Why choose Paediatrics?

Medicine is becoming increasingly fragmented and ultra-specialised. Paediatrics is one branch that still embodies the ethos of providing holistic care to the family. You will be welcomed into a friendly community of paediatricians.

If you are undecided about your eventual career, Paediatric training opens infinite doors. Many previous trainees have branched into Paediatric Radiology, Paediatric Surgery, Genetics, Tropical Diseases and International Child Health to name but a few.

As a trainee what can I expect from my training programme?

Whether you want to be a general paediatrician in a rural environment confidently treating any child from premature babies to diagnosing teenagers with cancer, or be a quaternary specialist treating ultra-rare genetic diseases, the Northern School of Paediatrics will develop your full potential. We have excellent training units in the region all striving to improve your experience through constant feedback and the latest in educational innovations.

The first three years provide a broad grounding in paediatrics with close supervision in 6 month rotations including sub-specialties and Neonatology. By the end of ST3 you will have passed your MRCPCH and proceeded to the next stage which is to be the most senior on site paediatrician. You will undertake training days on advanced life support, communication and simulation.

In ST4 and ST5 you will rotate between: General Paediatrics, Tertiary Neonatology and Community Paediatrics. By the end you will be confident in initiating treatment of severely ill children and premature infants. If you wish to be a tertiary sub-specialist you will with guidance have built up an impressive CV to compete openly with other trainees for national grid training positions. Many with special interests in research or teaching will be completing university post-graduate courses.

In years ST6-8 training will be tailored to your special interest, to lay the foundations to be a polymathic consultant with excellent communication skills and to be clinical leaders. Different levels of sub-specialty interests are catered for, ranging from short placements to accredited special interest modules and to full tertiary grid training.

In the North East, we are small enough to care about you and your training needs but big enough to push you to be the next generation leaders in your field. Many paediatricians in the North East are national and world-class clinicians and researchers. Opportunities exist to undertake Out of Programme clinical or laboratory research in our renowned institutions such as the Centre for Life and Great North Children’s Hospital in Newcastle.

The work may be hard, but you will be well supported with pastoral care. A buddy system exists with support from senior trainees who have been through it all.

Trainees are expected to rotate throughout Trusts across the region and will be placed according to training needs to ensure progression through training levels.  Trainees are able to preference where they rotate, this cannot always be guaranteed but is taken into consideration when placing trainees.  A list of the Trusts and job descriptors for each Trust can be found in the Quality Management section.

Here's what one of our current Paediatric trainee's say;

Why choose paediatrics?

I went for paediatrics training for a whole bunch of reasons. Most importantly, children and young people are massively varied but they are all great fun to work with. I also like that it's one of the last true generalist specialties, but that you can apply to subspecialise if you want too. Finally, paediatric departments are typically nice places to work in because if you're dealing with children, you need to have good social and communication skills. 

What can I expect from the paediatrics training programme?

Over the three levels, all trainees will do placements in general paediatrics, community paediatrics and neonates as well as other jobs. There is the equivalent of 1 day of teaching provided every month. Safeguarding children is an important part of the training too. 

Any examples of how training in the northern deanery helped you to succeed in some way

There is a great regional revision programme for the MRCPCH clinical exam which I found was really helpful preparation. I am now currently studying towards a postgrad certificate in Genomic Medicine and I have been well supported by the deanery in fitting this in with my clinical duties. 

A day in the life of a higher trainee.