How many posts are available:
There are 24 posts in the region across 13 different sites.
Gastroenterology is an invigorating, challenging and varied specialty, providing a rewarding mix of thinking, doing and communicating. It is a truly multidisciplinary specialty requiring liaison with surgery, interventional radiology, oncology, dietetics, ITU, acute medicine and tertiary referral units.
With increasing liver disease rates and bowel cancer screening, there is, and will continue to be, a vital need for doctors specialising in Gastrointestinal and that also means our programme is large, with 24 posts available in the region.
The programme offers a wide variety of subspecialties and special interest training including hepatology, transplant medicine, nutrition, inflammatory bowel disease, therapeutic and advanced endoscopy, pancreatobiliary disease, and functional bowel disease.
Training consists of one-year rotational posts throughout hospitals in the North East depending on your training needs. The first two years will include core luminal gastroenterology and hepatology, oral cholecystogram (OGD) training, and starting colonoscopy training.
After the first two years, you will apply to follow either a luminal gastroenterology and inflammation training pathway or a liver training pathway.
The Northern Endoscopy Training Academy (NETA) is currently being established to unify endoscopy training across all our base sites, plus offering all trainees four-week blocks of “immersion training” in each endoscopic modality in order to progress their training more rapidly.
There are ample opportunities to undertake out-of-programme work in research (OOPR) with several units offering research posts based in liver disease or endoscopy research, or out-of-programme training (OOPT) via the liver advanced training post, irritable bowel disease (IBD) posts, or endoscopy fellow posts. Trainees have also undertaken out-of-programme experience (OOPE) and travelled abroad to work.
We support working less than full-time (LTFT) if desired, with around one third of our current trainees working less than full-time.
There are 24 posts in the region across 13 different sites.
Cumberland Infirmary
Newtown Road, Carlisle, CA2 7HY
The James Cook University Hospital
Marton Road, Middlesbrough, TS4 3BW
University Hospital North Durham
North Road, Durham, DH1 5TW
Darlington Memorial Hospital
Hollyhurst Road, Darlington, DL3 6HX
South Tyneside District Hospital
Harton Lane, South Shields, NE34 0PL
Freeman Hospital
Freeman Road, High Heaton, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE7 7DN
Royal Victoria Infirmary
Queen Victoria Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4LP
Sunderland Royal Hospital
Kayll Road, Sunderland, SR4 7TP
Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital
Northumbria Way, Cramlington, NE23 6NZ
Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead
Sheriff Hill, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, NE9 6SX
University Hospital of North Tees
Hardwick Road, Hardwick, Stockton-on-Tees, TS19 8PE
North Tyneside General Hospital
Rake Lane, Tyne and Wear, North Shields, NE29 8NH
Wansbeck General Hospital
Woodhorn Lane, Ashington, NE63 9JJ
“Gastro training in the North East has allowed me to explore my specific specialist interests with each trust offering different opportunities and the deanery being keen to accommodate trainee preferences. There are also lots of out-of-programme research and clinical opportunities within the region, catering for any subspecialty interest.
“The North East has been a fantastic region to train in, with world-class endoscopy and liver experience. I’ve just completed an OOPR MD, and have had lots of great opportunities to get involved in clinical research, management and quality improvement. All the units I have worked in have had a great training, service and life balance.”
Jeevan Barn, also known as Jeevs, is a 30-year-old Specialist Registrar in Gastroenterology & Hepatology at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, based at James Cook University Hospital. Originally from Guildford, Surrey, he grew up in Sheffield before moving to Newcastle.
Jeevan’s choice of Gastroenterology as a specialty was driven by the diversity it offers, allowing him to care for multiple organs such as the oesophagus, stomach, bowel, liver, and pancreas. He values the variety of patients he encounters in terms of age, backgrounds, and medical conditions, and appreciates the acute nature of the specialty, involving the management of emergencies. His highlight during the program has been learning endoscopy, and he is excited about the immersion training that allowed him to perform over 100 upper GI endoscopies in a month. Balancing the breadth of knowledge required for general clinic practice has been a challenge, as he often deals with a wide range of conditions.