Paediatric Surgery
Programme description
GMC Reference: WOS/508
This programme gives broad training in all aspects of Neonatal and Paediatric Surgery. Good educational supervision is provided in each Unit.
Core training in the first 2 years will include time in Paediatric Surgery, General Surgery and another specialty to be decided in discussion with trainers. Time working in the Neonatal Unit may also be possible. All 3 units - Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow - offer grounding in the breadth of Paediatric Surgery. The 3 units have a strong tradition of audit and academic activity. Trainees are encouraged to take an active part in audit and research to develop their CV.
Years 3 – 5 will be spent in one of the central belt Children’s Hospitals in Glasgow or Edinburgh. Edinburgh has strengths in Minimal Access Surgery. Glasgow has strengths in Neonatal Surgery/Critical Care and Paediatric Urology.
Years 6 – 8 will be spent in the second Central belt Children’s Hospital. During this three year period, trainees are encouraged to undertake a year of Out Of Programme Experience (OOPE) in an overseas or specialist unit.
General Paediatric Surgery
The specialty of General Paediatric Surgery currently embraces a wide spectrum of both specialist and non-specialist work. Non-specialist work includes surgery for hernia, hydrocele, cryptorchidism, circumcision and other common procedures.
Specialist work is concentrated in the specialist (mainly regional) centres. This work includes: a) Gastrointestinal surgery: fundoplication, inflammatory bowel disease, laparoscopic surgery, endoscopy, hepato-biliary and pancreatic surgery, b) Urology: hypospadias, hydronephrosis, urinary diversion, STING, reimplantation of ureters, renal transplantation, reconstructive urological surgery, surgery for intersex, genital reconstruction, c) Oncology surgery: surgery for solid tumours seen in childhood including neuroblastoma, nephroblastoma, hepatic tumours, rhabdomyosarcoma. Minimal access surgery is now well established in all centres in the Scottish Paediatric Surgery Training programme
In some centres, General Paediatric Surgeons undertake work in other specialist areas including: a) Plastic surgery: care of thermal injuries, b) Neurosurgery: surgery for spina bifida and hydrocephalus, c) Thoracic surgery: surgery for chest wall and thoracic tumours, empyema, thoracoscopy d) Neck surgery: surgery for cystic hygroma, thyroglossal cysts, various neck lumps and e) Support surgery: insertion of various lines for renal dialysis, portacaths for drug administration and gastrostomy tube insertion.
Neonatal Surgery
Neonatal Surgery, which is essentially the surgery of congenital anomalies and some of the consequences of prematurity can include: a) Thoracic surgery: surgery for oesophageal atresia, aortopexy, congenital cystic lung disease, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, thoracic tumours, b) GI/Abdominal conditions: surgery for abdominal wall defects (including gastroschisis and exomphalos), intestinal and duodenal atresia, malrotation, intestinal duplications, Hirschsprung’s disease, anorectal malformations, necrotising enterocolitis, abdominal tumours, c) Urology: surgery for hydronephrosis, neurogenic bladder, posterior urethral valves, bladder and cloacal extrophy and d) Neurosurgery: surgery for spina bifida and hydrocephalus.
In addition to the surgical and operative aspects of care, most neonatal surgeons have to be comfortable with many aspects of neonatal critical care.
Research, audit, teaching and management opportunities
The Scottish training programme supports all elements of a comprehensive training in Paediatric Surgery. This programme rotates through 3 centres - all of which have unique strengths - aiming to ensure that trainees have an enjoyable and satisfactory experience of training and leave the programme well equipped to become consultant paediatric surgeons. The programme's 100% pass rate in FRCS(Paed) is evidence of its commitment to high quality training.
All training centres have a strong profile in clinical research and audit and trainees are expected to deliver projects every year. The Scottish Surgical Paediatric Society is a twice yearly opportunity to present research and audit projects. In addition trainees wishing further research experience can elect to do an Out Of Pprogramme Research project or formal PhD programme. All centres have medical students and plentiful opportunities for teaching. In addition, APLS instructing or enrolling in an MSc are encouraged.
All centres run their own teaching programmes appropriate to trainee level of experience. In addition, regional based local courses in Child Protection, Management, and Presentation and Interview skills are available and strongly encouraged.
Trainees receive structured and intensive support with close mentoring. Supervised operative and out-patient experience is provided based on individual trainee requirements.
ST1 and 2 core placements are currently at the Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital, as well as the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and ST 3 to 8 three-year placements are at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow and the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh.
We also encourage trainees to consider an Out of Programme Experience (OOPE) towards the final part of their training to gain exposure in a different clinical environment.
Where the training is delivered?
- Royal Aberdeen Childrens Hospital
- The Royal Hospital for Children Glasgow
- Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, Edinburgh
Contacts and useful links
Information |
|
| Programme type (Deanery or National): | Deanery |
| Administration office: | National |
| Lead Dean / Director: | Professor Adam Hill |
| Responsible Associate Postgraduate Dean or Assistant Director (GP): | Mr Bryn Jones |
| Specialty or Sub-specialty: | Specialty |
| Date of GMC recent approval: | Aug 2010 |
| Associated Royal College - Faculty: |
Joint Committee on Surgical Training |
| Curriculum and associated assessment system: | https://www.iscp.ac.uk/iscp/curriculum/paediatric-surgery-curriculum/1-introduction/ |
| Programme administrator: |
Name:
Jackie Aitken
Address: NHS Education for Scotland, 102 West Port, Edinburgh. EH3 9DN Email: jackie.aitken@nhs.scot |
| Programme director(s): |
Name:
Mr Martyn Flett Email: martyn.flett2@nhs.scot |
| Quality of training: | Quality Management |
This page was last updated on: 14.03.2025 at 14.03