West Midlands Postgraduate School of Surgery - Urology

Training Places

Total number of training places: 27

Training Programme

Urological training is currently 5 years in duration, from ST3 to ST7. Most trainees will spend one year at the University Hospital Birmingham, which currently has 3 trainees. Other units with 3 trainees are Birmingham Heartlands, Wolverhampton, City and Sandwell (SWBH), Stoke (UHNM) and the Alexandra Hospital Redditch. Consultants in these larger units tend to specialise more than their counterparts in smaller centres, although specialism does exist in smaller units, such as at Good Hope Hospital (Sutton Coldfield) and Dudley, both of which have specialist Andrology units. At the other end of the scale, smaller units such as Hereford, Burton and Nuneaton provide excellent general Urological experience and are often more popular with more junior trainees (a full list of training units is given below). The West Midlands rotation is one of the few rotations in any specialty which allows its trainees to choose where they want to work; although no guarantees are given the majority of trainees are accommodated at their first or second choices each year. There are opportunities within the region to specialise in all the main branches of Urology (Oncology, Endo-Urology, Reconstruction and Female Urology, and Andrology). 

Mr Hemant Ojha is the current Training Programme Director and STC Chair for the Urology West Midlands Training Programme.

Teaching & Learning

There is a full and varied teaching programme, which comprises approximately 15 full day compulsory teaching sessions per year, spread between the various units on the rotation. These cover the whole of the urological syllabus as well as touching on other important issues such as management. In addition there are a number of “ad-hoc” meetings and teaching days, plus 4 full day regional audit meetings, which attract a significant consultant attendance. Recently the organisation of these audit meetings has been taken over by a senior trainee. The trainees have their own organisation, the Orchid Club, which meets regularly to discuss various urological and training issues. There is also trainee representation on the training committee.

Trainees are encouraged and expected to attend the annual BAUS meeting, as well as BAUS approved training courses. They are expected to take the in house European trainees examination (FEBU), which is used a marker of academic progress, on an annual basis. The results of West Midlands trainees in the FRCS urol have been excellent, with 100 % pass rate for very many years.

Out-Of-Programme Experience

In recent years a number of trainees have taken the opportunity to arrange “out of programme experiences” for one or two years. These include a period of research or a period spent abroad. There are informal links with a number of units in Australia, and Australian trainees have exchanged with West Midlands trainees on a number of occasions. Research and further education has been undertaken in a wide variety of topics including Uological Oncology, Education and Management studies.

Training Centres & Educational Lead Trainers