North Cumbria has been rated as one of the best places for trainee doctors to complete their emergency medicine training, a recent survey found.
The emergency department, run by North Cumbria Integrated Care, has been ranked 16th nationally for training out of over 200 trusts across the UK.
The 2021 GMC Trainee Results reveal the North East and North Cumbria are top of the class for postgraduate medical training. The region has also been number one for overall satisfaction for seven out of the past eight years.
Emma Farrow is an emergency medicine consultant at NCIC, she is also head of the A&E department at Carlisle’s Cumberland Infirmary and the medical lead for advanced practice for NCIC.
She said: “I’m thrilled to have been recognised by the GMC and our trainees. I think students here are pleasantly surprised by what’s on offer in our region in terms of case mix and the amount they can learn by completing their training here.
“North Cumbria is very different from other regions in the fact that we deal with major and minor trauma cases as well as paediatric care as part of our speciality. The mix of patients that we deal with give our trainees a very different experience to say an inner city hospital.”
Dr Tom Chivers is a GP and is undertaking his training to become a consultant in emergency medicine.
He said: “One of the things that I love about working here is that it is a very varied department.
“We really do see the full spectrum of A&E presentations and we are lucky that we have a very enthusiastic team who want to deal with most of the problems where they can. In some places things like eye problems get filtered off to other departments and we are lucky here that we tend to treat most things in A&E and seek specialist advice when needed.”
Dr Elizabeth Griffiths is undertaking a university master’s programme in urgent care as well as her emergency medicine training.
She said: “I’ve really enjoyed my training here so far the case mix in Carlisle is excellent you get a really good mix of trauma patients, sick medical patients and minors and paediatrics as well. I think that is quite unique in the region for intensive training.
“We get probably as many cases in terms of trauma as some of the trauma centres but also you get the other presentations such as paediatrics that would get sent to specialist centres in other areas.”
Dr Farrow added: “The other major positive of training here at NCIC is the communities we serve are often extremely rural which bring a unique set of challenges, which we are well versed in here. Our trainees get the opportunity to get involved in some exceptional circumstances which can prove pivotal in their learning and development.”
