Hospital Posts

The Elderly Care department provides acute and rehabilitation care to elderly patients with multidisciplinary needs. It comprises 5 wards which include male and female general elderly care, a stroke unit and a specialist fracture rehabilitation unit. The department also runs its own separate elderly care on call with daily consultant input to the CDU. Outpatient services include stroke, falls, Parkinson’s Disease and daily Rapid Assessment Admission Avoidance Clinics (RACOP) as well as general clinics.

The GP VTS is currently based on the fracture rehabilitation unit but we can incorporate any training needs of the individual. The current post holder attends RACOP and Parkinsons clinics. The post is also part of the medical SHO on call rota providing excellent experience in acute medicine.

The elderly care department has an active training and audit programme which all junior staff take part in.

Department staffing:

Professor Margot Gosney: half time academic at Reading University

Professor David Oliver: half time National Clinical Director at the Department of Health

Dr Michael Pearson: falls and community

Dr Andre Van Wyk: stroke

Dr Apu Chatterjee: Parkinsons and Orthogeriatrics

Dr Janet Lippett: Orthogeriatrics and Clinical Director

Dr Sarah Logan: community

There are also 5 registrar level (1 stroke fellow), 8 F2/ST1,2 level and 8 F1 level doctors in the department.

Clinical supervisor: Apurba Chatterjee, Apurba.Chatterjee@royalberkshire.nhs.uk

This is a busy Cardiology job, but also gives a lot of General Internal Medicine experience, working at different times on the Cardiology Ward, CCU or the Clinical Decision Unit (acute general medical admissions). The trainee will become confident in the day-to-day running of CCU, assessing acute chest pain, arrhythmias & heart failure, understanding the indications for coronary intervention, helping to co-ordinate primary angioplasty for STEMI, and learning about the recovery of patients after heart attack or heart surgery. Some cardiology out-patient experience is also available.

A significant proportion of the ward patients have general medical problems & the trainee will play a full part in the acute general medical rota with teaching/supervision from other physicians within the Trust. The cardiology trainees team currently consists of 2 Cardiology SpRs, 1 GPVTS Trainee & 2 ST1/ST2s, 2 F1 doctors.

Consultants: Dr Charlie McKenna, Dr Will Orr, Dr Nicos Spyrou, Dr Jon Swinburn, Dr Andrew Elkington

Clinical Supervisor:  Dr Andrew Elkington, andrew.elkington@royalberkshire

During the induction, training will be given on neuro-disability assessment & scoring, UK rehabilitation outcome measures, spasticity management, management of neuropathic pain, prevention of thromboembolism, pressure sores & wound healing, osteoporosis, neuropathic bladder & urinary tract infections, tracheostomy management, respiratory function assessment & management ofmotor neurone disease, Guillain Barre syndrome, obstructive sleep apnoea, spinal injury, autonomic dysfunction, management of vomiting & constipation, nutritional deficiencies & PEG feeding, control of seizures & neuro-behavioural problems after brain injury, long term management of Multiple Sclerosis, Huntington’s Disease.

We encourage & supervise trainee doctors to prepare & take post-graduate Royal College Exams and to take advantage of practicing clinical skills on a wide variety of neurological problems.

There will be regular Neurology-Neurorehab joint meeting/ward round (discussing newly admitted neurology patients and in-patients with interesting problems who might benefit from neuro-rehab) & lunch time Medical Grand Rounds at the Trust Education centre. Clinical Governance Meetings are held on Stroke, Neurology & Neuro-rehabilitation Services.

Audit & Research: We encourage trainee doctors to participate in audit & research whilst working on Neurorehab Unit, e.g. management of neuropathic pain, thiamine resistant Wernicke’s encephalopathy, serum vitamin D status inpatient in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients,UK rehab outcome measures, motor neurone disease management, prevention of urinary infections in neuron-rehab, mailto-centre CLOTS 2 & CLOTS 3 studies in prevention of DVD is strokes with TED stockings & intermittent pneumatic compression devices, medicinal cannabis in MS spasticity management.

Consultants : Dr Hamid Sultan, Dr Faraz Jeddi

Associate Specialist: Dr Peter Khin Tun

ST-3 Registrar in Neurorehabilitation

The Berkshire Cancer Centre is one of the two cancer centres in the Thames Valley area, providing cancer services to people across Berkshire and areas of South Oxfordshire.

We provide chemotherapy, radiotherapy and palliative care services.

There is a dedicated cancer and haematology ward (Adelaide), a specialist cancer outpatients department and radiotherapy and chemotherapy units.

The Berkshire Cancer Centre (BCC) sees patients diagnosed with a range of cancers including:

– Breast cancer
– Bowel cancer
– Gynaecological cancers including ovarian, cervical, and endometrium
– Urological cancers such as cancer of the prostate, bladder, kidney and testicular cancer
– Lymphomas
– Brain tumours
– Cancers of the head and neck
– Skin cancer
– Lung cancer and cancers of the oesophagus, stomach and pancreas.

