ST4-6 Training

Bristol and Gloucestershire Rotation

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust plus Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership Trust in Bristol, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset, BANES and Wiltshire.

Aim of Training

To provide a comprehensive training in the Psychiatry of Intellectual Disability affording clinical, research and managerial experience. This will enable specialty trainees on completion of the Scheme to successfully apply for consultant posts in Psychiatry of Intellectual Disability.

There are currently seven training posts (NTNs) within the Scheme. There is the possibility that one of these could become an Academic Clinical Fellow (ACF) post attached to both the scheme and the University of Bristol for interested candidates. The rotation is currently coordinated by Dr Suraj Perera (Training Programme Director).
Our scheme is one of the most highly regarded Psychiatry of Intellectual Disability rotations in the UK, offering a wide breadth of training opportunities. It currently comprises of ten diverse placements in adult community learning disability teams, four in Gloucestershire, five in the Bristol area and one in Wiltshire. In addition there is a Forensic LD post and also a Neurodevelopmental post both in Bristol. There are also opportunities to do a placement with a CAMHS/LD trainer in Swindon and also South Gloucestershire if required. Within Gloucestershire, specialty trainees have the opportunity to work in Child and Adolescent Mental Health. There is also an opportunity for the trainee to undertake special interest with a Forensic Learning Disabilities consultant and gain experience in neurodevelopmental psychiatry.
The trainee will be expected to rotate between their choices of three of these posts during their training, spending 12 months in each placement. The posts all rotate in August so a trainee joining the scheme in February may start with a 6 month post in the first instance before falling in line with the August rotation.
Flexible training is easily accommodated in this rotation.
Trainees can, by agreement, gain experience appropriate to their training needs outside the scheme.
There are also CT2-3 trainees attached to some adult posts (four in Bristol and up to two in Gloucester). The full complement of core and advanced trainees (plus occasional flexible trainees) ensures a robust and lively peer group.
There is an arrangement for attendance at an academic programme once a month involving journal club, case presentation and topic review which is well attended by trainers and trainees. The Avon Psychiatry of Intellectual Disability Education and Research Network provide a high quality multidisciplinary educational programme and an environment where research and teaching are supported and promoted. There is an established structure of peer support. The scheme also has strong international links and has a particular relationship with a scheme in the Netherlands. Over the last few years a number of Dutch trainees have spent six months in our training programme.
Each person’s training is monitored through the Severn Postgraduate Medical Education School of Psychiatry.