Medical and Dental

Foundation Training at West Herts covers a two-year curriculum, with experience in a broad range of clinical settings. Opportunities include training oncology, general, vascular, and urological surgery, GP, Psychiatry, Public Health, Paediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and Ophthalmology, in addition to A&E, acute medicine, geriatric medicine and wide range of medical specialties.

We have a state-of-the-art simulation training suite to support and complement clinical training on the wards.

Core training for the programme is centred around two hours of classroom teaching per week, in addition to opportunities for attending Hub half-day training events within the local network, which will focus on speciality experience.

Departmental teaching is also offered whilst in your respective placements. The core programme seeks to help you widen your knowledge base, and includes some specialty specific subjects, and training in generic professional skills. The training in the second Foundation year also offers opportunities for you to prepare for your wider professional responsibilities as you prepare to enter specialty or general practice training and includes opportunities to work in community placements.

You will, of course, have Clinical and Educational supervisors. We aim to provide Educational Supervisors who oversee the whole of the first or second year.

We have a strong commitment to the pastoral support of doctors in training, and our Foundation Training programme directors see it as an important part of their role to be available to discuss any areas of concern. We have an active Junior Doctors’ Forum, that provides access to senior administrative staff, as well as the Medical Education team and Guardian of Safe Working.

West Herts is a busy District General Hospital, and as such provides a thorough grounding in clinical experience that will equip you very well for whatever your future career choice becomes. Should you join our Foundation programme, we believe that you will find it to be a valuable start to your medical career.

Our training practices are in the Watford, St Albans and Hemel Hempstead areas. The hospital rotation offers an excellent range of posts which are mostly based at Watford General Hospital. The area has good schools, easy access by road and rail from North London and good employment opportunities.

• We have four experienced and enthusiastic Programme Directors
• Experienced Trainers with a wide range of specialist interests
• Excellent Training Practices – great mixture of sizes spread across Watford, Hemel Hempstead and St Albans.
• Close proximity to London – good rail and road links and excellent schools.
• Expertise in teaching the CSA with a very high first-time pass rate.
• A very good range of hospital posts - all rotations include Paediatrics, Psychiatry and Obstetrics & Gynaecology

All IMTs are based at Watford General Hospital and all of the main acute specialties are present on site. There is a large 120-bedded Acute Admissions Unit adjacent to the Accident & Emergency unit servicing the local population of 600,000.

We have 28 places on our IMT programme across the three years and it offers a broad-based clinical exposure to a wide range of acute medicine. It consists of 4 monthly placements including Cardiology, Gastroenterology, Diabetes & Endocrinology, Respiratory Medicine, Rheumatology, Stroke medicine, Care of the Elderly medicine and ITU. Other specialties in the trust include Haematology, Palliative care, Dermatology and Neurology. The IMT3 year consists of a 12-month post in one of the specialities above.

Specialty and Associate Specialist (SAS) Doctors are a vital part of the workforce at West Herts. The Medical Education Team currently runs an SAS development programme consisting of various training days facilitated by Miad Healthcare.

Please see below examples of topics covered on SAS training days:

• The way ahead for SAS Doctors
• Job planning and negotiation skills for SAS Doctors
• CESR
• Understanding Revalidation, preparing your PDP
• Managing complaints, clinical accountability and governance
• Time management for Senior Doctors
• Human Factors
• Medical Law and Ethics

We have a number of Locally Employed Doctors working across the Trust. The Medical Education Team are committed to supporting these Doctors in their career development and will update LEDs on training opportunities available.

We have a LED Tutor role to support the ongoing development of these doctors and offer the opportunity to attend teaching programmes and complete training portfolios.