South Thames Foundation School

Postgraduate Centre

The Trust’s Postgraduate Centre with its interactive white boards has AV linkage to its theatres and endoscopy suites, and also hosts regular Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) meetings, basic surgical skills training courses, laparoscopic courses, and GP courses.

Library Facilities

The Trust’s library, besides having a good stock of journals and text books, offers regular courses in critical appraisal and literature search, and PCs for internet access.

IT Facilities

Computer access throughout the hospital
Wifi being introduced

Other Facilities
(Recreational or otherwise)

Complementary Therapies, Discount Scheme (nhsdiscounts), on-site gym and exercise sessions with a personal fitness adviser, Healthy Eating, Hospital Chaplaincy Service and Childcare vouchers as part of the salary sacrifice scheme

Doctors’ Mess

Viable doctors’ mess.
Trust has retained on-call rooms

Local Amenities/ Attractions

Dartford is in the perfect location, enjoying both the bright lights of London and the wildlife of the countryside.

Located on the border of Kent, London and Essex, Dartford is one of the most exciting and dynamic regions in the country.

Originally a market town with a rich industrial heritage it now boasts one of the largest shopping centres in Europe, Bluewater, and will shortly have direct links to the continent with the development of the International railway station at Ebbsfleet.

The population of the Borough is 85,900 residents and approximately 37,400 households.

Dartford is at the heart of one of the Government’s key growth zones within the Thames Gateway and will see around 20,000 new homes and up to 50,000 new jobs created in the borough over the next 25 years – a substantial addition to the existing 80,000 residents in the Borough.

Attractions include:

Shopping
Bluewater shopping centre
Lakeside shopping centre (Thurrock, Essex)

Theatres
The Orchard Theatre: 920 seat theatre, playing host to many of the biggest names in entertainment
The Miskin Theatre: home to drama productions often devised and presented as part of North West Kent College
The Mick Jagger Centre; live performance venue showcasing premier acts in Jazz, Folk, Roots, Guitar and Rock

Family Activities
Big Blue Rock Climbing Wall (at Bluewater)
Treasure Trail at Broadditch Farm
Boating, cycling and Golf Pro Tour Putting at Bluewater
Olympic standard judo centre

Clubs and Bars
Acacia
Air & Breathe Nightclubs
The Litten Tree
Crush
The Court House

Transport Links

Dartford has excellent transport links in to London and the South Kent Coast.  We have excellent road, rail and bus links - 1 minute from M25 London Orbital

Train links
Dartford is currently served by several train stations:

Dartford Trains run to Dartford from London Charing Cross, London Canon Street, Waterloo East, London Bridge and London Victoria. The North Kent Line also runs from Dartford to the Medway towns and the Kent coast.

Stone Crossing train station serves the communities of Stone and Crossways business park. It is on the North Kent Line.

Greenhithe train station serves the communities of Greenhithe and Bluewater shopping and leisure complex. It is on the North Kent Line. A Railbus runs from Greenhithe station to Bluewater.

Swanscombe train station is on the North Kent Line.

Farningham Road train station is on the London Victoria line and trains also run to the Medway towns and the Kent Coast.

Longfield train station is on the London Victoria line and trains also run to the Medway towns and the Kent Coast.

Traveling by car
For the motorist, Dartford is linked to London via the A2. The A2 links Dartford to the Kent Coast via the M2 motorway which leads to Canterbury, and Dover.

Access to the M25 London Orbital Motorway is close, and the Dartford Tunnel / Queen Elizabeth II bridge gains access to Essex and the north M25 for travel to the North via the M1 and M11.

The southern section of the M25 gives access to the M20 to Maidstone, Folkestone and Dover, the M23 to Gatwick Airport and Brighton, the A3 to Guildford and Portsmouth, and the M3 to Southampton.

Parking Arrangements

Sufficient low-cost on-site parking for staff

Accolades/
Achievements of the Trust

Investors in People Award
HSJ 100 Award
Excellent healthcare ratings
CHKS Top 40 Hospitals Award
Top quartile performer in staff survey

Any Additional Information

Accommodation

Accommodation for staff and key workers at Darent Valley Hospital.  Short to medium term housing. 

At Darent Valley Hospital accommodation is available.  From one day to many months, our range of single rooms or apartments will suit people looking for cost effective, well managed accommodation, close to your place of work.

Get to know what we have to offer.  Our website (www.dvh.nhs.uk) gives a great overview of our many accommodation solutions, current availability and what you can expect when you move in. Whether it is a short term – our stopover hotel welcomes people wanting one or more nights, or medium term - many of our residents enjoy staying with us for months, and, subject to availability in some cases, years, the residences at Darent Valley Hospital have an accommodation solution for everyone.  Full accommodation charges apply to all grades of staff including foundation year 1 trainees.

Shadowing

See teaching Programme/Training Grades

Tasters

Foundation Year One and Two doctors can apply for “taster” periods in other specialities provided they have support from their Educational supervisor and the Foundation Faculty Board.

Teaching Programme / Training Grades

Foundation 1 doctors are not only offered shadowing periods, but are also employed one week before the national change over in August of each year to allow them to meet and work with the outgoing F1 doctor and complete any statutory training such as ILS, and certification of cannulation competence.

Foundation 2 Doctors also receive ALS training, if required, within the first week of taking up their posts.  The Trust is also prepared to offer F2 doctors appropriate study leave to further their future careers, provided the trainee has shown commitment to the Foundation programme and is completing the required assessments etc.

A formal training programme for Foundation doctors takes place on Wednesday lunchtimes whose content is sufficiently flexible to enable F1/2 doctors to ensure their knowledge/skill gaps are being addressed. Specific gaps in a trainee’s skill ability such as insertion of central lines, chest drains, lumbar punctures can also be addressed by the trainee attending the Trust’s Clinical Decisions Unit or ITU where these procedures are regularly performed.

Each Speciality also provides regular weekly lunchtime meetings and monthly half day training/teaching programmes which foundation doctors are expected to contribute by either presenting cases or audits.

The Trust’s library, besides having a good stock of journals and text books, offers regular courses in critical appraisal and literature search, and PCs for internet access.

The Trust is also committed to research and, for those trainees who wish to participate, our Research and Development Committee and its manager would be happy to advice.

Simulation

Trainees are booked in for simulation training at St George’s Hospital, Tooting

Social Activities

Summer fete, Sports Day, Cricket and Football.  Active Mess.

Any Additional Information

The Trust is fully committed to training and development all of its staff and has strong links with King’s College London Medical School, the Universities of Greenwich and Canterbury, and the South Thames Foundation School. It takes medical students from the GKT/KCL campus and nurse students from Greenwich University, offering foundation trainees teaching opportunities.