SOUTH WESTERN DEANERY - South West Peninsula Deanery

INTRODUCTION
The Scheme offers posts in all Trusts providing psychiatric care in Devon and Cornwall, with experience ranging
from cities to suburban and dispersed rural areas. There is a range of models of service provision on inpatient,
outpatient and community based care. The rotational scheme affords placement in several branches of
psychiatry; liaison psychiatry; substance misuse, general psychiatry, psychiatry of old age; Forensic Psychiatry,
Home Treatment, Early Intervention in Psychosis, Eating Disorders and Psychotherapy. Training occurs in a
number of different settings; psychiatry hospitals, community units and academic departments. As there are
more approved training opportunities than funded posts Specialty Trainees have considerable choice and
flexibility in planning an individually tailored training programme.
The training in each of the training posts have been planned to give each Specialty Trainee a broad experience
as well as providing scope to develop research and pursue a special clinical interest.
The basic plan of each one year training post is:
Eight clinical sessions with the principal Consultant Trainer
One special interest session, which may be with the Consultant Trainer or with another Consultant. The
special interest sessions will be arranged after discussion with the Programme Director.
One research session supervised by a member of the Academic Department or a supervisor approved by
the Programme Director.
The training scheme is based around main centres in Bodmin, Redruth, Exeter, Plymouth, Barnstaple and
Torbay. Each centre has its own on-call arrangements. Specialty trainees on the scheme are employed by one
of three NHS Trusts: Cornwall Partnership NHS Trust, Devon Partnership Trust and Plymouth Primary Care
Trust. The Regional Postgraduate Dean is Dr Martin Beaman, Peninsula Medical School, John Bull Building,
Research Way, Tamar Science Park, Derriford, Plymouth.
Allocation of posts is made by the Programme Director in the light of discussions with individual Specialty
Trainees, initially directly after appointment and then a few months prior to each rotation point in July of each
year. Specialty Trainees are strongly encouraged to meet with the Consultant trainers for their preferred
placements prior to the final allocation.
There are 15 posts on the rotation. Four NTN’s exist in Old Age Psychiatry and eleven in Adult Psychiatry. It is
possible to apply to dual accredit in Old age and General Adult Psychiatry. Of the sixteen posts, four are
allocated to Cornwall Partnership Trust, four to Plymouth Primary Care Trust and seven to Devon Partnership
Trust.
Throughout his/her tenure, each Specialty Registrar is entitled to one session per week for research as part of
the core training programme in psychiatry and this does not constitute study leave. Specialty Trainees are
entitled to an additional study leave and this is not used for the day per week for research as part of core
training. The Specialty Trainees are also encouraged to meet monthly for informal support and specific
educational activities.
The Programme Director runs a regular training surgery in each locality and trainees are encouraged to make
use of this facility. The scheme has a well established ARCP (Annual Review Competency Progression) process
which is highly regarded by trainees.
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