Yorkshire and the Humber – additional information
Jon Griffin is an ST2 in Sheffield. This is his experience:
‘Sheffield is a great place to train. The department is big enough that all major specialities are covered but it is small enough that you get to know everyone quickly, The consultants are enthusiastic trainers; this is reflected by the large amount of formal and informal teaching in the department. We have a weekly, trainee-led gastrointestinal pathology meeting where trainees and consultants present interesting cases. There is also fortnightly gynaecological pathology teaching and sarcoma/ soft tissue pathology sessions.
Currently there are 10 trainees in Sheffield with a fairly even split across grades. Our trainee’s room has an up to date library, access to histopathology and cytology teaching sets and that rarest of things – a window! Each trainee has their own microscope and computer. Our recent record with exams is good: 2/2 for the OSPE, 3/3 for the FRCPath part 1 and 3/4 for the FRCPath part 2.
Training as an ST1 is organised into two week placements with each speciality so by the time the OSPE comes around you’ve covered the curriculum twice. After the OSPE there are placements in paediatric pathology at Sheffield Children’s Hospital, a neuropathology attachment and an oral pathology attachment. We also have tertiary referral services for cardiac pathology, ophthalmic pathology and gestational trophoblastic disease. ST1s attend the FRCPath teaching sessions which can be daunting at first but are very useful for training your mindset when approaching new cases. These are joint sessions with trainees in Leeds and use digital pathology and video conferencing to facilitate slide seminars and presentations.
There are plenty of opportunities to get involved in teaching and many ST1s choose to be 1st year medical student tutors. This involves facilitating small group teaching for two hours every fortnight. Sheffield also offers additional training in molecular pathology through the MSc in Genomic Medicine which pathology trainees are encouraged to sign up for.
Lastly Sheffield is a lovely city with plenty of parks and green spaces, a good night life and easy access to the peak district for walking, cycling, climbing, paragliding and pretty much any other outdoor activity you can think of!’
Histopathology Training 