Obstetric Medicine

Introduction

Guy’s and St Thomas’ Obstetric Medicine Visiting Professional Programme provides international visiting professionals with the opportunity to experience and learn from our highly acclaimed obstetric medicine services. The programme offers exclusive insight into our obstetric medicine within maternity services and the various clinics and pre-pregnancy counselling involved in the department.

Our Visiting Professional Programme is a unique development experience that allows visitors to work and observe alongside our renowned faculty with some of the most experienced physicians in obstetric medicine. We are dedicated to broadening international professionals’ clinical expertise and enabling them to learn new skills that can be transferred back to their work place.

Programme aims

The programme is aimed at those who wish to extend their expertise in obstetric medicine, and who wish to gain an understanding of the management of medical problems in pregnancy in the UK.

The programme aims to include:

• Direct experience and exposure of ward rounds and clinics including obstetric medicine, cardiac obstetric clinic, obstetric medical research clinic, renal pre-pregnancy counselling (ppc) clinic and diabetic/hypertension clinics, and visitors’ access will vary depending on the duration of their programme
• Involvement with our leading obstetric medicine research programme and clinical research meetings
• Opportunities to attend and contribute in our multidisciplinary postgrad meetings
• Regular clinical educational meetings
• The chance to undertake hands on clinical practice. Please note that this is dependent on programme duration and previous experience (not for observers)
• A Certificate of Attendance will be awarded to visitors upon the end of their programme.

Format

The obstetric medicine programme is delivered within the hospital work place and it has been designed by our expert clinical leads to educate visitors in a range of complex cases through exposure to clinics, ward rounds and internal education activities such as research meetings. A typical weekly schedule includes ward rounds, cardiac clinic, obstetric medical research clinic, renal pre-pregnancy counselling (ppc) clinic and diabetic/hypertension clinics, plus 5 hours of education and training.

The programme allows visitors to be fully integrated within the day to day service of our teams. We will also align visitors with supervisors from within the clinical team who will provide one to one support and ensure that all of the learning and development needs and expectations are met.

Please note:

As a general rule only 2 observers will be allowed within a clinic at one time, with current UK trainees taking priority.

Who can apply

This programme is intended for non U.K. obstetricians (observerships only), physicians and anaesthetists.

Visitors have the choice of applying for a practical attachment or observership programme. Those wishing to apply for a practical attachment must have GMC registration. You can apply for GMC registration directly through the main GMC website alternatively The Royal College of Physicians run a medical training initiative which facilitates GMC registration and provides sponsorship for a Tier 5 visa. You can find out more about their Medical Training Initiative by visiting their website.

Programme duration

Our placements for Obstetric Medicine will normally run between three to six months. However, the programme’s duration can potentially be tailored to the specific learning requirements of those visiting the Trust.

Obstetrics service

Maternity

The maternity unit at Guy’s and St Thomas’ is one of the busiest in London delivering 7,000 babies annually and offers a wide range of choices and services in hospital, community and home settings.

During pregnancy we provide antenatal care at St Thomas’ and at clinics local to our patients. At these antenatal visits our patients will have blood tests, measurements and scans to make sure that mother and baby are well.

We also provide specialist care for babies who need it and for women with conditions that make their pregnancy more problematic. We are proud to have an expert staff and a wide range of specialist teams – meaning that we can provide care that other hospitals may not be able to offer.

Newborn babies will be cared for by a team of midwives, support workers and doctors who will help with parenting and feeding. Whether patients have their baby at home or in one of our birth centres, we will give them and their baby the best possible start.

Birthing choices available to our patients:

• birth at home (a home birth)
• birth in the Home from Home Birth Centre, our midwifery-led unit
• birth in the Hospital Birth Centre, our labour ward, which is staffed by obstetricians, midwives and specialists including anaesthetists.

Obstetric medicine

The obstetric medicine service at Guy’s and St Thomas’ is one of only 4 such units in the UK. The service has an international reputation and receives referrals from all over the UK. The successful candidate would work with the obstetric medicine consultants Professor Catherine Nelson-Piercy, Dr Anita Banerjee, and Professor Catherine Williamson who work as part of several multidisciplinary teams with the consultant obstetricians and maternal fetal medicine specialists and specialist midwives caring for women with medical problems in pregnancy. There are three general obstetric medicine clinics per week as well as specialist cardiac obstetric and renal obstetric clinics. The Clinical Fellow would gain experience of both the in–patient and out-patient management of women with acute and chronic medical disease in pregnancy. They would be involved in the care of women admitted to the 3-bedded obstetric high dependency unit and would take referrals of medical problems from the obstetric day assessment unit. The obstetric medicine service sees 650 new patients and 750 follow up patients annually. In addition there is a weekly joint obstetric cardiology clinic and a monthly pre pregnancy clinic and a monthly specialized pre pregnancy clinic for women with renal disease.

The obstetric unit has a very high risk and complex case load drawn from the local population of Lambeth and Southwark as well as accepting referrals for complex maternity problems from South East England and further afield.

Example Timetable

Fees

A course fee per week will be applied; this fee excludes accommodation and travelling expenses. To find out the fee amount please email vpp@gstt.nhs.uk.

Please note

Clinicians are able to offer bursaries or discounted placements on an individual basis. This is at the discretion of the Directorates of GSTT and does not affect the terms and conditions of the Visiting Professional Programme agreements.