South Thames Foundation School

Postgraduate Centre

The education centre is on site and houses a library with 24 hour access and a local simulation suite for clinical teaching and a communication skills room.

Library Facilities

See Above

IT Facilities

Other Facilities
(Recreational or otherwise)

Doctors’ Mess

Local Amenities/ Attractions

Living in Guildford and Surrey
Guildford and the surrounding area is a great place to live.  It is a busy city, and only 35 minutes from London by train.  Guildford has all the amenities that you could need - great shopping, outstanding schools, extensive sports and leisure facilities, good restaurants, multi-screen cinema in the town centre and access to beautiful countryside.

Around Guildford you will find some of the most attractive villages in the South East, providing an alternative to the city life. 
The Royal Surrey is only 10 minutes by bus from Guildford train station and a 30 minute walk. 
More information about living in Surrey can be found on Surrey County Council’s website:
View the Surrey County Council's Website

Transport Links

The city is located just off the A3 and is only 15 minutes from the M25 (J10) and 45 minutes from the south coast

Parking Arrangements

On site parking permits can be applied for.

Accolades/
Achievements of the Trust

The Royal Surrey County Hospital is a leading District General Hospital and specialist tertiary centre for cancer, ENT, oral and Maxillo-facial surgery and pathology.  The hospital serves a population of 320,000 for emergency and general hospital services and is the lead specialist centre for cancer patients in Surrey, West Sussex and Hampshire, serving a population of 1.2 million.

Our annual income is £180 million and we have 528 beds and 14 operating theatres. We employ 2,800 staff, making us the second largest employer in Guildford.  We have very close links with the University of Surrey and have an extensive education, training and research portfolio.  The trust is a national leader in surgical training and laparoscopic surgery and a national and international training centre for complex, minimal access surgery.

Patients at the Royal Surrey also benefit from state of the art diagnostic equipment and one of the lowest mortality rates in the country.

Any Additional Information

The Royal Surrey County Hospital is a district general hospital with a few differences.

It has a tertiary referral cancer centre (St. Lukes) providing care for patients from a large catchment area.  Many surgical firms also offer complex surgery to patients from a wide area.  There is an efficient, well run A&E department with separate medical and surgical assessment units.  Stroke services include an acute stroke unit and 24/7 thrombolysis. 

There are strong links with University of Surrey supporting academic excellence.

The foundation team is well established having worked together for more than three years.  There are strong links with South Thames Foundation School and other local Trusts.

Accommodation

Several types of accommodation are available (approx prices):
Single  £354.14 per month (includes council tax and utility bills)

• 1 Bed Flat - £632.02 per month( inc utility)
• 2 Bed House - £761.66 per month
• 3 Bed House - £917.46 per month

Shadowing

We organise a Professional Practice Week/Induction for F1 doctors.

Tasters

All FY1 doctors in both Medicine and Surgery will have a taster week towards the end of their year. The aim of this is to help make a career decision.  

Teaching Programme

F1 Doctors
In August 2009, there will be 31 F1 posts rotating through medical and surgical specialties. The majority of posts comprise four three main placements to maximise exposure to different specialties.  The F1 banding is currently 1b.

There will be 33 F2 posts.  These comprise three four months posts.  We have been able to accommodate changes to these rotations with internal swaps where educationally appropriate. 

The F1 rota is EWTD compliant for 2009.  The rota is consistent in all specialties across medicine and surgery and is based on a continuous fifteen week cycle rotating throughout the year.  The rota includes acute weeks, where the F1 doctor is on call and non-acute weeks where they are ward-based.  It also includes choice week, where there is an opportunity for career exploration and developing your portfolio.

In the F1 programme we adopt a variety of learning approaches. These include ward based clinical teaching, exposure to outpatients and theatres, group learning, private study, simulation, reflective practice, audit projects as well as regular weekly teaching. 

“The Royal Surrey is a lovely place to work.  Everybody’s really friendly and genuinely approachable.  As an F1 you get a lot of good on-call experience.  Nights and weekends are scary at first, but you learn a lot.”

Louise Cripps,  F1 doctor at Royal Surrey County Hospital

F2 Doctors
Study leave entitlement is usually 10 days but is more in some specialties with fixed rotas which include choice weeks.

F2 doctors are encouraged to use this time to complete ALS and then to focus on career choice and developing their portfolios.  All F2 doctors have 2-3 individual career meetings with the Foundation director and Careers Lead for the Trust.

The rotas and banding for F2 doctors varies between specialties

Simulation

The education centre is on site and houses a library with 24 hour access and a local simulation suite for clinical teaching and a communication skills room.

Social Activities

There is a social club on site.

Any Additional Information

The foundation team is well established having worked together for more than three years.  There are strong links with South Thames Foundation School and other local Trusts.