London School of Anaesthesia 

Introduction

The London School of Anaesthesiais responsible for the delivery and quality assurance of training in Core Anaesthesia, Acute Care Common Stem Anaesthesia, Higher Anaesthesia  across the whole of London. The School has more than 1,000 trainees and offers programmes at prestigious teaching centres across the capital. 

Vision

The London School of Anaesthesia mission is three-fold:

  • to inspire excellence among our trainees
  • to ensure our patients receive the highest standard of clinical care
  • to inspire all disciplines linked with our specialties to perform to the highest standards

We offer the highest quality of anaesthesia and ICM training and provide our trainees with the skills and experience needed to meet the challenges and demands of the NHS today and tomorrow.

Head of School

aasifa_profile_pic.jpg

Dr Aasifa Tredray MB ChB FRCA, started working as Head of School for Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine in February 2021.

She graduated from the University of Sheffield Medical School in 1996, where she started her Anaesthetic career. She moved to London in 2001 and completed her anaesthetic training in South West London and has been a Consultant Anaesthetist at St George's University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust since 2006. 

Her clinical areas of interest are in Airway and Regional Anaesthesia. Educationally she has been an Advanced Module Lead, Educational Supervisor, College Tutor and most recently the Lead and Higher Training Programme Director for South West London and the South London Anaesthetic Programme Specialist Training Committee Chair.

Dr Tredray's vision is to continue delivering the high standard of training and education for all Anaesthetic and Intensive Care Medicine trainees across London so that they are ready for their future roles as consultants. She wants all trainees to feel valued, supported, celebrated in excellence, and treated equally and fairly in an open and transparent manner.

"I look forward to continuing the work of my predecessors and taking the London School of Anaesthetics and Intensive Care Medicine into the future."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Training Programmes

The London School of Anaesthesia and ICM is comprised of two Anaesthetic training programmes, one in North London and one in South London, and a Pan-London ICM Programme. We train anaesthetists and ICM doctors, based in all geographical areas of London. Working in world-renowned centres of excellence, trainees have an unparalleled opportunity to participate in every possible range, type and specialty of anaesthetic and ICM practice. Programmes are led by enthusiastic, experienced and committed trainers.  The diverse nature of London's population offers unique clinical challenges and the opportunity to work in a variety of clinical contexts. These include district general hospitals, dedicated ambulatory care centres, teaching hospitals, research units and specialist internationally renowned centres including: Great Ormond Street Hospital, Queen’s Square, UCLH, Bart’s Health, St George’s Hospital, Guys and St Thomas' Hospital, King’s College Hospital, Imperial and Queen Charlotte’s Hospital.

The School works closely with its constituent programmes of anaesthesia and ICM, the Royal College of Anaesthetists and Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine to take maximum advantage of the excellent resources and opportunities London has to offer. We are enhancing access to state-of-the-art simulation centres to provide additional training opportunities and we offer a range of didactic teaching and training courses. Trainees sit on the Anaesthetic and ICM Specialty Training Committees and elect representatives to sit on the board of the London School of Anaesthesia and ICM. We believe training in the London School of Anaesthesia & ICM represents an opportunity to become part of a world-class scheme that will benefit not only our patients but generations of trainees to come.

 

For more information regarding the North London and South London Anaesthetics Programme and ICM Programme please click on the links below:

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Other Quick Links

ARCPs 

Regional Training Days 

RCOA Website 

 

School Structure

                                      

London School Anaesthesia

Head of School- Dr Aasifa Tredray

Deputy Head of School – Adrienne Stewart & Carlos Kidel

London Anaesthesia Specialty Training Committees (STC)

North London Anaesthetic Programme

South London Anaesthetic Programme

North West TPDs

North Central TPDs

North East TPDs

South East TPDs

South West TPDs

Ruth Bedson(S1)

Phillip Peel(S2)

Amardeep Riyat (S3)

 

Regional Advisor - Sian Jagger

Abigail Whiteman(S1)

