Wessex School of Anaesthesia & Intensive care medicine is highly regarded nationally as providing a top quality, dynamic and supportive training programme for training in anaesthesia and intensive care medicine. We oversee approximately 200 Doctors in Training (DiT) from Stage 1 through to CCT.
The School
Head of School and Training Programme Directors – Appointed by NHS England. The Head of School oversees the overall training delivery, liaising closely with the Postgraduate Dean, Training Programme Directors and Programme Team. The Training Programme Directors (TPDs) are ‘operation managers’ organising recruitment, rotation allocations, ARCPs and direct DiT reviews and support.
Programme Manager and Administrator Team – Provide broad managerial and administrative support to the School and whom you will communicate with throughout your training.
Regional and Deputy Regional Advisors – Appointed by the Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA) or Faculty of Intensive Care (FICM) to provide direct link to the College/Faculty and advise on training matters from there.
College Tutors – RCoA or FICM appointed individuals in each hospital to ensure quality delivery of training and supervision locally.
Educational Supervisors – Each trainee will have a named ES locally, who helps navigation through the training programme, preparations for ARCPs and provides pastoral support.
Trainee Representative – A senior elected DiT will represent the opinions of anaesthesia and intensive care peers and report to the School.
All of this dedicated team work closely together to ensure the proviso of a high quality, DiT focused, responsive and enjoyable programme.
Trust sites – The programme includes 6 sites:
- University Hospital Southampton (UHS)
- Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust (PHUT)
- Hampshire Hospitals NHS Trust (HHFT) – Winchester and Basingstoke
- Salisbury District Hospital
- Dorset County Hospital (DCH) – Dorchester
- University Hospitals Dorset (UHD) – Bournemouth and Poole
DiT will usually be appointed to either a West or East side post – all include UHS. The geographical centre of the region is Ringwood.
- East: PHUT and HHFT
- West: UHD, DCH and Salisbury
Please see our Hospital Guide for more information on our training sites. Use the ‘open in browser’ option to view this document.
Quality – We participate in national local quality assurance processes, with direct DiT involvement and representation.
Programmes – See Stage 1, Stage 2 & 3 and Intensive Care Medicine training
Opportunities
Dual Training – Approximately 20% of DiT are training in both anaesthesia and ICM. See ICM Training
Courses – We provide a broad range of course locally, both for exam preparation and further educational enhancement. See Courses and Meetings
Overseas – We have a long history of senior DiT (usually ST6+) spending time abroad, and seven links with Australia, Canada and South Africa have been forged. We encourage appropriate Out of Programme Experience or Training (OOPE or OOPT), which can be discussed with your TPD.
Academia – We have strong link with the UHS academic unit and host several Academic Clinical Fellows and Clinical Lecturer (ACF or ACL) posts.
Less-Than-Full-Time Training – This is an increasingly popular route for training and we support DiT wishing to pursue this. See Guide to maternity leave and LTFT.
Pre-hospital Emergency Medicine (PHEM) – We work closely with the PHEM team to deliver alternate year recruitment.
DiT quote:
‘Wessex has been a fantastic place to train; ……excellent teaching across a range of hospitals, great opportunities to expand on skills or activities and real sense of family and well-being. I have had significant periods off through illness and they have been extremely supportive throughout. It’s clear that, as a deanery, they value their trainees and their experiences. Wessex also happens to cover a stunning area of the country and whether you like hiking, water sports or lazy strolls through National Parks, it’s guaranteed to keep you busy.’