TPD
Dr Priti Dutta
Subspecialties offered
We are one of the largest NHS Trusts in the country and our Trust includes the primary site of Royal Free in Hampstead, Barnet Hospital and Chase Farm. The imaging department supports a wide range of acute medical and surgical specialities and a busy emergency department. The Trust is a tertiary referral centre for Hepatology, HPB surgery, renal surgery and vascular surgery. We have transplant services in liver and renal. We cover all general medicine and surgery, Oncology, Cardiac, GI, GU, Respiratory, MSK and Breast. We cover all core training in Radiology and we have a very integrated Interventional Radiology Department.
Hospitals rotated through
Royal Free, Whittington, Barnet, NHNN and Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Overview of Core Training (ST1-3)
ST1 year is spent on the primary site of the Royal Free. Trainees rotate through all the imaging modalities with core blocks in Ultrasound, CT, Neuro, Intervention and Fluoroscopy. During your ST1 year you will follow a rota and be closely supervised to ensure you have an excellent core knowledge. You will join a shadow on call rota with 1:5 weekends working 11am-7pm. During this year you will have regular local and regional teaching and will take your Part 1 Anatomy and Physics exam. We have excellent supportive teachers who will help guide you through the process.
ST2 and ST3 years are spent primarily at the local hospitals of The Whittington and Barnet. These are very popular placements. The Whittington is a very friendly DGH and many of our former trainees have now become consultants. It consistently receives the highest survey outcomes. Barnet Hospital is also friendly and very welcoming.
Towards the middle of ST3 you will be able to rotate to Great Ormond Street Hospital and National Hospital for Neurology (and Neurosurgery Queen Square). During these years you will consolidate your knowledge. There will be time to attend conferences and start to consider research and the specialty path you might want to follow. You will be expected to choose your Radiology specialty in the middle of ST3.
Your 2A exam is taken towards the end of ST3 and 2B exam at the beginning of ST4.
Overview of Specialty Training (ST4-5)
ST4 and ST5 are spent in your chosen specialty. According to the RCR, you will spend at least 40% of your time in your chosen specialty in ST4 and 60% in ST5. In practice, we would expect you to have much more than this and all our trainees will write their ‘perfect rota’ with their supervisor and this will be followed as closely as possible each week. You will remain on the general on call rota.
On Call Commitments
Royal Free has a busy on call shift rota. We have 12-15 senior SpRs on call with one trainee doing a long day until 9pm and the night SpR coming on call at 8pm for 12 hours. We have separate consultants covering general and interventional on call. We have just decided to part-outsource some of our A&E imaging due to the workload pressure. We are monitoring this constantly and will always ensure that our SpR is able to work safely and effectively.
Local Teaching
We have teaching every day at 8am and expect all trainees to attend. Many lunchtimes we also have teaching arranged. We organise separate teaching for our 2B trainees who will have daily viva practice for at least 6 weeks prior to their exams.
Other information
We are a happy inclusive Radiology department and have a history of appointing many of our recent trainees to our department. We have a department of consultant supervisors who are keen and friendly and will help you through your training. We have an excellent GMC survey and a history of very good exam success.