Wessex GP Training Scheme Profiles 2013
General131 vacancies for ST1 in August 2013
1 GP ACF vacancy in August 2013 / Wessex Deanery has a long tradition of excellence in GP training and we continue to strive to offer the very highest standards of education in General Practice. All of our educational teams are highly motivated and committed to providing the very best experience for all levels of trainees.
Our training programme consists of a balance between good quality posts within the secondary care NHS Trust setting and 18 months experience in one or more of our many GP training practices.
Our friendly team is happy to help with enquiries and to give impartial career advice - please do contact one of our local offices in Winchester, Southampton, Bournemouth and Portsmouth for any further information you require. (see links to Patch Offices under each scheme or e-mail )
We have 131 vacancies at ST1 in General Practice for August 2013 in our 10 GP training schemes in Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Jersey, Dorset and South Wiltshire.
All of our schemes are three year programmes. The first two years (ST1 and ST2) contain 6 month rotations in hospital posts and include one placement in General Practice. The final year (ST3) is spent in General Practice giving a total of 18 months in General Practice.
The hospital posts are in a range of specialties including Emergency Medicine, Elderly Medicine, Psychiatry, Paediatrics, Obs and Gynae, General Medicine, Ophthalmology, Dermatology, Cardiology, ENT and the three year training scheme is designed to give all trainees a good range and balance of experience needed for general practice.
We also have 1 GP ACF vacancy at ST1 for August 2013 in Southampton.
Covering Hampshire, Dorset, Isle of Wight and South Wiltshire, Wessex Deanery is a great place to live and work with excellent facilities for families, leisure and easy transport links to the rest of the UK and Europe. Each local area has its own character – see below for more information.
Basingstoke
Vacancies: 8 / ST1 and ST2 years contain GP placement and hospital posts. ST3 year is spent in a local GP training practice. The local programme organiser has spent much time developing the scheme to ensure the highest quality educational opportunities.
There is a mixture of urban and rural practices. Basingstoke Hospital prides itself on good working relationships and a happy working atmosphere. There is a strong tradition of primary and secondary care working together, with an emphasis on patient care.
Basingstoke has good/rail network to the coast, London and the continent. The surrounding countryside is lovely, with picture postcard villages and great pubs. There is good housing, superb schools and excellent cultural and sporting facilities with a concert hall, theatre and cinemas.
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Bournemouth and Poole
Vacancies
Bournemouth: 18
Poole: 10 / ST1 and ST2 years contain GP placement and hospital posts. ST3 year is spent in a local GP training practice. The local programme organisers have spent much time developing the scheme to ensure the highest quality educational opportunities.
Bournemouth and Poole sit closely together on the south coast but with each having their own unique identity and being highly popular tourist destinations. The New Forest, the coastline, Poole Harbour and the nearby Purbecks provide a fantastic environment for all types of recreational and sporting activities including walking, riding, mountain biking and all water based activities. The conurbation also provides many cultural opportunities including the highly acclaimed Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra which is based in Poole. Both hospitals host their own vocational schemes with some of the Bournemouth schemes rotating over to Poole. There are many enthusiastic and experienced GP trainers in the area providing great choice for the discerning GP Registrar. There is a dedicated team of Programme and Course Organisers who run the education for the GP STR grades. This team runs a highly regarded day release course in the GP registrar ST3 year which prepares the aspiring GP for modern General Practice. They also run a monthly full day teaching session for the Hospital based ST1 and ST2 trainees which looks at focussing the hospital doctor towards their chosen career.
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Dorchester
Vacancies: 12 / There are 12 rotations based at Dorset County hospital, Dorchester.
Every one contains a post in Paediatrics with each rotation offering an excellent mix containing two or three posts of O&G, A&E, Elderly medicine, Ophthalmology, ENT and Trauma and Orthopaedics. With GP trainees filling many of the posts in the hospital there is excellent support and liaison between primary and secondary care. The local training practices are spread between the urban areas of Weymouth and Dorchester to the very much more rural areas of West Dorset.
West Dorset is an area of outstanding beauty and is famous for its sailing, windsurfing, diving and many other water sports. There are many beautiful coastal and inland walks in the surrounding countryside. The county town of Dorchester is steeped in history.
There is a Dorset wide GP educational programme over the whole 3 years with protected half day sessions during the Hospital based ST1 and ST2 posts and a full day in the GP Registrar ST3 Year.
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Isle of Wight
Vacancies: 6 / Did you know that 70% of the GPs who have trained on the Isle of Wight in the last 10 years are still there as partners and enjoy an enviable quality of life!
The Island has a comprehensive specialist training scheme for general practice. It offers an increasingly broadly based preparation for modern general practice. The training posts are equally distributed between the Hospital Trust and one or more of 10 training practices. The Island population is approx 130,000. It is a beautiful place to live and work. Outdoor pursuits are especially well catered for with world class sailing facilities and miles of unspoilt bridleways and cycle-ways coursing through National Trust woods and over chalk downs. There are frequent car ferry and high speed passenger ferry services to the mainland. It is possible to be in central London within 90 minutes, using rail connections from Southampton or Portsmouth.
