The programme is well established with a wide and interesting variety of clinical placement. Trainee will get experience of working in Community Mental Health Teams (CMHT), inpatient, Liaison, Day Hospital covering both functional and organic psychiatric pathology. Home visits will be either in patient’s own homes or residential nursing homes.
Overall, there are several different Trusts that make up the West Midlands deanery. They are:
Dual CCT trainees can start in either specialty and do their posts in any order over the four years in training and so can opt for GA posts as well as/instead of OA posts as options
There are fewer Higher Training posts to choose from compared with to the Core Training, and commuting to work is very likely to play a role in at least part of your training. It is likely that trainees will need to work in at least two Trusts during their higher training to gain the required breadth of experience. In general trainers are familiar with the constraints some trainees have in terms of getting to work and can make allowances, and Less Than Full Time (LTFT) training, allowing late starts and early finishes built into timetables, was developed to help trainees in this situation.
Regular team meetings are an important part of the working week. Complex cases will be discussed in multidisciplinary team meetings. Consultants will normally provide advice to colleagues in these forums and at other times following discussion of the issues.
Teaching and training both medical students and psychiatry trainees is also a vital aspect of the work.
Many elderly people also have physical health problems and so there is often the opportunity to work closely with colleagues in hospital settings such as stroke, neurology, geriatric medicine and clinical radiology
Old age psychiatrists often work a 9-5 Monday to Friday pattern, and they may also be involved in an on call rota.