Embedded Files
Structure of The training programme
Structure of The training programme
ST1 Year
ST1 Year
The West Midlands usually takes six trainees during ST1 recruitment.
The ST1 year is managed separately from the rest of the training programme by the ST1 Lead. ST1 trainees have their own, separate, training programme.
Each of these hospitals receives gynaecological cytology specimens and undertakes post-mortems. ST1s stay at this hospital for the entirety of their ST1 year - running from August to August - before moving on to the ST2 pool rotation.
ST2 year
ST2 year
ST2 'Pool' Rotations
ST2 'Pool' Rotations
During August-November between ST1 and ST2, trainees undertake short attachments in:
Autopsy pathology at the trainee's ST1 base hospital (see further information below)
Gynaecological cytology at the trainee's ST1 base hospital (see further information below)
Molecular pathology at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham or University Hospital Coventry (see further information below)
Neuropathology at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham
Paediatric pathology at Birmingham Children's Hospital
Perinatal pathology at Birmingham Women's Hospital
The Educational Supervisor for the entire pool is the Educational Supervisor from the ST1 hospital.
Trainees should meet their Educational Supervisor at the beginning and end of the pool, and complete the relevant sections of the Educational Supervisor Assessment Form. They should also complete Clinical Supervisor Assessment forms for Autopsy Pathology, Gynaecological Cytology, Molecular Pathology and Neuropathology. For Autopsy Pathology and Gynaecological Cytology, trainees may choose to complete a separate form for every individual with whom they work, or they may select a lead Clinical Supervisor to collate the views of all the individuals and complete a single form.
Trainees should contact the appropriate Clinical Supervisor at least a week prior to arriving for each attachment. Maps of the hospital sites are here.
ST2 onwards
ST2 onwards
From the end of the ST2 pool, each year in the training programme runs from November to November. Each year of training is generally spent in a different hospital; trainees should be prepared to be placed in any hospital within their rotation (see below).
ST3 year
ST3 year
ST3 'Pool' Rotation
ST3 'Pool' Rotation
During November-April at the beginning of ST3, trainees undertake subspecialty attachments in:
Bone and soft tissue pathology for 2 months at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital
Gynaecological pathology for 2 months at Birmingham Women's Hospital
Hepatic pathology for 1 month at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham
Renal pathology for 1 month at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham
Trainees will have multiple Clinical Supervisors throughout the pool rotation. Each hospital in the pool rotation has its own Educational Supervisor(s) (contact details are here); a trainee's overall Educational Supervisor for the pool will usually be the Educational Supervisor in the specialty with which they start the pool rotation. Maps of the hospital sites are here.
Trainees should complete Clinical Supervisor Assessment Forms for each of the consultants with whom they work during the ST3 pool. There is no need to complete any Educational Supervisor forms.
ST3 And Beyond
ST3 And Beyond
Stage D
Stage D
Upon passing the FRCPath Part 2, trainees must spend a year in Stage D, usually working towards the consultant post which they will take up on completing the training programme. It is recognised that the numbers of cases reported during Stage D may not accurately reflect the amount of work done (e.g. disadvantaging those reporting renal or liver biopsies). Trainees in Stage D may therefore find it more useful to record workload units rather than cases seen (with 6 PAs' worth of reporting per week). This should be discussed with the Educational Supervisor at the beginning of Stage D.
Sub speciality and academic training
Sub speciality and academic training
Academic Clinical Fellowships
Academic Clinical Fellowships
Academic Clinical Fellowships (ACFs) allow trainees to combine their clinical training in histopathology with research. Two centres in the West Midlands offer ACF posts:
University of Birmingham, with trainees based at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham for their clinical training
Warwick University, with trainees based at University Hospital Coventry for their clinical training
ACFs do not rotate around the region for their placements (apart from during the ST2 and ST3 pool). 75% of their time is spent on clinical training, and 25% on research. Trainees are still expected to complete to sit their examinations and to complete their training within the normal timescale.
More information is available here. Posts are advertised on the Oriel system.
Subspecialty training in forensic pathology, neuropathology, and paediatric and perinatal pathology
Subspecialty training in forensic pathology, neuropathology, and paediatric and perinatal pathology
After ST2, histopathology trainees may choose to subspecialise in one of forensic pathology, neuropathology, or paediatric and perinatal pathology. At the moment, none of these training posts are offered in the West Midlands. West Midlands trainees who wish to pursue a career in one of these subspecialties would need to move to a different deanery.