Kate Sherratt(S2)

Trudi Young(S3)

 

Regional Advisor- Sonia Brocklesby

Naomi Hancox(S1)

Sumitra Lahiri (S2)

Stephen Hallworth(S3)

 

Regional Advisor- Roger Cordery

Marina Choudhury(S1)

Dev Mahtani (S2 & S3)

 

 

Regional Advisor- Oliver Rose

Nadeem Ahmed(S1)

Daniela Mathew(S2)

Anna Walton(S3)

 

Regional Advisor – Rene Suite 

 

Pan London and KSS Advanced Pain Training- London and KSS Pain Training Advisory Group (LKPTAG) Pain Training Programme Director- Fauzia Hasnie

Faculty of Pain Medicine Regional Advisors- North London: Ashish Shetty, South London and KSS: Sandesha Kothari

Pan London Anaesthetic Educational Delivery TPDs – Gunjeet Dua, Emilie Martinoni Hoogenboom

Pan London Anaesthetic Simulation Leads – Janis Ferns, Ching Pang

Pan London Anaesthetic Academic Training Programme Director – Gudrun Kunst

Pan London Anaesthetic Less Than Full Time Training Advisor and SRTT Champion – Anna Fowler

School Trainee Reps and HEE Education Fellows

Pan London HEE Funded Anaesthesia Associate Training Programme - AA Training Lead – Dan Heaton, AA Ambassador – Frances Marfleet

Anaesthetics Health Education Team

Service Delivery Manager (SDM)- Titalayo Akintoye, Operations Manager (OM) - Jessica Banks-Cromack ICM and KSS Officer - Deborah Bunce

Email: anaes.lase@hee.nhs.uk (trainer enquires), PSP link: https://lasepgmdesupport.hee.nhs.uk/support/home (trainee enquiries)

North London Anaesthetic Programme

North London Officer – Kelvin Carrasco

Administrators - Ben Owusu-Ansah (NE & NW), Mubeen Akhtar (NC)

South London Anaesthetic Programme

South London and Pain Officer - Claire Bowden

South London Administrator - Mohammed Rayhan (Rayhan)

Lead Trainee Representatives

 

 

 

 

 

 

Josh Wall is a stage 3 anaesthetic trainee in North West London, currently undertaking the National Medical Director's Clinical Fellow Scheme 2021/22.

Having been a trainee representative for the last 3 years, Josh is passionate about improving the experience of anaesthetists in training. Together with his colleague Elly Warwick, they act as the pan-London trainee representatives for the London School of Anaesthesia. Josh represents the trainees in North London and Elly represents those in South London. They work closely with the regional trainee representatives to ensure trainees have a voice and are heard by the School and key stakeholders. They attend School board meetings and make sure unresolved trainee issues raised at Regional Educational Meetings and Speciality Training Committees are discussed. They are also actively involved in local reviews of anaesthetic training where they work hard to provide trainee input and help shape the future of training. Additionally, Josh represents anaesthetic trainees nationally as a member of the Anaesthetists in Training Representative Group at the Royal College of Anaesthetists.

Josh is highly aware of the challenging training environment as a result of the recent changes to the training programme combined with the COVID-19 pandemic. Josh encourages trainees to speak to local representatives who are in an excellent position to help, support, and campaign for change where needed. Alternatively, if you would like to speak to Josh directly,  he is happy to be contacted via email.

 

Melissa Addy

Sittiga Hassan Reshat

 

Academic

Pan-London Academic Training Programme Director in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine

Dr Gudrun Kunst, MD, PhD (habil.), EDAIC, FRCA, FFICM started working as the Pan-London Academic TPD in 2019.

She trained at Heidelberg University Hospital and at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London and she has been a Consultant Anaesthetist at King’s College Hospital since 2004. Her clinical interests include cardiovascular anaesthesia and anaesthesia for day surgery procedures.