Patients are referred to the Outpatients Department by other doctors when a diagnosis of cancer has been made and treatment is required.

Specialisms:

Dr. J. Adams: lung, lymphoma

Dr. J. Barrett: breast, urology, lymphoma. (President elect of the Royal College of Radiologists.)

Dr. R. Brown: lung, urology

Dr. C. Charlton: breast, gynaecological cancers, brain tumours.

Dr. A. Freebairn: head and neck cancers, skin, upper gastrointestinal cancers

Dr. J. Gildersleve: bowel cancer, upper gastrointestinal cancers, head and neck cancers, sarcoma

Dr. P. Rogers: urology

This post  provides excellent experience in general medicine as well as rheumatology.  The trainees share an on-call rota with the Elderly Care SHO and cover their wards and admissions when on call.  There will be an opportunity to learn joint injection techniques which all GPs need to get on to the minor surgery list.  Teaching is an important part of the team philosophy and there is protected time for it.  The on-call is as the Medical rota.

Consultants:  Dr Bradlow, Dr McNally, Dr Young

Clinical supervisor: Dr Antoni Chan

While in this job you will gain a wide breadth of acute clinical and practical experience in the key specialties of medicine, surgery, trauma/orthopaedics to include patients presenting to resus, majors and minors. Emphasis is on the development of key skills; focused history & examination, requesting of relevant investigations concluding with a diagnosis/ differential and timely referral to specialties (within the four hour target).

You will also gain experience in managing paediatric (including NAI), gynaecology/obstetric, ophthalmology, maxillofacial and ENT patients. Skills in radiological interpretation will be taught and developed.

Eleven middle grade doctors and an Associate Specialist work alongside supporting the trainees, 24hrs a day. This is a nine person, full shift rota covering a variety of shifts from early, middle, late and night. Formal weekly, Wednesday afternoon teaching sessions, with protected teaching time, are held in the emergency department. In addition, GPVTS trainees are encouraged to attend their regular Tuesday teaching in the TEC. You will gain experience in audit, case presentation and there is protected study leave time.

We ask for leave requests to be emailed in so that we can try and accommodate important requests (weddings, exams, study leave etc) into the rota before it goes out. We ask for requests to usually be submitted 4-6 weeks prior to commencement of post. Once the rota goes out, swaps for short periods, can be negotiated between the trainees and submitted for Consultant sign off, usually after commencement of post.

Clinical Supervisor: Miss Maria Dudek (FRCS, FCEM)

Other Consultants: Mr Soysa, Dr Reddy, Dr Blyth

a fourth post, shared with ITU, is pending appointment at time of writing

Clinical supervisor: Simon Triscott, Simon.Triscott@royalberkshire.nhs.uk

This is a general paediatric post at the Royal Berkshire Hospital providing good experience of common paediatric problems.  GP trainees will spend time on the children’s wards and the paediatric emergency department under the direct supervision of a middle grade paediatric specialist trainee and paediatric consultant of the week.  A clinic week is rostered in regularly giving you the opportunity to attend specialist outpatient clinics, gain experience in aspects of community paediatrics and learning disability or experience neonatal care and newborn baby checks.  GP trainees are encouraged to attend the regular paediatric ST1-3 teaching sessions, journal club, paediatric grand round and monthly academic teaching. There is a 3 day induction period which includes PILs (paediatric intermediate life support) and the paediatric guidelines are available on the trust intranet. The rota is shift based and EWTD compliant.

All registrars appointed to the scheme will be asked to give permission for the Police to be approached to check for any criminal convictions in accordance with the terms of DHSS Circular HC (88) 9 – “Protection of Children: Disclosure of Criminal Background of those with Access to Children”.

College Tutor:

Dr Nicola Pritchard, Nicola.pritchard@royalberkshire.nhs.uk

Consultants: Susan Edees, Ann Gordon, Claire Holt,  Ak Hussain, Ravi Kumar, Asha Madasseri, Nick Mann,  Kemi Naidoo, Nicola Pritchard, Jo Spinks, Balaji Suryanaraanan

Clinical supervisors:

Helen Wolfenden, Helen.Wolfenden@royalberkshire.nhs.uk

Akmal Hussain, Akmal.Hussain@royalberkshire.nhs.uk

All the jobs include both obstetrics and gynaecology.

The Obstetrics Department at the Royal Berkshire Hospital is a busy unit with about 6,000 deliveries a year. The post offers excellent experience in all areas of obstetrics from high risk to normal midwifery cases. Most registrars take and pass the DRCOG. We run hands on emergency study days and GP update meetings twice yearly. In the Gynaecology department, there is a dedicated daily emergency clinic which provides good experience of all areas of emergency gynaecology. Outpatient clinic and theatre work provide useful exposure to elective gynaecology. You could attend a family planning course during study leave. There are dedicated weekly teaching sessions. There are 10 doctors at SHO grade who participate in the full shift on call rota.

