Paediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunology

Introduction

The Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust Paediatric Infectious Diseases & Immunology Visiting Professional Programme (VPP) is designed to provide international visiting professionals with the opportunity to experience first-hand our unique Paediatric Infectious Diseases & Immunology service, which specialises in treating children with acute and chronic severe infections, unusual infections, frequent infections, tropical infections, new or epidemic infections and those with immune system issues. The programme offers a unique chance to be fully integrated within a service that is at the forefront of clinical management, training and research.

The programme has been designed by our clinical leads to provide a unique development experience that enables visiting professionals to broaden their clinical expertise and learn new skills that can be transferred back to their work place. We are excited to provide the opportunity to observe and work alongside our Paediatric Infectious Diseases & Immunology faculty and to provide an opportunity for international professionals to gain insight into our Trust and the role that our staff play within the NHS.

Programme aims

The programme is aimed at those who wish to extend their clinical expertise in Paediatric Infectious Diseases & Immunology within Evelina London Children’s Hospital.

The aims of the programme include:

• Direct experience of and exposure to specialist clinics and ward rounds
• Exposure to a diverse range of specialist infectious diseases and immune conditions, which have dedicated outpatient clinics, including HIV, TB, congenital infections, 22q deletion syndrome, Kawasaki disease, recurrent febrile illnesses
• Opportunities to participate in internal clinical meetings, such as complex patient meetings, histopathology and radiology meetings
• Interaction with multidisciplinary team (MDT) members within the Paediatric Infectious Diseases & Immunology team, including specialist pharmacists and specialist nurses
• Experience of the NHS and working in one of the largest teaching hospitals and provider of children’s services in London
• Opportunities to participate in clinical training and academic events that are held jointly with the Paediatric Infectious Diseases departments based at St. George’s Hospital, St. Mary’s Hospital London and Great OrMond Street Hospital
• The opportunity to create networks and links for future learning and development

Individual weekly timetables will be created depending on each visiting professional’s requirements.

Format

The Paediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunology programme is delivered within the hospital work place and it includes exposure to outpatient clinics, inpatient ward rounds, Paediatric Intensive Care Unit rounds, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit rounds, multidisciplinary team meetings, and participation in hospital-wide and departmental educational opportunities.

Visiting professionals will be aligned with supervisors from within the clinical team who will facilitate agreed learning and development needs. We would expect visiting professionals to be fully integrated in the day-to-day service within our Paediatric Infectious Diseases & Immunology team.

Depending on the duration of the attachment we may also be able to provide opportunities to be involved in research and service improvement projects.

Who can apply

This programme is intended for non-U.K. qualified registrars and consultants with an interest in Paediatric Infectious Diseases & Immunology.

Visitors have the choice of applying for a hands-on attachment or observership programme. Those wishing to apply for a hands-on attachment must have GMC registration or NMC registration. You can apply for GMC registration directly through the main GMC website, alternatively The Royal College of Physicians run a medical training initiative which facilitates GMC registration and provides sponsorship for a Tier 5 visa. You can find out more about their Medical Training Initiative by visiting their website. NMC registration can be applied for via the NMC website.

Programme duration

It is recommended that in order to get the most out of the Paediatric Infectious Diseases & Immunology programme, that visiting professionals undertake a placement of at least four weeks. However, the programme’s duration can be tailored to the specific learning requirements of those visiting.

PIID service

The Paediatric Infectious Diseases & Immunology team operates a busy consult service providing advice to PICU, NICU and General Paediatric teams, as well as a broad range of paediatric subspecialty services, including haematology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, nephrology, respiratory medicine, neurology, rheumatology and several of surgical specialties. The team also provides a tertiary service for paediatric patients from regional hospitals across South East England and supports their King’s Health Partners (KHP) colleagues at King’s College London.

Infection prevention and control is also an important part of our work, as is promoting the appropriate and responsible use of antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines.

We work closely with specialist colleagues from every department of Evelina London, with the Infectious Diseases team for adult patients and the Department of Infection at St Thomas’ Hospital, which includes specialised Microbiologists and Virologists.

When children are recovering from severe infections but still require long courses of intravenous antibiotics, we support their ongoing treatment in their own homes, offering outpatient antibiotic therapy (OPAT).

Research

We regularly take part in national and international research studies. Recent and ongoing projects include the following areas:

• Chronic infections, including HIV
• Diagnosis and treatment of encephalitis
• Genetics of Kawasaki disease
• Vaccine studies
• Severe enterovirus infections
• TB epidemiology & diagnostics (part of the Paediatric Tuberculosis Network European Trials Group (ptbnet))
• Non-tuberculous mycobacterial infections

Clinics

• Paediatric infectious diseases clinic
• Immunology clinic (tertiary)
• 22q clinic
• TB clinic
• Congenital infections clinic (HBV, HCV, CMV, toxoplasmosis)
• Children’s HIV clinic
• OPAT clinic
• Rapid access clinic (urgent referrals)
• Kawasaki clinic – joint with cardiology
• Fever clinic – joint with rheumatology

Example Timetable

Fees

A course fee per week will be applied; this fee excludes accommodation and travelling expenses. To find out the fee amount please email [email protected].

Please note

Clinicians are able to offer bursaries or discounted placements on an individual basis. This is at the discretion of the Directorates of GSTT and does not affect the terms and conditions of the Visiting Professional Programme agreements.