Zosia Beckett is a CMT2 in the West Yorkshire Region and is serving as the Junior representative (FY2 & CMT) on the BGS Trainees Council.
I am currently an ST3 in Geriatrics training in West Yorkshire. Having recently gone through the ST3 recruitment process myself, I thought it would be useful to pass on some advice to those applying this year. So far my experience as a Geriatrics trainee has been really positive; I am enjoying learning more about the sub-specialities of Geriatrics and the challenges of complex medical cases during acute medical takes. I would definitely recommend Geriatrics as a career for those who love to problem solve!
Application for the Geriatric training programme opened on the 31/1/18. This can be a complicated and stressful time, as often other colleagues are applying for different specialities with a completely different timeline and knowing what evidence is required to apply can be daunting.
ST3 recruitment website:
Start off by looking at the ST3 recruitment website, it provides timeline of important events related to your application. www.st3recruitment.org.uk
Eligibility:
To apply to the training programme you need to ensure eligibility first and have the appropriate evidence to support it.
- This includes core competences for those who have done out of programme training, (not applicable if you are already on or have completed core medical training).
- MRCP, ensure you will have completed MRCP successfully by the time ST3 starts.
- UK eligibility and English language skills if you are a non-UK applicant.
Application registration:
The application form is done via Oriel, a website which you need to register for. Registration includes the following information:
- Personal details – contact details, information on disability
- Eligibility – as above; equality – ethnic origin, sexuality, gender, religion for monitoring purposes
- Employment – list of prior employment and gaps
- Fitness – criminal records and fitness to practice issues.
Application form:
This includes further personal, eligibility, equality, employment and fitness information, some of which will be transferred across from the registration process. It also incorporates:
- References – three references from people who have supervised your clinical training in the last 2 years, one of which to be your current or most recent consultant/ supervisor.
- Competences – For out of programme training applicants.
- Evidence – This section is where you can score points for the achievements you have made so far in your career. Points are scored in these domains – undergraduate, postgraduate, prizes/ awards, MRCP(UK), presentations, publications, teaching, quality improvement and leadership. There is a ‘white box’, which have maximum word counts, to provide an explanation of your achievements.
In this section you must remember to list only the highest scoring, completed achievement. It is self-scored and over-scoring is not permissible.
- Supporting – Evidence of MRCP examination, and further ‘white box’ spaces to describe your commitment to the speciality and any achievements outside of medicine (which also have a word limit). Plus another section on any training courses you have attended.
- Preference – Provide regional/ programme preferences.
- Declarations – Data processing declaration.
More detailed information can be found on the ST3 recruitment website. The Geriatric Medicine subsection of this website is also useful to find out more about what is expected of a Geriatric’s trainee. www.st3recruitment.org.uk/specialties/geriatric-medicine
I will be writing a further blog post on the interview process nearer the time. Stay tuned!
British Geriatrics Society 