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Combined Infection Training - Infectious Diseases - General Internal Medicine

Programme description

GMC Reference: WOS/2674

Combined Infection Training 

Infection Medicine focuses on the management of patients with infections or at risk of developing infections. This comprises clinical evaluation, diagnostics, antimicrobial treatment, antimicrobial stewardship, Infection Prevention and Control, Travel Medicine and outbreak management. The specialties collated under the umbrella of Infection Medicine are the specialties Infectious Disease, Medical Microbiology, Medical Virology and Tropical Medicine. In Scotland, the Medical Microbiology and Medical Virology programmes are delivered as dual training with Infectious Diseases.

Infectious diseases specialty residents are all dual trained and gain CCTs in Infectious Diseases (ID) with either Internal Medicine (IM), Medical Microbiology (MM), or Medical Virology (MV).  Those with CCTs in ID/IM are capable of taking on consultant roles whereby they participate in acute medical services in addition to direct patient care of patients with infections (often by rotation with colleagues). Those with dual CCTs in ID/MM or ID/MV are not expected to participate in acute medical takes at consultant level but they may take on consultant roles whereby they provide direct patient care on infectious diseases units or virtual wards, outpatients, bedside infection consult services and/or they may take on more laboratory-based microbiology/virology consultant roles in spoke or hub centres.

Infection training programmes consist of 2 initial years of Combined Infection Training (CIT). This is followed by two years of higher specialty training in Infectious diseases with General Internal Medicine (GIM) (having previously completed Stage 1 Internal Medicine Training), or 3 years if combining Medical Microbiology or Medical Virology with Infectious Diseases. 

Recruitment is managed through national recruitment to CIT, residents will apply to and be appointed to ID/GIM, ID/MM or ID/MV programmes with National Training Numbers (NTN) being issued accordingly.  It will not be possible to change programme at the end of CIT without going through a separate recruitment process.

Combined training offers a progressive approach to Infection training combining both the clinical and laboratory aspects relevant to patient care and ensuring all Specialist residents will gain in depth knowledge about the significant advances in molecular technology and their impact on patient care. The 2 year common CIT programme consists of one year in ID department placements (Outpatient clinics, OPAT, in-patient care, clinical consultation) and one year in laboratory based placements in microbiology and virology (laboratory based practical work, laboratory management, infection control, clinical consultation).

On call commitments form part of the training programme, and for all residents during CIT this will include infection specialty on call work as well as on call covering general medical wards (e.g. Hospital at night) and/or participating in acute unselected medical take.

What additional information would you like to include that may encourage residents to apply for specialty training in this programme in preference to similar programmes in other parts of the UK?

The National Training days rotating through five training centres are very popular with the residents and the curriculum is delivered by experts in their areas of interest. There is excellent exposure to the whole spectrum of clinical infection. There are close links between the various centres and their local universities. Each centre has particular areas of interest and strengths which offer prospective candidates a further diversity of choice. The training in Scotland embraces a culture of collaboration between regions and affiliated hospitals so as to offer residents a unique opportunity to learn and share experience with others. Whilst all the programmes are hosted in major Scottish cities all locations offer a good quality of life and ready access to more rural parts of Scotland.

Infectious Diseases 

ID physicians manage a wide range of infections, including tuberculosis, HIV and viral hepatitis. They provide expertise in the rapid recognition and management of sepsis and also run general infectious diseases services (e.g. skin and soft tissue infections, meningitis, pneumonias, complex urosepsis, post-surgical infections, infections with multi-drug resistant organisms etc). They participate or lead in the delivery of outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy (OPAT) in conjunction with medical microbiologists. They also provide consult services to the rest of the NHS organisation and hold an important role in organisational antimicrobial stewardship initiatives. 

With increasing global migration and travel, more specialists are required to manage related infections. There are increasing numbers of returning travellers with imported infections such as malaria, dengue, typhoid, plus unusual skin and soft tissue infections. Tuberculosis is still common both in the UK-born and in migrants with increasing problems of multi-drug resistance requiring expertise in anti-TB drug administration. ID physicians may provide pre-travel health advice clinics and will often manage people living with HIV both as in-patients and in clinics.  For the returning traveller possible infections may also include suspected High Consequence Infectious Diseases (HCID) such as viral haemorrhagic fevers (eg Ebola or Lassa) or respiratory agents such as Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) or avian influenza. Infectious Diseases consultants provide front door support with the ability to rapidly triage and provide expertise in ‘donning and doffing’ protective clothing and equipment. 

There is overall excellent exposure to the whole spectrum of infectious diseases. The delivery of clinical services varies across sites in Scotland with all sites capable of delivering the required breadth of exposure as outlined by the curriculum.

Other opportunities in ID

Opportunities to undertake academic programmes leading to MD, PhD, or Diploma in HIV. Additionally, there exist opportunities to explore flexible elective activity to develop a specific sub-specialist theme. 

How do residents access these opportunities?
Residents should engage in early discussions with Educational Supervisors to pursue and prepare applications for such opportunities.

