News and opportunities

Breaking news

• Spring has sprung! There are trees in bud everywhere. So of course TB is on our minds as we are in the UK’s TB hotspot. But tree-in-bud sign in fact has a wide differential – why not take this opportunity to have a browse of radiopaedia to remind yourself?
• We have a date confirmed for the Whipps Cross Training Day on 18th July, and also confirmation that the Basildon annual training day on pulmonary and exercise physiology will be taking place, this year earlier than usual on 4th July – get these dates on your rotas and make sure you can take study leave.
• If you need to contact HEE, there is now a PGMDE support portal. If you use google to find HEE the website that you will arrive at is terrible and they don’t reply to the email addresses on it. But, they are very quick to reply to messages on the portal and you can track your ‘tickets’. Please use this for any ‘deanery’ type queries (including ensuring they have the correct CCT date etc).
• Please put the date for ARCPs in your diary: 22nd June Resp ARCPs. For those nearing the end of training, GIM PYAs will be in June – date tbc.
• The BTS is looking for a trainee to join the Sarcoidosis SAG – see below
• From April 1st there is a new policy on study leave, as part of HEE’s initiative ‘Enhancing Junior Doctors’ Working Lives‘. HEE will be managing the Study Leave budget centrally through its local offices. There are 3 levels of courses which are defined for each specialty: Curriculum Mandated, Curriculum Optional and Aspirational. These lists have been compiled by Heads of Schools and Training Programme directors with oversight and approval of the Post Graduate Deans. You can find the approved lists, and details on the process of applying on the HEE website.
• We hope you are all settling in to your new jobs if you moved at changeover. If there was no handover document when you arrived, now is a great time to write one for the next people who follow you! Please use this template and annotate with all the essential information to make the transition for the SpR who follows you easy–> Resp guide for SpRs template
• We are in the process of writing a brief guidance on: how to prepare for CCT. What else would be useful? Let is know.
• We have updated some sections including FAQs. Are you having problems with your Educational Supervisor not fulfilling the essential duties of their role? Read HEE’s guidance on how to escalate.

Respiratory Training Programme

• We have had some excellent training days recently, with highly relevant and interesting programmes. Why don’t you ask your clinical lead to confirm the date for the training day at your hospital? Why not offer to help find a speaker or two, or suggest a topic to help make it relevant to your training needs?
  • 27th April – North Mid – programme not yet released. GIM day at UCLH on the same day! Great co-ordinated planning as ever!
  • May Queens and King George ? Disappointedly no date has been confirmed.
  • 6th June Whittington. Also Summer BTS 14-15 June (Manchester)
  • 4th July Basildon Pulmonary and Exercise Physiology Training Day
  • 18th July Barts Health (Whipps X) – programme not yet released
  • Aug no training day (holidays)
  • Sep ?Pan-London training day – date tbc
  • Oct Homerton – date tbc (plus Bronch training at Royal Free for new ST3s)
  • Nov ?Pan-London training day?
  • Dec no training day (Winter BTS)
  • Jan Barts Health (Barts) – date tbc

These are the topics we suggest would be good to cover in the next few training days:

• tracheostomy care
• optiflow (evidence, indications)
• Radiology – bring back the quizzes
• pulmonary rehab – evidence, quality, impact
• sarcoidosis management
• physiology
• palliative care – pharma/non-pharma management, evidence
• management and leadership

All these dates are supposed to be on synapse, and we are supposed to sign up for them in the same way as GIM days. Unfortunately there is no relevant information on the Respiratory page of synapse (Dashboard -> Respiratory Medicine –> NENC Regional Training days). For now, please just turn up and sign in on paper as usual.

GIM Training Programme

• The next regional GIM teaching day is at UCLH on 27th April and unfortunately clashes with the North Mid Respiratory training day. It also does not appear where we have been told to look on synapse (under North sector), but instead on this page, under NENC GIM Regional Training Day!  Synapse continues to be impossible to navigate but is is the only place to get information on GIM training days. As a reminder, to give yourself the best chance of getting GIM training day info you need to:Click ‘My profile’, Under ‘My training programmes’ click ‘Add another’, There select ‘KSS Schools of Medicine’ and in the next drop box ‘General internal medicine north sector’. Once you have logged in you can use this link to find the page with the dates on.
• According to synapse these are the days coming up:
  •  17/04/2018. Simulation Day, Whittington Hospital. Email huh-tr.Simulation@nhs.net to reserve a place
  •  27/04/2018 (10 – 5pm). General (Internal) Medicine, UCLH Education Centre – Click here
  •  04/05/2018. Simulation Day, Homerton Hospital. Email huh-tr.Simulation@nhs.net to reserve a place.
  • 16/05/2018 (9 – 5pm). North Middlesex University Hospital. Sign up to register
  • 20/07/2018 (9 – 5pm). Royal Free Hospital. Sign up to register.
    
