Speciality: Urology
The East of Scotland training programme is a decoupled specialty training programme providing training in Urological Surgery from ST3 – ST7. Entry is via UK national selection. There are currently 16 STRs in the programme as of 2021. The programme provides broad experience in all aspects of both core and subspecialty urology and an active teaching curriculum.
Placements are usually for one year with a balance between district general hospitals and teaching hospitals with tertiary subspecialty activity. There are placement options –
Western General Hospital, Edinburgh
Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy
Ninewells Hospital, Dundee
Aberdeen Royal Infirmary
Raigmore Hospital , Inverness
Trainees are placed based on training requirements and personal requests
All hospitals offer good exposure to core procedures, such as endoscopic management of bladder and prostate disease, ureteroscopic management of calculi and management of genital disease. Exposure to more complex areas of urological surgery such as pelvic and renal oncology, complex endo-urology, female and reconstruction, andrology and retroperitoneal disease, occurs in the larger centres. We provide exposure to lithotripsy in Edinburgh and Aberdeen. These two centres also each have surgical robotic systems.
There are regular teaching sessions based at each larger centre. These are a mixture of trainee delivered sessions and consultant delivered sessions. There are 10-12 training days delivered in the region where the trainees meet up all day and are exposed to simulation training or didactic peer to peer or expert led sessions. Viva practice for the FRCS Urol is an integral part of these events.
All Trainees are encouraged and indeed expected to perform audit and research leading to publication or presentation on a national basis. There are excellent opportunities to be involved in the formal urology research programmes in Edinburgh, Dundee or Aberdeen as well as local departmental audits
Edinburgh has a strong history in basic science research and has produced successfully a number of academic urologists. Aberdeen has strong links with both the Health Services Research Unit, the EAU and the Cochrane collaborative and many trainees are introduced into the international nature of urology with collaboration with these groups.
The teaching programme consistently scores highly in trainee surveys and trainees do well at the FRCS Urol exam .
The East of Scotland Urology Training Programme offers an ideal training environment in particularly beautiful and diverse parts of the UK. Edinburgh is a particularly beautiful and metropolitan environment offering the benefits of many major festivals including the fringe and historic sites. Inverness Dundee and Aberdeen offer a good mix of a smaller metropolitan centre with easy access to beautiful countryside such as the Cairngorms and Perthshire. The programme benefits from having access to both city centre teaching hospitals and large peripheral units offering the complete range of urological training. The programme has links to international centres of excellence which provide opportunities for OOP experience.
Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, Raigmore Hospital, Inverness, Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh
These are the base hospitals within each Health Board region. Training may also be delivered at peripheral sites within the same region during the placement.
| Programme Type | Deanery based or National: Deanery |
| Administration office | South-East of Scotland |
| Lead Dean / Director | Professor Adam Hill |
| Responsible Associate Postgraduate Dean or Assistant Director (GP) | Mr Alastair Murray |
| Specialty or Sub-specialty | Specialty or Sub-specialty: Specialty |
| Date of GMC recent approval | April 2024 |
| Associated Royal College - Faculty |
Joint Committee on Surgical Training (web site) |
| Curriculum and Associated Assessment System | |
| Programme Administrator: |
Named Programme Administrator:
Fiona Fourie
Address: NHS Education for Scotland, 102 West Port, Edinburgh, EH3 9DN Tel: 0131 656 3470 Email: fiona.fourie@nhs.scot |
| Programme Director |
Programme Director Name: Mr Andrew Martindale Address: Tel: Email: andrew.martindale@nhs.scot |
| Quality of Training | Quality Management |