Consultants:

Obstetrics: Miss Jane Siddall (clinical director), Miss Helen Allott, Miss Pat Street, Mr Mark Selinger, Ms Jill Ablett (College Tutor), Miss Samantha Low, Miss Lakshmi Shanmugasundaram

Gynaecology: Mr Roger Williams, Mr Alan Crystal, Mr Kevin Smith, Miss Rajee Vijayanand (College Tutor)

Contact: Ms Jill Ablett, jill.ablett@royalberkshire.nhs.uk or Rajee Vijayanand rajee.vijayanand@royalberkshire.nhs.uk

Rota queries: samanha.low@royalberkshire.nhs.uk

Clinical supervisors: Jasveen Dhami, jasveen.dhami@royalberkshire.nhs.uk & Saleh Hazbun, Saleh.hazbun@royalberkshire.nhs.uk 

VTS trainees with the Orthopaedics department are attached to a specific firm for clinical supervision.  You will gain experience in a wide variety of orthopaedic problems.  The job is primarily ward based but you will also be able to attend clinics and theatre sessions with any consultant given prior arrangement.  You will also provide on-call cover in orthopaedics to the wards and to A&E with the support of your middle grade. This job has been highly rated by past trainees and gives good preparation for handling orthopaedic problems in general practice.

Consultants:

Mr C.Fergusson: Knee

Mr R.Marshall: Spine

Mr R Dodds: Paediatrics and Knee (Educational Supervisor)

Mr C.Pailthorpe: Hand

Mr I Nugent: Foot and Ankle

Mr O Levy: Shoulder

Mr S Tavares: Hip and Knee

Mr S O’Leary: Knee and Trauma

Mr A Andrade: Hip and Knee and Trauma

Mr H Brownlow: Shoulder and Trauma

Mr P McKenna: Spine and Trauma

Mr C Arvind: Foot and Ankle and Trauma

Mr Z Rahimtoola: Hand and Trauma

Mr A McAndrew: Trauma and Reconstruction

Mr A Macleod: Trauma and Reconstruction

Clinical supervisor: Nev Davies, nev.davies@royalberkshire.nhs.uk

The VTS post in Ophthalmology at the Royal Berkshire Hospital aims to provide a broad experience and understanding of ophthalmology from a starting point of little or no prior experience in the specialty. The trainee joins a busy department and has a timetable covering all aspects of eye care, including general and specialist clinics, eye casualty, orthoptics (squints and children) and eye theatre; the timetable can easily be adjusted to suit individual requirements and there is no on-call commitment.

Trainees become proficent in use of ophthalmic equipment, principally the slit-lamp, and leave the department at the end of six months able to manage the majority of eye conditions seen in Primary Care, whilst recognising those conditions that require referral.

Clinical Supervisor : Miss Sarah Lucie Watson

Other Consultants:

Miss Annette Bacon: Oculoplastics

Miss Brenda Billington: Vitreo-retinal and paediatrics

Mr Peter Constable: Glaucoma

Mr Martin Leyland: Cornea/External eye Disease (see picture)

Mr Andrew Pearson: Oculoplastics/Lacrimal

Mr Vaughan Tanner: Vitreo-retinal

Miss Sarah-Lucie Watson: Medical Retina (College Tutor)

Mr A.N.El-Amir: vitreo-retinal and paediatrics

All do general Ophthalmology/Cataracts.

Clinical supervisor: Molham Entabi, Molham.Entabi@royalberkshire.nhs.uk

The post is in general adult psychiatry, and based at Prospect Park Hospital.  Some outpatient work is included based in clinics in Reading.  In addition, there are opportunities to gain some experience in psycho-geriatrics, liaison psychiatry, psychotherapy and child and adolescent psychiatry.  SHOs are expected to take part in the Thursday afternoon teaching programme together with psychiatry trainees, and the teaching commitment is strongly supported by the consultants as a whole.  The on-call is 1:7

 Consultant:  Dr Farouk Ahmed

Clinical supervisors: Jackie Smith, jackie.smith@berkshire.nhs.uk & Garyfallia Fountoulaki, garyfallia.fountoulaki@berkshire.nhs.uk

The Department provides Renal Services to chronic and acute patients, including:

– Haemodialysis: Benyon Unit, Huntley & Palmer Unit, Windsor Dialysis Unit
– Peritoneal Dialysis: CAPD Albert Ward
– Renal Transplant Services
– Renal Social Workers
– Renal Dietitians

Consultants: Dr RB Naik, Dr LC Barker, Dr EC Vaux, Dr M Mohteshamzadeh, Dr M Eltoum

Specialist: Dr R Das