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Portsmouth
Vacancies: 22 / Portsmouth has been a leading centre of GP education for many years. We aim to link hospital based GP StRs with General Practice throughout their training and make their hospital experience truly relevant to General practice. GP StRs rotations are based around specialities directly relevant to primary care, with doctors developing links with their training practice from the beginning of their rotation and enjoying a monthly teaching session with a GP bias. There is an annual GP trainee conference with colleagues from around Hampshire and GP StRs spend at least two sessions each year learning with the GP registrars. You will have access to a complete range of practices from the rural to the inner city, from small to large as well as an enthusiastic team of GP trainers and course organisers who include MRCGP examiners. Portsmouth is a thriving and diverse city enjoying sun, sea and a historic waterfront together with good links to London and the Continent.
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Salisbury
Vacancies: 10 / Salisbury, the ‘City in the Countryside’ is 1¼ hours from Waterloo by train and less than an hour by car from Bath, Winchester, Poole, Bournemouth and Southampton. It has great shops, good food and quality entertainment. The surrounding countryside, including the New Forest and Salisbury Plain, is great for walking, cycling and riding. There are many local sports clubs and also the beach is less than half an hour away. With a varied programme of art and music Salisbury also hosts an annual arts festival.
Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust provides a range of clinical care to 200,000 people in Wiltshire, Dorset and Hampshire. There are also specialist services. The Trust offers a very friendly atmosphere and positive working environment.
The GPVTS hospital jobs have an emphasis on relevance to general practice. Weekly clinical teaching is supported by monthly GP teaching. There is also an annual ST conference and three joint sessions with GPST3s. This is an opportunity to meet up with other trainees from Winchester and Basingstoke.
Salisbury has a long tradition of having a motivated team of GP Trainers. Close links are established at the beginning between the GPSTs and their trainers who act as their Educational Supervisor. This is overseen by the Programme Director. Training practices are located both in City and rural areas and there is an opportunity to experience both during training.
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Southampton, Solent and New Forest
Vacancies: 25 and 1 GP ACF / The Southampton Scheme covers the Solent and the New Forest as well as Southampton City. Many hospital posts are in the Southampton General Hospital, which offers the learning opportunities of a busy city DGH, with the tertiary referral centre for many specialities. We also have several training posts in Lymington (New Forest), and outside the city itself.
At present, all our rotations include eighteen months based in Primary Care. Our training practices are of the highest quality, with much innovative and modern practice. The surgeries are a mixture of city and rural practices, covering the Eastern New Forest as well.
The day release course, which runs through the three-year programme, is very popular, and is co-ordinated by a great team of Programme Directors. Learners from this part of Wessex have almost always achieved grades in the top quartile nationally for MRCGP, with very high overall pass rates.
The area has much to offer the GP learner, with easy access to beautiful countryside, the Solent, and the South of England. Southampton itself has excellent shopping and leisure facilities, with easy links to London and the rest of the South.
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Southampton with Jersey
Vacancies: 6 / We have six ST1 training posts on the holiday island of Jersey. These all comprise 6 months each of Emergency Medicine and Obs and Gynae. St Helier Hospital is a modern well-resourced DGH with state of the art educational facilities. The hospital is comparable to a small district hospital in the UK. It’s friendly and busy, but still allows time to learn with a clearly laid out teaching programme relevant to GP training needs.
After your year on Jersey, you rotate back to the Southampton area for the remainder of your training. Trainee feedback from these jobs has been excellent and you will have your own monthly day release programme on the island.
Jersey is the largest of the Channel Islands situated 100 miles from England, and just 14 miles from France. It covers 45 square miles, and has a permanent population of 90,000. There are frequent flights to Southampton which only take half an hour and regular ferry crossings. The island is dominated by the sea and its coastline, but there is also a rich countryside consisting largely of open fields, woodlands, small country lanes and farms or houses largely untouched since before the war. There are no fewer than 12 main beaches, with many more small coves, the majority of which are great for surfing or other water sports. The main population live in St Helier – the size of a small town which has everything you would expect, including a beach 5 minutes walk from the centre, restaurants, pubs, museums, cinemas and shops.
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Winchester
Vacancies: 14 / This very popular scheme is based at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in the beautiful cathedral city of Winchester. There is a choice of GP training Practices - both urban and rural. There are opportunities to meet other GP vocational trainees in the Mid Wessex area during the hospital training and Basingstoke, Salisbury and Winchester GP Registrars participate in a weekly day release course based at the nearby University of Winchester.
The Hospital has a very active mess, and both the hospital and GP posts perform well in the GMC surveys which are completed by the SHOs and registrars.
Winchester is one hour by train to London, and 20 minutes to the Solent.
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Please note that vacancy numbers are indicative and may be subject to change.