She was promoted to Professor of Cardiovascular Anaesthesia at King’s College London in 2020. Her research interests include perioperative organ protection and biomarkers for acute organ failure.

Gudrun is an examiner for the Primary FRCA, where she is Deputy Lead of the OSCE Working Party. She is the Scientific Officer and the Treasurer of the Association of Cardiothoracic Anaesthetists and Critical Care (ACTACC).

She was awarded two prestigious national research prizes in anaesthesia: the Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA) – NIHR Senior Research Clinician Prize in 2017 and the RCoA Macintosh Professorship in 2019.

Internationally, Gudrun is a Board Member of the European Board of Cardiovascular Perfusion (EBCP), and she chairs the Cardiopulmonary Bypass Committee of the European Association of Cardiothoracic Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care (EACTAIC) and the Scientific Committee of EBCP.

Patient outcomes are better at research-active hospitals. Professor Kunst has the vision of broad acceptance and maximal supportive structures for clinical research by academic and clinical trainees towards excellence in research projects for the benefit of our patients. 

For further information about Academic please click here.

Approaching Completion of Training (CCT) for Anaesthesia

If you are eligible to apply for entry to the Specialist Register with a CCT or a CESR(CP) the College will notify the General Medical Council (GMC) of your completion of training date during your final year of training. The GMC will then invite you to make an application roughly about four months before your completion of training date.

The award of a CCT and inclusion on the Specialist Register are not automatic procedures; you (the trainee) are required to apply for your CCT or CESR(CP) Certificate. It is a legal requirement for you to be on the Specialist Register before taking up a substantive or honorary NHS consultant post.

Visit the RCOA website for more information.

 

The 5 steps to certification:

Step 1
When a trainee is within six months of their completion date, trainees should complete the College notification of completion of training form (on the College website) and ask their TPD to sign this off. You need to demonstrate appropriate amounts of higher (2 years) and advanced training (1 year) on the 2010 curriculum. Periods out of training for maternity leave should be recorded with dates and any accrued leave counted for training. It is helpful to convert LTFT % into WTE time to calculate the CCT. The TPD will send the signed form with an agreed CCT date to the Training Department at the College. If for some reason there is a change in your training after submission, the TPD will email the College to revise their recommendation and a new NOCOT form will need to be submitted.

Step 2

Towards the end of the CCT training programme trainees will undergo a final ARCP and, if successful, will be issued with an ARCP Recommendation for completion of training (Outcome 6) by the Postgraduate Dean. If you are a dual ICM trainee, you will undergo 2 final ARCPs, one for Anaesthetics and one for ICM and an outcome 6 will be awarded to you by both programmes.

Step 3
Once the Notification form and the ARCP Outcome 6 have been received, the College will formally make a recommendation to the GMC for the award of a CCT or CESR(CP). The trainee will also receive a letter from the Training Department, advising them of the recommendation for the CCT/CESR(CP).

Step 4
At this point the trainee will already have received an email from the GMC inviting them to complete the GMC online application. The Certification applications are now done on the secure web portal, GMC Online, which has made it easier to enter your information and pay the relevant fees.

Step 5
Once the College has made the recommendation to the GMC, there is no further involvement by the College in the process and it becomes a trainee/GMC relationship. GMC add the trainee’s name on to the Specialist Register; the trainee must have indicated this on their certification application. Failure to do this by the trainee will delay specialist registration and being able to take up a consultant post. You need to apply to join the specialist register within 12 months of your CCT date. Failure to do so may mean you have to apply via the CESR route.

 

Other Useful Information:

You can apply to act up as a Consultant for a maximum of 3/12 in your last year of training. This can count for training. Although this is not in a HEE numbered post there is still a requirement for a nominated supervisor. Information on acting up is available here. Applications should normally reach the relevant HEE local office a minimum of sixteen weeks prior to the proposed start date of the ‘Acting Up’ arrangement (in line with contractual notice periods) to meet Code of Practice requirements, however this notice period may be waived in exceptional circumstances and in agreement with the relevant Trust(s) and Postgraduate Dean. Trainees and Trusts are encouraged to have discussions as early as possible to facilitate the approval process, upon identification of acting up opportunities

You can interview for a Consultant post so long as the interview date is within 6/12 of your CCT date. CCTs will not be brought forward to allow application for a Consultant post.

