The Trauma & Orthopaedic Directorate of the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust is based at Maidstone Hospital and the new Tunbridge Wells Hospital at Pembury.

Following reconfiguration of services in September 2011, the service provision of the Department has been re-organised to deliver the optimum quality of care to the local community and facilitate the highest standard of training possible.

The Directorate and Trust is committed to meeting the GMC Generic Standards for Training and following the guidelines set out in the ‘Gold Guide’, and Orthopaedic Curriculum and Assessment Project.

Post detail

• Grade: Specialty Trainee
• Location: Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Hospital at Pembury
• Qualifications & Professional registration required: MRCS

Training Programme

All trauma and in-patient elective surgery will be centered at the new Tunbridge Wells Hospital in Pembury. Day case surgery, Orthopaedic clinics and Fracture clinics will be provided at Tunbridge Wells and Maidstone. Tunbridge Wells Hospital is a Level 2 Trauma centre and a regional hub for Paediatric Orthopaedics. There are 16 Consultants with a wide variety of specialist interests and all also provide a general and subspecialty trauma service.

Mr J Nicholl is Clinical Director and Mr S Ahmed is the Surgical Tutor. Mr Benson and Mr. Ahmed are on the HEKSS Specialty Training Committee for T&O. As well as a total of 10 Specialty Trainees, we have an Associate Specialist, 2 Staff Grades and 2 Senior Clinical Fellows. There are also 2 Core Trainees, 10 F2 doctors and 2 F1 doctors making up the junior doctor team. The on-call rota is an EWTD compliant, non-resident system and Specialty Trainees will be on-call with either a CT or F2 doctor.

There is a clear emphasis on developing trauma skills and experience for CT1/2, ST3/4 and subspecialty experience for the other Higher Surgical Trainees. We have worked very hard to maintain the ‘firm’ structure within the Department and the vast majority of our trainees surpass the gold standard number of cases of 400 per annum.

The Department has a very strong training ethos, being recent winners of the South East ‘Best T&O Training Centre’ Award. We have a good record of supporting Specialty Trainees through the Fellowship exams and beyond. Exam tuition and careers advice will be available.

Formal, scheduled teaching is comprised of:

• Regional Core Curriculum Teaching Programme – weekly
• Departmental Teaching Programme – weekly (Friday lunchtime)
• Metal work meeting – weekly
• Clinical Governance meeting – monthly
• Clinical Conference / Journal Club/ Subspecialty meetings – monthly

The Department also runs several regional courses including the South East Thames Skills Courses in Knee Arthroplasty and Hand, regional study days for Hip and Paediatrics and regularly hosts the South East Thames T&O Circuit Meetings. ATLS Courses are held twice a year and many of our Consultants are ATLS instructors. Teaching is maximised during daily Consultant-led trauma meetings, ward rounds, orthopaedic & fracture Clinics, and elective & trauma operating lists.

There is a robust Clinical Governance programme and it is essential for all our trainees to complete an Audit Project. There is also an active Research Unit and trainees will be encouraged to contribute to new and existing projects.

College Tutors

• Mr. S. Ahmed – College Tutor in T&O

Educational Supervisors

An educational supervisor will be allocated to each trainee on arrival

Outcome

• CCT at end of regional rotation.
• Core competencies relevant to whichever stage of StR training you are at.

Salary Scale

All payscales can be found on the website below. The Trust is continually working with juniors to make sure all rotas are compliant. You will initially receive an offer letter followed by your contract. Should you require any additional information beforehand, please contact our Medical Staffing department by email.

Payments policy

Employee salaries are paid on the 24th of the month. If this falls on a weekend salaries will be paid on the last working day.

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