Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust Foundation Doctor Programme

HEE currently fund the foundation year ones to undertake Advanced Life Support course. We have an active Resuscitation Centre with courses run throughout the year in ALS, BLS, ATLS.

We have a large clinical skills area where we offer practical training in procedural skills as well as the popular simulation ward.

You will have two hours a week dedicated teaching at the WMI, currently this is on Tuesday afternoons for FY1s and Thursday afternoons for FY2s. This is protected bleep free teaching and you are encouraged to leave your bleeps with the reception staff so you cannot be disturbed! The program has been honed over the years to reflect the needs of foundation doctors and to cover the curriculum, but we continuously seek feedback on how it can be improved and what topics you would like sessions on as different year groups can have different needs. You will also receive 2 hours each week of protected self-development time in both your F1 and F2 year giving you additional time to complete projects, Audit, Portfolio completion and career development.

We use Horus eportfolio to objectively assess your progress throughout the year and to ensure key curriculum competencies are achieved. Although fairly intuitive, you will receive training on Horus and will be kept up to date on objectives and deadlines that need to be met.

We will support you in making career choices and your supervisor may discuss taster weeks or career days in chosen specialty areas.

You will be expected to undertake a QIP during your FY1 and FY2 years which is part of your curriculum sign off. This is an opportunity for you to contribute to excellent patient care and is an added bonus on your CV. The trust welcomes contributions from doctors regarding practical problems that can improve patient care. We run an annual QIP presentation and award and the best projects will be put forward to present at this as well as being encouraged to submit to national meetings and award ceremonies.

We have a Grand round held in the WMI lecture theatre on Friday lunchtimes 1-2pm. Attendance at this counts complements your attendance at protected teaching. Schwartz rounds are popular forums and are used as a group reflective exercise led by consultants and other multi professional leads.

The health and well-being of our trainees is given high priority at the Trust. Medicine is a stressful career where you will give a lot of yourself and your humanity every day, this can make it harder to manage external life stressors and is a recognised phenomenon in doctors. You can contact us to seek support at an early stage. Clinical and Educational supervisors PGMED staff and Foundation Leads will be only too happy to support any pastoral needs, but in recognition of the importance of this role we have a Clinical Tutor dedicated to offering pastoral support. Our occupational health team run the hospitals Wellbeing program and we can access the Professional Support Unit and psychological therapy through Health Education England if necessary.

We have 3rd, 4th and 5th year medical students from the University of Birmingham. We run placements for Physicians Associates students from the University of Wolverhampton. We also have 3rd year students from the University of Aston.

Some areas have a formal program of teaching for medical students and you may be asked to assist in delivering teaching, others will have medical students on the ward. You can also get involved by delivering bedside teaching if the opportunity arises. You can use these as evidence of teaching on your eportfolio and to establish if teaching might be a direction your future career may take.

Research Some trainees will have taken up academic posts, but for those wishing to take part in research and develop their own CV’s, without dedicating themselves to a pure academic pathway, we are keen to foster your involvement. Some trainees will be confident enough to set themselves on this path without support from the PGMED team, but for those who are performing well in their placements their supervisors may recommend them to the research program and they will be invited to link up with a specialty team to undertake a project.

Examples of published and presented work include (not an exhaustive list):

Ahmed T (FY1) et al.
The effects of EBV naive status on treatment decisions in patient with inflammatory bowel disease: Does the risk of GI lymphoma justify the cost?
Abstract and Poster presentation at European Crohn’s Colitis Organisation 2018.

Rambhatla S et al.
Serving the Underserved
The Opthalmologist Jan 2018

Rallage H et al.
Evaluating the impact of regular motivational reminders on mindfulness practice in medical students.
Presentation at the 7th International Academic and research Conference, University Manchester
WJEMR 14(1):2017

Finnity J et al.
MCAM and LAMA4 are highly enriched in tumour blood vessels of renal cell carcinoma and predict patient outcome.
Cancer Research 2017 15;76(8):2314-26

Dhesi S and Ellenbogen J.
Multidisciplinary teamwork: Collaborating on diabetes.
BDJ 2017 222;406

Kurian M (medical student), O’ Beirne H (medical student) et al.
Should RIGs fall under the purview of the Enteral MDT?
Poster presentation at Midlands Gastroenterology Society 2017

Ahmed T (FY1) et al.
Review of biosimilar use in IBD: MDT or not?
Best Poster at Midlands Gastroenterology Society 2017

Konos A (FY2) et al.
The clinical burden of IBD transition
Abstract and Poster presentation at United European Gastroenterology Week 2016

Patel M et al.
Increased concentration of plasma TNFR1 and TNFR2 in paediatric lupus nephritis
Lupus 2016;25(9):1040-4.

Election of doctors to the mess committee will be made at the beginning of the academic year and foundation doctors are encouraged to become involved.

Foundation Doctors will have the opportunity to elect foundation doctor representatives to represent the foundation doctors at the trust at the quarterly foundation school faculty meetings and to represent the Foundation School nationally twice a year in London.

We have FY2s who act as peer mentors to the new FY1s, to share experiences and offer advice to those who want it.

We hand select some of the FY2s to help deliver parts of the induction program.