Gastroenterology

The table below contains the provisional numbers of 2010 ST3 posts which will be available within gastroenterology in Round 2. Please note that these may change over time - more vacant posts may become available, and other deaneries/UoAs may wish to join Round 2. This table will be updated as and when new information becomes available.

Also, interview dates are provisional and are subject to change.

* a number of ST3 gastroenterology posts/rotations in 2010 over-arch between London & KSS, with London acting as the lead deanery in these cases. Please contact the deaneries in question for more information.

† During Round 2, Mersey are looking to recruit to an Academic Clinical Fellowship (ACF) post in gastroenterology. For further information on this, please click here.

Last updated: 08-09-10

The Specialty

The medical specialty of gastroenterology has been expanding rapidly from the early 1970s with the development of endoscopy. Training after MRCP (or its equivalent) takes five years – one of which may be pure research, while the remaining four are usually combined with general medicine. At least one year in a busier hospital with different constraints from those in teaching hospitals is expected, and at least six months of specialised liver disease training is also required.

The trained gastroenterologist will be able to develop and run endoscopy services for diagnostic, therapeutic and screening endoscopy. All trained gastroenterologists will be competent at upper and lower GI endoscopy and some will have had additional training in hepato-biliary endoscopy. Most will be expected to participate in the acute medical receiving units of all cases including GI disease, and to be expert in the management of the broad range of gastrointestinal disease, either in out-patients or following admission. Consultation and communication skills are important in addition to organisational and managerial training.

The Recruitment Process

Recruitment to ST3 posts within gastroenterology in England, Scotland & Wales in 2010 will take place via the RCP-hosted recruitment process described in this website. For more information, please see the relevant sections of the site.

KSS & London

For the specialty of gastroenterology, the posts advertised within the deaneries of Kent Surrey & Sussex (KSS) and London will be recruited to under one UoA (Unit of Application), which will be referred to in the RCP-hosted process as ‘London/KSS’.  These posts are over-arching programmes between the two deaneries, and if appointed to this programme you may be required to rotate between both London and KSS Deanery to maximise your training opportunities.

London will act as the lead deanery in recruitment to these posts.

For more information on this arrangement and the posts within these deaneries, please contact the deaneries directly – email addresses are:

London Deanery: recruitmentenquiries@londondeanery.ac.uk

KSS Deanery: specialtyrecruitment@kssdeanery.ac.uk

Non-participating Deaneries/UoAs

Where English/Welsh deaneries/UoAs have ST3 gastroenterology posts which are vacant (or will become vacant before April 2010) and wish to recruit to these posts via the second round of the national recruitment process, they have been listed in the table above. Deaneries/UoAs which are not listed do not have any vacant ST3 posts to offer to candidates before 2011 recruitment.

Round 1 Scores

Charts showing the distribution of short-listing scores and final scores for all eligible candidates applying to gastroenterology in 2010 (Round 1) can be viewed via the PDF documents available for download from the top-right of this page.

The Gastroenterology Interview

The interview will be made up of three stations, each of which will include two main questions, and with two clinicians assessing candidates’ answers.

Station 1 - candidates’ documentation will be reviewed to verify their eligibility and commitment to specialty. The questions will be about current experience and skills; suitability for ST3 training.

Station 2 - candidates will be given 2 clinical scenarios to discuss.

Station 3 - candidates will be asked to give a presentation lasting for no more than five minutes, on either ‘An interesting case I have been involved in’, or ‘An interesting recent development in gastroenterology’.

However, please note that candidates will not necessarily progress through stations in this order.

Further information about the presentation:

• you must not present both topics – please choose and prepare only one
• the major purpose of the presentation station is to assess communication skills. Select a topic that is relevant to gastroenterology and which you can present with clarity. This is more important than trying to impress by choosing a subject that is esoteric or complex.
• no aids will be provided – ie there will be no projectors or laptops for PowerPoint, no OHPs or flip charts. However, you are welcome to use prompts on small cards (for your own use only - these should not be given as handouts).
• following the five minute presentation, candidates will be asked questions about their presentation for a further five minutes.

Thus applicants who have applied to gastroenterology and who are invited to interview will need to be prepared in advance to give a presentation.

Each station will last for around 10 minutes. Where a scenario is used for a station, candidates will be given five minutes’ reading time prior to beginning that station. Thus the interview cycle will last for approximately 45 minutes.

Person Specification

2010 ST3 Gastroenterology Person Specification: http://www.mmc.nhs.uk/PDF/PS 2010 ST3 Gastroenterology_1.pdf