What are key markers of success? (e.g. exam pass rates. MD, PhD, papers)
MD, PhD, DTM&H, Diploma in HIV, Combined Infection Certificate Exam

 

Research, audit, teaching and management opportunities

Opportunities for Research, Audit Teaching & Management

There are many opportunities to take part in research projects, in addition to laboratory and clinical audits. All training centres offer these within departments, in affiliated reference laboratories (see below), and local university departments. Residents will also have opportunities to participate in undergraduate teaching. Participation in leadership and management activities is fundamental to all positions as is engagement with quality improvement activity.


All 4 regions offer opportunities for full time research carried out as OOPR. Around 50% of residents are doing research for higher degrees. Residents can also apply to do research outside their regions either within Scotland or in other centres in the UK.
Information on applying for academic posts in Scotland is provided on: https://www.scotmt.scot.nhs.uk/specialty/scottish-academic-training-screds/

Educational Opportunities: There are excellent educational opportunities at each of the centres. There is also a national Infection specialty educational programme hosted throughout Scotland with site participation via videoconferencing. This popular programme is supported by consultants across the infection specialties and has attracted invited speakers from academia and public health.

Where the training is delivered?

  • Aberdeen Royal Infirmary
  • Gartnavel Royal Hospital, Glasgow
  • Ninewells Hospital, Dundee
  • Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh
  • University Hospital Monklands, Airdrie
  • Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy
  • Western General Hospital, Edinburgh
  • The Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Glasgow

Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and Western General Hospital

Include several intensive care units, Liver and Renal Transplant surgery, regional cardiothoracic, orthopaedic, Neuro-, ENT and Plastic Surgery, all medical specialties and regional neonatal units.

The microbiology laboratories are based at RIE. The regional virus laboratory is based at RIE. In addition, there are Scottish microbiology/virology Reference Laboratories: namely the Blood-Borne Virus Laboratory, Scottish Bacterial Sexually-Transmitted Infections Reference Laboratory, Scottish E coli Reference Laboratory, Scottish Human Papillomavirus Reference Laboratory and the Scottish Mycobacterial Reference Laboratory.

Aberdeen Royal Infirmary

With a complement of 975 beds, ARI is situated on Foresterhill site - one of the largest healthcare campuses in Europe. Also located on this site are the Medical School of the University of Aberdeen and the Institute of Medical Sciences, the Aberdeen Maternity Hospital and the Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital. Most of the major specialities, including a 26-bedded infectious diseases ward, are located at the Royal Infirmary.

Ninewells Hospital & Dundee Medical School, Dundee

A major general teaching hospital with 810 acute beds in NHS Tayside. It provides all the major disciplines including general medicine and surgery and specialist areas such as infectious diseases, oncology, gynaecology, plastics, neurosurgery, ENT. The microbiology laboratory which provides specialist bacteriology, virology and molecular services is based at this hospital.

Victoria Hospital and Queen Margaret Hospital, Fife (Infectious Diseases/ GIM) and Medical Microbiology.

Specialty residents can rotate to these sites to undertake Internal Medicine or Medical Microbiology placements. 

Borders General Hospital (GIM only at present)

The district general hospital serving the Scottish Borders region. It has 320 beds with 87 acute medical and a 6-bedded ITU. There are general medical and surgical services provided. The microbiology service is part of the laboratory services provided at the hospital. Specialty residents rotate to undertake Internal Medicine Training.

Queen Elizabeth University Hospital 

This new hospital, Scotland’s largest, offers most general specialities but includes specialist units such as: Regional Neurosciences, Paediatrics a large general ITU, a large Glasgow–wide renal unit, Regional Infectious Diseases Unit etc). The laboratories provide the microbiology and virology service to the remaining specialities on the Gartnavel General Hospital site – which included the West of Scotland Cancer Centre (Beatson) – comprising of oncology, haemato-oncology and Bone Marrow Transplantation.

The microbiology service in South Glasgow moved into a purpose built ‘state of the art’ laboratory building on this site in 2012.

Contacts and useful links

Information
Programme type (Deanery or National): Deanery
Administration office: National
Lead Dean / Director: Dr Marion Slater
Responsible Associate Postgraduate Dean or Assistant Director (GP): Dr Clair Evans
Specialty or Sub-specialty: Specialty
Date of GMC recent approval: Jan 2015
Associated Royal College - Faculty:
 Joint Royal Colleges of Physicians Training Board
Curriculum and associated assessment system: http://www.gmc-uk.org/education/infectious_diseases.asp
Programme administrator: Name: Dianne Morrison
Address: NHS Education for Scotland, Forest Grove House, Foresterhill Road, Aberdeen. AB25 2ZP
Email: Dianne.Morrison@nhs.scot
Programme director(s): Name: Dr Daire O'Shea
Email: Daire.OShea@nhs.scot
Quality of training: Quality Management
How to apply

This page was last updated on: 28.11.2025 at 14.58