You do not need to resign your HEE number. This will happen automatically on your CCT date. If this is part way through a placement and you intend to finish on your CCT date, you will need to give appropriate notice to the Trust (usually 3/12, but check with the Trust) of your last day of work.

You are entitled to 6/12 of grace period (HEE placement) after your CCT. You retain your CCT number but you will be in the post for service and are not entitled to OOP or IDT or an SIA. If you wish to take up your grace period you will need to notify your TPD at least 6/12 before your CCT date. Trainees in-programme will be prioritised for placement according to their training needs. You will be offered choice once all the in-programme trainees have been placed. Should you wish to leave your scheduled grace period early you will need to notify your TPD and give the Trust appropriate notice period (3/12 usually).

Study Leave

HEE London have published lists per specialty on the PGMDE Support Portal which details the courses each School considers mandatory to support curriculum requirements and those that are optional. 

For more information about Study Leave - click here.

The London School of Anaesthesia & ICM course list can be found here

In the event you wish to undertake a course outside the mandatory and optional lists please make a prospective application following the Aspirational Course process. This includes seeking support from your TPD.  Please email the TPD and include the points below which provides details of the course, estimated costs and justification for attending the course and justification if it is outside of London.  If your TPD approves your request then it will be sent to the HoS/DHoS for approval before final approval is given. If at any point along the approval process your request is declined you will be emailed and informed why.

Details to be included for ASPIRATIONAL STUDY LEAVE REQUEST

Name of course

Course location

Course dates

Course fees

Estimated travel/accommodation expenses

Justification for attending the course*, linked to trainee’s PDP and learning objectives and confirmation that the trainee has not already received funding for an international event during the current period of training (i.e. Foundation or core or higher training programmes, trainees in run through or dual programmes can apply for international events every 3 years as a maximum)

Justification for attending a course located outside of London, Kent, Surrey & Sussex.

* Please note that trainees seeking leadership training should in the first instance be encouraged to access the free NHS Leadership Academy Edward Jenner or the LEEP programme delivered by an NHS Trust or HEE and should only consider any other options when these courses are not available. Please confirm you have explored these options in your application.

Less Than Full Time Training (LTFT)

We are committed to providing increased flexibility in postgraduate education and welcome applications from Anaesthesia and ICM trainees wishing to apply for less than full time (LTFT) training.  There are a number of different categories of eligibility (some of which are automatic) with differing notification/application periods, further information can be found here

Please discuss your intentions with your TPD (both specialities if you are dual training) in the first instance.

LTFT applications will be reviewed within windows to aid decision making. If a trainee applies well in advance of the intended LTFT category 2 start date, their application will be added to next window.

 

Windows

OOP/LTFT cat 2 start date

Deadline for OOP/LTFT cat 2 Application

(at least 6 months in advance for OOPs and 16 weeks for LTFT cat 2)

OOP/LTFT cat 2 review window for HoS and NL/SL TPDs

1

Beginning of February

Beginning of August

1st 10 days of Sept

2

Beginning of May

Beginning of November

1st 10 days of Nov

3

Beginning of August

Beginning of February

1st 10 days of Feb

4

Beginning of November

Beginning of May

1st 10 days of May

 

For example:

Windows

OOP/LTFT cat 2 start date

Deadline for OOP/LTFT cat 2 Application

(at least 6 months in advance)

