There are specific requirements for Stage 2 and Stage 3 Pain Medicine within the Mersey rotations these are outlined below. If you are interested in undertaking a Special Interest Area (SIA) module in Pain Medicine and Acute Inpatient Pain please see the Mersey SIA Prospectus.
Special Interest Area (SIA) Prospectus (Mersey)Stage 2 Pain Training
The Pain HALOs at every Stage must be signed off by a Pain Faculty Tutor. In addition to attending chronic pain clinics as below, you also need to generate evidence for inpatient and perioperative pain management in each of the Stage 2 placements, including the specialist centres. This can be through pre-op assessments, pain ward rounds, and ITU ward rounds and outreach. This is similar to Perioperative Medicine.
You must organise a 2-week (LTFT pro-rata) pain secondment during Stage 2, specifically with a chronic pain service. For full time trainees, this should be during your 6m block, or alternatively there is opportunity to use your spare 3m to do a 3m pain block at the Royal instead. For LTFT trainees at 60%, the pain secondment is best done during your Aintree, Royal or Women’s 6m blocks. For LTFT trainees at 80%, the pain secondment is best done during your Walton or ICM 6m blocks.
The Stage 2 chronic pain secondment can be done at the Royal, Whiston, Chester or Wirral, and you need to organise these yourself by contacting:
RLUH: kirsty.Dineley@liverpoolft.nhs.uk AND rajiv.malhotra@liverpoolft.nhs.uk
Whiston: rebecca.fitzpatrick@sthk.nhs.uk AND senthil.jayaseelan@sthk.nhs.uk
Chester: katedunne@nhs.net AND mohamed.khafaga@nhs.net
Wirral: Lesley.vine1@nhs.net, H.birch2@nhs.net AND nicholas.heseltine3@nhs.net
You also need to liaise with your base-hospital that you are requesting time away from. If this is done in good time, it is easy for the on-call rota to be written around this. Consider how absence for your secondment combined with your exam timing may impact on the hospitals you are at. You will likely be disappointed if you ask for 2 weeks off for a secondment during the same block as significant study/exam leave.
Stage 3 Pain Training
The Pain HALOs at every Stage must be signed off by a Pain Faculty Tutor. In addition to another fortnight attending chronic pain clinics as below, you also need to generate evidence for inpatient and perioperative pain management. This can be through pre-op assessments, pain ward rounds, and ITU ward rounds and outreach. This is similar to Perioperative Medicine.
You must organise a second 2-week (LTFT pro-rata) pain secondment during your Stage 3 DGH time, specifically with a chronic pain service. The Stage 3 chronic pain secondment can be done at the Royal, Whiston or Wirral, and you need to organise these yourself by contacting:
RLUH: kirsty.Dineley@liverpoolft.nhs.uk AND rajiv.malhotra@liverpoolft.nhs.uk
Whiston: rebecca.fitzpatrick@sthk.nhs.uk AND senthil.jayaseelan@sthk.nhs.uk
Wirral: Lesley.vine1@nhs.net, H.birch2@nhs.net AND nicholas.heseltine3@nhs.net
You also need to liaise with your base hospital that you are requesting time away from. If this is done in good time, it is easy for the on-call rota to be written around this.
If you are planning to pursue a career in Pain Medicine, you will be expected to do 12m training in dedicated Advanced Pain Training units. These posts are run by the individual units and subject to a competitive process. They take some time to arrange and to ensure capacity/funding is in-place. To get more information about pain training, you should contact the Regional Advisor for pain Raj Malhotra rajiv.malhotra@liverpoolft.nhs.uk at the earliest opportunity.