Introduction
Training in Paediatric Surgery at the West Midlands School of Surgery is based at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. The Children’s Hospital is a major teaching hospital of the University of Birmingham and is a large stand-alone Children’s Hospital with a capacity for 300 beds, 20 intensive care beds and 9 operating theatres. It is the regional referral centre for children in the West Midlands. In-house specialties include Neurosurgery, Cardiac Surgery, Gastroenterology, Liver and Small Bowel Transplantation & Non-Transplant Hepatobiliary Surgery, Nephrology, Orthopaedics, Trauma, ENT, Oral, Dental and Plastic Surgery and Ophthalmology.
Training Consortium
The Department of Paediatric Surgery in Birmingham forms part of a training consortium, which includes Bristol and Cardiff. This consortium has the approval of the Specialist Advisory Committee in Paediatric Surgery. Entry into the training programme is usually at ST3 level and lasts for six years, one of which is a “flexible” year. All three centres are represented on the Appointments Committee. The appointed trainee will be expected to rotate through at least two of the three centres in order to broaden their exposure to the specialty. Rotations are planned in a flexible manner with the aim of accommodating the specific training requirements of individual trainees and the needs of those who wish to develop a subspecialty interest.