OOP/LTFT cat 2 review window for HoS and NL/SL TPDs

1

Beginning of Feb 2022

Beginning of August 2021

1st 10 days of Sept 2021

2

Beginning of May 2022

Beginning of November 2021

1st 10 days of Nov 2021

3

Beginning of Aug 2022

Beginning of February 2022

1st 10 days of Feb 2022

4

Beginning of Nov 2022

Beginning of May 2022

1st 10 days of May 2022

OOP (Out of Programme)

The London School of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine is highly supportive of trainees wishing to take a period of time out of programme to develop themselves further. There are multiple forms of OOP trainees can undertake which should be discussed as early as possible with your Training Programme Director (both programme TPD's should be informed if you are a dual specialty trainee):

  • OOPT (Training): Time out of programe for approved clinical training in a post which already has prospective approval from the GMC. (Your CCT date may not change)
  • OOPE (Experience): Time out of programme for clinical experience in a post which will not count towards the award of a CCT. (Your CCT date will be extended)
  • OOPR (Research): Time out of programme to undertake research leading to an MD or a PhD.
  • OOPC (Career Break): Planned time out of programme to pursue other interests (e.g. domestic responsibilities, work in industry, developing talents in other areas and entrepreneurship). OOPC should not be used to cover sickness.
  • OOPP (Pause): Allows trainees to step out of training for a period of time and have competencies gained whilst out of training assessed upon their return. This may potentially allow competencies/capabilities accrued whilst out of programme contribute towards training (a key difference from OOPE).

Information regarding OOP options and the application process can be found here.

School guidance, which has been produced to help support conversations with your TPD and navigate the application process successfully, can be found here.

Please be aware that any OOP requires prospective formal agreement of the PG Dean and applications must be submitted at least six months in advance of the anticipated start date (and some programmes have application “windows” – please discuss with your TPD).  The Postgraduate Dean remains the Responsible Officer for Doctors in training on OOP and they will still require an annual ARCP. You should also ensure you are fully understanding of any impact OOP may have on your visa status, statutory rights, continuation of service and pension. The FAQ section on the PGMDE Support Portal can help with queries related to this and can be found here.

For more information regarding OOP please click here.

 

OOP applications will be reviewed within windows to aid decision making. If a trainee applies well in advance of the intended OOP, their application will be added to next window.

Windows

OOP/LTFT cat 2 start date

Deadline for OOP/LTFT cat 2 Application

(at least 6 months in advance for OOPs and 16 weeks for LTFT cat 2)

OOP/LTFT cat 2 review window for HoS and NL/SL TPDs

1

Beginning of February

Beginning of August

1st 10 days of Sept

2

Beginning of May

Beginning of November

1st 10 days of Nov

3

Beginning of August

Beginning of February

1st 10 days of Feb

4

Beginning of November

Beginning of May

1st 10 days of May

 

For example:

Windows

OOP/LTFT cat 2 start date

Deadline for OOP/LTFT cat 2 Application

(at least 6 months in advance)

OOP/LTFT cat 2 review window for HoS and NL/SL TPDs

1

Beginning of Feb 2022

Beginning of August 2021

1st 10 days of Sept 2021

2

Beginning of May 2022

Beginning of November 2021

1st 10 days of Nov 2021

3

Beginning of Aug 2022

Beginning of February 2022

1st 10 days of Feb 2022

4

Beginning of Nov 2022

Beginning of May 2022

1st 10 days of May 2022

Simulation and TEL

Further information can be found here.

Specialty Bulletin
Contact - Operations Team
Operations Team
0207 866 3237

Please raise a ticket via the PGMDE Support Portal

https://lasepgmdesupport.hee.nhs.uk/support/tickets/new

Contact - Head of School
Aasifa
Head of School
Contact - Deputy Head of School
Carlos Kidel
Deputy Head of School
Contact - Lead Trainee Rep (North London)
Josh Wall
Lead Trainee Rep (North London)
Contact - Lead Trainee Rep (South London)
Melissa Addy
Lead Trainee Rep (South London)
London ICM Lead Trainee Representative
Sittiga Hassan Reshat
ICM Lead Trainee Representative