long-term manner and help guide your personal and professional development.

Formal protected bleep free teaching is delivered each Wednesday, between 12 – 2 and we feed you too. The programme is varied and in line with your curriculum requirements, and includes simulation sessions.

We hold clinical skills sessions each Tuesday between 12 – 2 which you will receive invites too, and have Journal Club and Radiology teaching each Thursday between 12-1, as well as Grand Round on a Friday lunchtime, all have a free lunch available.

We have external training providers visit to give you non-technical skills training on leadership, interview skills, time management, teamwork, breaking bad news and careers.

We record our teaching sessions so that the lectures can be accessed at a later time and provide links to watch on Teams, if you are offsite.

Other departments such as O&G, Psychiatry, ED & Surgery have their own weekly teaching programmes.

We have 18 Foundation Year 1 posts in placements across General & Acute Medicine, General Surgery, Psychiatry & Trauma & Orthopaedics. We have 18 Foundation Year 2 posts in placements across Anaesthetics, General & Acute Medicine, Emergency Medicine, O&G, Paediatrics, Psychiatry, GP, General Surgery and Trauma & Orthopaedics.

We offer you great quality broad training and exposure appropriate to your stage of your career. Our friendly teams and staff support you and guide you through your foundation years.

Our trainee numbers are relatively small so you get more opportunity to get involved and make a difference. We don’t have higher trainees, so you get exposure to everything and don’t have to wait in line to do a procedure!

We also have plenty of opportunities for you to teach our Final Year medical students.

In addition to the Wessex Study leave, Jersey also give you access to a further £1,200 for study courses and the associated costs.

We have a very supportive clinical audit team who will be on hand to guide you through your audit and quality improvement projects.

We’ll also give you opportunities to take on representative roles as part of a teaching team, journal club, BMA, accommodation liaison and social activities which are great ways to develop your own communication, organisation and teamwork skills as part of these leadership and management roles.

Our aim is to inspire excellence in Medical Education across HCS, and we put this at the heart of all we do.

We pride ourselves in offering you a supportive environment where you can come to us to talk about anything, not just your training.