Training
Training will be organised by an OVS18 consortium of the 4 placement Trusts.
The base placement for each OVSSTP trainee will be in the visual electrophysiology units at each centre. Whilst these placements vary within hospital divisional structures, visual electrophysiology is carried out to the same high standards and all work closely with ophthalmology colleagues and departments for imaging and other tests and case management. All four NHS centres are allied to Russell Group Universities.
Clinical and Academic Ophthalmology Department of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (GOSH), London
Visual Electrophysiology Unit Moorfields Eye Hospital (MEH), London
Medical Physics and Ophthalmology, Royal Victoria Hospital, Newcastle.
Medical Engineering and Ophthalmology, Sheffield Hallamshire General Hospital.
London placements
Your OVS STP experience will have a paediatric component in all centres, but at GOSH, the experience will be predominantly paediatric. Adult elements will be gained in the year 1 rotations at other London centres – Royal Free Hospital for Audiology and Bart’s Healthcare Trust for Neurophysiology, RNIB and MEH. In Years 2 and 3, time will be spent at both GOSH and MEH. These centres are 20 minutes’ walk from one another.
All OVS STP trainees will share experience for their year 2 specialist ultrasound and biometry modules, which will require travel and stays in Sheffield.
Aston University in Birmingham will provide the taught aspects of the academic curriculum and will require travel and stays in Birmingham.
Modules in each centre will be available flexibly as required by individual students to develop particular interests or competencies.
A note about working at GOSH:
Work with children can be exceptionally rewarding, but it is also demanding and requires patience, a sense of humour, teamwork and resilience.
You will be exposed to emotional and sometimes distressing circumstances involving children and their families and throughout these you will be required to act professionally with empathy and care. The ethos at GOSH emphasises the team which provides support for staff at all levels.
Living in London
GOSH has an accommodation bureau that offers advice about all types of accommodation in London. There are NHS schemes to help the costs of public travel.
Peer support
There is a London-wide STP network offering peer support and events. The North East STP consortium offers rich cross-discipline working too. STP trainees from all themes share parts of their workplace experience, which includes healthcare science teaching, research away-days, and notably a series of OSFA sessions where the students write and then participate in local mock OSFAs.