Posts are advertised on the Oriel system.
All trainees nonetheless receive training in neuropathology, paediatic pathology and perinatal pathology during ST2 at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, Birmingham Children's Hospital and Birmingham Women's Hospital, respectively.
Autopsy training
Autopsy training
PM training is compulsory during the first two years of training, after which it is optional.
The arrangements for carrying out PMs vary across the region. Not all hospitals carry out many PMs.
In Birmingham, essentially all Coronial PMs take place at the Central Mortuary in the city centre. Trainees are not allowed to undertake training here at present. As a result, few PMs are available at the Birmingham hospitals.
If you are placed at one of these hospitals, you should make arrangements to visit a different hospital in the region (in either the North or East Rotation) which can allow you to perform PMs. You should discuss the arrangements for this with your own Educational Supervisor and with the Educational Supervisor of the hospital which you wish to visit. You may decide to spend a whole day at the host department (e.g. reporting routine specimens in the afternoon), or you may prefer to return to your base hospital after you have completed your PMs.
Sites in the region performing large numbers of autopsies are:
Royal Shrewsbury Hospital*
Royal Stoke University Hospital
University Hospital Coventry
Walsall Manor Hospital*
Warwick Hospital*
Wolverhampton New Cross Hospital (PMs carried out at nearby Wednesfield Public Mortuary)
Worcester Royal Hospital*
Coventry, Stoke and Wolverhampton have large numbers of trainees (including ST1s) and so there is likely to be some competition for PMs. It is therefore advisable to make arrangements with one of the hospitals marked with an asterisk instead.
Contact details for Educational Supervisors at the above hospitals are here. Directions are here.
The Birmingham hospitals have specific PM arrangements:
PMs for Birmingham City Hospital are undertaken at Sandwell Hospital, in West Bromwich. Hospital PMs and coronial PMs for the Black Country Coroner take place here. There has been a substantial decline in the number of traditional PMs taking place here because the Trust is making heavy use of digital PMs using CT scanning.
At Birmingham Heartlands Hospital only hospital PMs and coronial PMs from Staffordshire are performed. The numbers are extremely variable, but trainees can generally manage to perform 20 PMs in a year.
At the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham only hospital PMs and specialist neuropathology PMs are performed. This amounts to generally no more than one PM each month.
Gynae Cytology Training
Gynae Cytology Training
Gynaecological cytology training is compulsory during the first two years of training, after which it is optional.
Only four hospitals in the region assess cervical cytology samples:
Birmingham Heartlands Hospital
Royal Stoke Hospital
University Hospital Coventry
Wolverhampton New Cross Hospital
The Birmingham Cytology Training Centre at the Women's Hospital has a large set of teaching cases, but it does not receive live cases.
As is the case with PMs, if you are placed at a hospital which does not receive cervical cytology specimens, you should make arrangements to spend time at one of the above hospitals.
Contact details for Educational Supervisors at the above hospitals are here. Directions are here.
Molecular Pathology Training
Molecular Pathology Training
The provision of molecular pathology services and the delivery of molecular pathology training are undergoing an overhaul nationally, and so the situation is likely to change in the future.
At present, West Midlands trainees undertake a dedicated attachment in molecular pathology during the ST2 pool. The college has also made it a requirement that ST1 trainees complete an online Introduction to Genomics course.
The centres in the West Midlands which provide molecular pathology services are:
Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham: national referral centre for molecular testing in lung, bowel, head/neck and breast carcinomas, glial tumours, melanoma, GIST, plasma mutation testing and next-generation sequencing
Birmingham Heartlands Hospital: molecular pathology in haematolymphoid malignancies, ALK and HER2 FISH
Royal Orthopaedic Hospital: FISH and RT-PCR in bone and soft tissue malignancies
University Hospital Coventry: PCR-based testing of lung, bowel and breast carcinomas, and melanoma
In addition, the West Midlands Regional Genetics Laboratory is based at Birmingham Women's Hospital, and performs testing for germline diseases.
Guidance from the RCPath on outcomes from molecular pathology attachments is available here.
Google Sites
Report abuse