INTRODUCTION TO LEARNING DISABILITY
ST4-6 TRAINING
BRISTOL AND GLOUCESTERSHIRE ROTATION
2gether NHS Foundation Trust, Gloucestershire plus Avon and Wiltshire Partnership Trust in Bristol, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and BANES.
AIM OF TRAINING
To provide a comprehensive training in the Psychiatry of Learning Disability affording clinical, research and managerial experience. This will enable specialty trainees on completion of the Scheme to successfully apply for Consultant posts in the Psychiatry of Learning Disability.
ROTATION SUMMARY
There are currently seven NTNs within the Scheme and the rotation is co-ordinated by
Dr Helen Sharrard (Training Programme Director)
Our scheme is one of the most highly regarded learning disability rotations in the UK, offering a wide breadth of training opportunities. It comprises of ten diverse placements in adult learning disability teams, five in Gloucestershire and five in the Bristol area.
The trainee will be expected to rotate between their choices of three of these posts during their training, spending 12 months in each placement.
Flexible training is easily accommodated in this rotation.
In addition, according to training needs, specialty trainees have the opportunity to work in approved training posts in Child and Adolescent Mental Health (Glos) or the CAMHS/LD service (Bristol) plus Neuropsychiatry at the Burden Centre in Bristol. 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 one in Gloucester). The full complement of core and advanced trainees (plus occasional flexible trainees) ensures a robust and lively peer group.
The Avon Learning Disability Education and Research Network (see www.aldern.nhs.uk) provides a high quality 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 Graduate School of Psychiatry.
Further information on learning disability