Welcome to Core Anaesthesia Training in Mersey. This guide contains some useful information, in addition you can ask for help from your Educational Supervisor (a named person who will supervise you for a whole placement) or your College Tutor at your hospital Trust.
Within the School of Anaesthesia, useful contacts are:
Dr Janet Slee, Training Programme Director (TPD) and Associate Head of School (janet.slee@sthk.nhs.uk)
Dr Swaraj Seshapillai, Deputy Regional Advisor (Seshapillai.Swaraj@liverpoolFT.nhs.uk)
Gill Johnson, School Manager( gillian.johnson34@nhs.net)
Core Training and the 2021 curriculum
https://www.rcoa.ac.uk/training-careers/training-anaesthesia/2021-anaesthetics-curriculum
Please have a look at the link above and begin to familiarise yourself with this.
Core Training posts in Mersey
The Hospital Trusts which provide core training are:
Aintree University Hospitals (Liverpool Foundation Trust)
Alder Hey Children’s Hospital
Countess of Chester NHS Trust
East Cheshire Hospitals HHS Trust (Macclesfield)
Liverpool Women’s Hospital
Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust (Leighton Hospital, Crewe)
Royal Liverpool Hospitals (Liverpool Foundation Trust)
Southport and Ormskirk NHS Trust
St Helens and Knowsley NHS Trust (Whiston)
Warrington Hospitals NHS Trust
Wirral Hospitals (Arrowe Park)
Some notes on structure of the rotation
Your training will comprise (in no particular order or proportion)
- 12-24 months in the District General Hospitals doing general duties
- Between 6 and 12 months at Liverpool Foundation Trust (Aintree or Royal Liverpool)
- 6 months of intensive care medicine in CT2 or CT3– this may be in any trust apart from Southport and Macclesfield)
- Initial 3-6 months block of obstetric anaesthesia at Liverpool Women’s, Whiston, Chester or Arrowe Park, and additional obstetric experience at the other DGHs when placed there.
- Paediatric training in Alder Hey (2 week block in CT3, see file below for further information) and the DGHs
Please note you have been appointed to a rotational training scheme, and you should expect to be placed in no fewer than 4, and potentially up to 6 different trusts during your core training.
The post duration will be anything from 3 to 12 months, this is to cover all requirements of the curriculum. Rotation start points are every 3 months ie August, November, February and May.
Your CT1 year will usually be for 12 months in one trust.
I aim to be fair to everyone and so you should all expect to spend some time at the central hospitals (LUFT) as well as the peripheral district general hospital (DGHs).
‘Preferencing’ of placements is not routinely done because of the complexity and size of the rota, however I am happy to consider positive requests for the peripheral placements- Leighton, Macclesfield and Southport - (eg if you reside in the northern part of the deanery then by all means express a preference for Southport over Leighton), but please do not request that you are not placed in any of the more distant trusts as this is not fair to your colleagues.
In addition, significant personal circumstances will be considered, eg health or carer responsibilities. These should be communicated to me once a post is confirmed.
Study leave
There is a carefully designed study leave package in place which will underpin the curriculum to help you pass the exam and meet your learning needs.
You will be sent the details by Dr Slee when the dates for the training year have been finalised. They are also available on the Educational Calendar here:
Anaesthesia Educational Calendar (Mersey)As these courses are part of the approved package, there is no need to pay up front (we top slice expenses from your study leave budget) and deanery approval for study leave is automatic. You MUST however inform your trust of these dates and seek approval locally. This is particularly important later in the year when you have on call duties, and you are attending some of the smaller sim courses which you will do at different times.
Last updated 01/03/25