VASCULAR SURGERY

Colchester hospital

The Team and Department

The Five Rivers Vascular Network operates across Colchester and Ipswich Hospital sites. Consultants and registrars work across both sites to provide high-quality care across the region. The team is made up of 7 consultants, 2 higher speciality trainees and 6 vascular specialist nurses. Colchester Hospital is the main centre and is responsible for managing complex cases. There are also occasional clinics at Clacton Community Hospital.

Colchester Hospital has an on-call consultant and registrar who manage the inpatients on the vascular ward and acute referrals for the week. There is a 24-hour vascular service here. Colchester Hospital also offers elective aortic surgery, day case surgery, interventional radiology, clinics and vascular studies.

Ipswich hospital

Ipswich hospital has vascular services that run within normal working hours (08:00-17:00 Monday to Friday). Anything urgent outside of these hours is referred to the on call vascular registrar at Colchester Hospital. There is a designated consultant and registrar each day as well as a vascular nurse specialist. Ipswich hospital also benefits from having day case surgery, interventional radiology, vascular studies, and clinics.

Training Opportunities

There are plenty of opportunities to attend theatres and clinics at Colchester Hospital, and a list of these can be found on Medirota. Higher speciality trainees have dedicated time for these opportunities. Junior doctors are also encouraged to attend these if the ward jobs are completed. There are both emergency theatre lists and day case surgery including elective aortic surgery.

There are daily consultant led ward rounds and an additional weekly diabetic foot round. This enables opportunity for teachingbased ward rounds and wardbased assessments. Teaching and presenting opportunities are available at the monthly vascular clinical governance and M&M meetings (alternate months).

There is a weekly vascular MDT meeting across both Colchester and Ipswich sites involving the vascular surgeons, interventional radiologists and anaesthetists. This allows for discussionof the more complex cases.