About UHCW NHS Trust
University Hospital in Coventry is a tertiary teaching hospital with 1250 beds based in the Walsgrave area of Coventry in the West Midlands. It is conveniently placed close to junction 2 of the M6 allowing easy access to the site for commuters from Leicester and Birmingham. The NHS Trust also includes the nearby St Cross Hospital in Rugby and works in partnership with the Warwick University and the Coventry University. . The Trust has established a strong academic and research partnership with Warwick Medical School and encourages it’s staff to become involved in medical education both as a learner and a facility and clinical research. We are proud of our innovation and we aspire to be the best that we can be in all we do. To this end we have developed international links with likeminded institutions including our involvement with the Virginia Mason Hospital with whom we are partnering in a comprehensive continuous quality enhancement approach to healthcare called UHCWi. We have an innovation hub which acts as a centre for our staff to share ideas about how to further enhance our care. We benefit from a large modern well equipped teaching centre which houses fully equipped simulation suite, a state of the art medical library and multiple teaching facilities. In addition throughout the Trust there are near ward teaching and research facilities, a fully equipped and staffed clinical skills suite with drop in facilities to support ongoing learning and upskilling and an internationally recognised surgical training suite which runs RCA accredited training courses and includes regular chest drain courses and other courses relevant and available to IMT trainees. We run a full range of courses through our medical education department (see mededcoventry.com for further details) including a comprehensive Leadership programme to help our clinicians to develop the leadership skills they need to become effective senior managers.
Training and Services
Alongside the typical general medical inpatient and outpatient services, there are a number of on-site speciality services. These include a Hyper-Acute Stroke Unit, Renal Transplant Unit, Haematology Inpatient Unit, and a large Endoscopy service, Cardiac Catheterisation Laboratory delivering catheter ablation and advanced device services, and Clinical Oncology. There are also specialist surgical services including Cardiothoracic and Neurosurgical units, as well as a large General Critical Care Unit covering both Level 2 and Level 3 Care.
The trust includes St Cross Hospital in Rugby, with 110 inpatient beds available for general medicine, geriatrics rehabilitation and elective orthopaedic work. This hospital is staffed by a consultant body with foundation and internal medicine trainees, but there are currently no rotations for higher specialty physician trainees.
Internal Medical Trainees can expect to rotate through 3 medical specialties per year during IMT1 and IMT2. These trainees will also spend time on the acute medical unselected take and on call ward cover overnight.
There is a busy medical take with an interesting variety of medical presentations streamed either through the emergency department or via the separate Medical Decisions Unit. There are also ambulatory clinics/ integrated services with primary care colleagues. Physician Trainees can expect to fulfil a variety of on call commitments; this includes either leading the take as the first on medical registrar or covering the wards as the second on medical registrar for those undertaking higher specialty training. In these roles you will be supported by foundation trainees and internal medicine trainees. The acute medicine department is well led and supported by experienced consultant throughout the day.
Direct specialty referrals on admission are uncommon but do include STEMI calls and Fast Positive calls for Cardiology and Stroke respectively. Specialty on-call commitments commonly involve reviewing patients referred via an online service by the acute or inpatient medical teams. You will also carry a bleep for urgent referrals. There are many tertiary level units including oncology [ARDEN centre], diabetes & endocrine [WISDEM centre], and reproductive medicine [CRM]. The hospital also has facilities and close integrated working partnership with primary care helping to enhance the training aspect in chronic health conditions.
Education
There is a good support structure in place for all physician trainees via the enthusiastic RCP College Tutors and Associate College Tutors. On the main UHCW site there is a comprehensive medical library with space for private study and a variety of online services. There are a variety of research and postgraduate educational opportunities in conjunction with the University of Warwick. There are organised educational activities with weekly core IMT teaching at UHCW; with opportunities for simulation teaching which are held in purpose built Clinical Science Building [CSB] which is onsite. There are structured PACES preparation teaching for IMT trainees and communication skills sessions. We always welcome keen higher specialty trainees who are keen to be involved in delivering some of this teaching. More information is available-https://www.mededcoventry.com/
Other information
Some trainees choose to live locally in Coventry, while many choose to live in the nearby delightful towns of Leamington Spa and Warwick or the lively city of Birmingham. The hospital is located around 20 minutes by bus from Coventry Train Station, and many trainees choose to travel to work by car. All trainees living outside a 2 mile radius of the hospital will have access to onsite hospital car parking. Trainee welfare is taken seriously and there are junior doctor forums with chief officers to escalate any concerns. There is also a doctor’s mess and rest areas onsite.