• The next monthly acute medicine teaching sessions, run by registrars for registrars at UCLP on Tottenham Court Road is on 15th March on Hepatology (they are on the 2nd Thursday of every month) 4-6pm, Tottenham Court Road. Book via Eventbrite.
  • 10/05/2018 (4 – 6pm). Neurology. UCLH Education Centre. Sign up to register.
  • 13/06/2018 (4 – 6pm). Neurology. UCLH Education Centre. Sign up to register.
• A number of UCLP training sessions are available, focused on professional development. These include sessions on quality improvement, leadership, self-care and resilience, and cultural health factors.  Find details, dates and links to book via Eventbrite on the UCLP pages. The trainee Reps have been on several of these so ask them about which ones were particularly good.
• Please make sure you arrange your placements in Pulmonary HTN, CF, OcLD, and your management course so that they are spread out throughout your training. They should not all be done in the last year, and there are advantages to taking some earlier, pre-SCE. Have a look at FAQs on tips on how to arrange.

External/Additional Training

• The UCLH Advanced Sleep Disordered Breathing Course will take place on April 26th at 250 Euston Rd. For further information, contact: email Donna Basire or call 020 3447 9102. For registration: www.uclhcharitycourses.com/ 
• Upcoming Teach-Ins at the Royal College of Physicians include: Dementia on 1st May, and Neurology on 5th June.  The RCP are streaming some events, including Teach-ins, and has an archive so you can catch up with events you missed.
• Sign up to the PLAN (Pan-London Airways Network) newsletter to hear of free educational events open to the entire Respiratory MDT. A great opportunity to learn alongside MDT colleagues and sign-off curriculum competencies – why not invite your specialist nurse and physio colleagues?
• Follow @resptrainees and take a look at the Respiratory Futures Trainees website. Resources are being added all the time, and a podcast series on Respiratory careers is planned for the end of this year. Recommend your own resources and share the love with your fellow Respiratory trainees
• HEE (what was The London Deanery eons ago) provide some funded courses, free career advice and individual support. Make the most of these great opportunities by having a look at the website and booking yourself onto something
• A number of courses are being run this year by the team at the Brompton Hospital
  • Altered Airway Workshop Day on Safe Management of Airway stents, laryngectomy and tracheostomy patients. 30th October. Free for Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust staff, £60 for non-staff applicants.

Jobs/OOP/Opportunities

• The BTS have invited applications from specialty trainee members of the Society to join the group that will prepare the Clinical Statement on the Diagnosis and Management of Sarcoidosis. The Group is chaired by Professor Athol Wells and Dr Muhunthan Thillai. A Clinical Statement provides a snapshot of knowledge and best practice in a topical area, and includes a series of clinical practice points. They state that the position would be suitable for an individual at ST5 onwards, with either a research interest in sarcoidosis or proven experience in sarcoidosis management, together with an interest in/ experience of developing/ implementing local guidelines (in ILD or other respiratory areas). Read more on the BTS website.  Deadline: 5pm Monday 23rd April 2018.
• The ERS has a number of fellowships on offer. Keep an eye out for interesting opportunities.
• The BTS highlights a number of funding opportunities relevant to Respiratory trainees on its’ pages.
• Remember that even if specific research jobs are not advertised, Consultants with academic positions are always looking for enthusiastic SpRs to join them. They may have pots of money for projects, or may have ideas that could become an MD/PhD. You’ll never know if you don’t ask. Ask around, and get in touch with anyone on the research pages for more info. Wondering whether you want to pursue a future in academic Respiratory medicine? Why not watch the BTS video featuring Dr John Hurst?

Pan-London STC

• Please get in touch to raise issues you want us to bring up at the next STC meeting. In the new model, with HEE at the helm, we are meeting with all London TPDs.  Let us know what concerns you so we can be an effective trainee voice on the committee.

Conferences

• ATS 18-23rd May (San Diego)
• BTS Summer 14-15th June (Manchester) – accepting abstracts. Submit your QIP, case reports and research!
• ERS 15-19th Sep (Paris)
• PCRS 28-29th Sep (Telford)

Other

• Have a look at the COPD audit forum on the Respiratory Futures BTS site. It brings together information, learning and QI resources. Don’t reinvent the wheel – use the experiences of others to improve care for patients with COPD in your Trust.
• Please send us info on your current or previous jobs directly by email, or through the updated and shorter anonymous update form. If you are currently out of programme please send information on your most recent, most liked or most hated post!