Training Opportunities

Ipswich hospital benefits from having both inpatient beds and outpatient clinics. This gives trainees exposure to a wide range of both acute and chronic neurological conditions. There is a daily consultant ward round for inpatients which is an excellent opportunity for teaching-based ward rounds and work-based assessments. Whilst Colchester hospital does not have allocated inpatient beds, there are plenty of opportunities to review neurology inpatients through ward referrals.

Registrars split their time between inpatient ward rounds and referrals, general neurology clinics and specialty clinics. One day a week is spent in Addenbrooke’s hospital, Cambridge, attending specialty clinics and the regional neurology academic meeting. Registrars are encouraged to shape their timetable based on their training needs. The day a week spent at Addenbrooke’s is largely selfdirected, and can prove invaluable in helping trainees tick off the more specialised areas of the curriculum (for example, attending clinics in neuropsychiatry, neurogenetics, syncope, sleep, and pain)

There is a wide range of subspeciality experiences on offer at Ipswich include an MDT muscle clinic, MDT motor neurone disease clinic, multiple sclerosis clinic, neurophysiology clinics, spasticity and dystonia clinics, and opportunities to visit the specialist neurological care and rehabilitation centre (Sue Ryder at The Chantry). Higher speciality trainees are expected to lead at least 2 clinics a week with the support of consultants.

In addition, at Ipswich hospital, there are specific teaching clinics for internal medicine trainees (IMT). Every Wednesday, there is a teaching clinic where IMT doctors are expected to see two new patients with the support of consultants. In addition, there is a lumbar puncture clinic which is an excellent opportunity to become proficient in lumbar puncture; a core part of the IMT curriculum.

Trainees within the neurology department report that there are generally low volumes of inpatients in neurology which allows a generous amount of time to take advantage of the wide range of training opportunities available. It also allows time for other career-developing activities.