The Postgraduate Newsletter - Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS ...

The Postgraduate Newsletter - Issue 5 - June 2011 - Designed and Published by Angela Pendleton 

The Postgraduate 

Newsletter 

1 WAY 

Picture Taken from the Postgraduate Centre Window 

The Robert Hardwick Postgraduate Centre 

Based within the Academic Centre 

Maidstone Hospital 

Hermitage Lane 

Maidstone, Kent 

ME16 9QQ 

01622 223052/224459/224748/224549


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Dr Chris Thom ‐ Clinical Tutor at Maidstone Postgraduate Centre 

Celia Cusworth ‐ Medical Education and Centre Manager Maidstone Hospital 

Dr Paul Moran ‐ Simulation Lead “A New Way of Training” & Library and Knowledge Services 

Dr Elizabeth Hill ‐ SAS Tutor for MTW & Dr Jonty West ‐ GP Programme Director at Maidstone 

Najma Amir—Centre Manager IMACS & Nick Winter ‐ Medical Education Manager Psychiatry 

Children in Need 2010 

The Art Competition 

Robert Hardwick & Pentecost Medal 2010‐2011 by Dr George Bird Former Clinical Tutor 

Teaching and study days & Mr Dib Datta, Cons Obs & Gynae—GP Refresher Day 

Mr Lee David ‐ T&O Regional Circuit Meeting & Dr Syed Husain Third Thoracic Ultrasound Course 

Dr Ben Warner ‐ Specialty Registrar at Maidstone 2010‐2011 

2011 Doctors Summer Ball Poster & Dr Bhavna Batohi ‐ F2 and Foundation Faculty Rep 

Dr Jennifer Pang, Core Medical Trainee at Maidstone ‐ Learning to Make a Difference 

Sarah Gregson ‐ The Kangaroo Research project 

Dr Tony Jones ‐ GP Tutor “Collaborative Commissioning” & Mr Akbar Soorma ‐ Foundation Careers Advisor 

Dr Samantha Harmer, F1 Trainee ‐ Medical Student OSCE Exams 

Dr Dina El‐Hamamsy ‐ “Survey of Attendance at postgraduate meetings 2009/2010” & Domestic Charity Football 

There's only “one way” to the Academic centre 

The Postgraduate Centre Girls 

Celia Cusworth 

Medical Education & 

Centre Manager 

Angela Pendleton 

Newsletter Publisher & Editor 

and Postgraduate Coordinator 

Victoria Fuller 

Receptionist & 

Postgraduate Coordinator 

Stephanie Joyce 

Faculty Administrator 

K&S Mon/Tue 

Maidstone Wed/Thu/Fri 

2 

Sheena Harris 

Office Manager 

Lynne Cox 

Undergraduate Coordinator


Dr Chris Thom 

Clinical tutor 

the Robert Hardwick Postgraduate Centre 


Pictured Right 

Last Minute.Thom at Number 10 

A year ago we were proudly celebrating the opening of the Academic Centre. We had two glittering opening 

ceremonies – first for IMACS, then for the Centre itself with our new MP, Helen Grant. At that ceremony I promised, 

rather rashly, that we would make full use our new facilities to give an outstanding educational experience to our 

trainees. Have I kept my promise? 

Well, we have certainly been using the Centre intensively. On top of our regular teaching sessions and the very 

exciting IMACS programme, we have hosted a large number of training and study days in a wide variety of fields, 

meetings that we were simply too small to accommodate in the past. We are increasingly known in the region 

(and beyond) as a high quality venue for educational events. As well as putting Maidstone on the map, this enables 

us to make all sorts of useful contacts with our visitors. I have already recruited a couple of eminent speakers to 

contribute to our Friday lunchtime lecture series after a chance conversation in the Centre. 

Our vision for our clinical skills lab has been completed by the arrival of SimMan. This high fidelity simulator has 

opened up what is for us an entirely new field in medical education. By placing our trainees in realistic simulated 

scenarios, we are able to prepare them for the real life challenges they will be facing. One of our F1s reported being 

able to deal effectively with a difficult clinical situation because she had done something very similar in the skills lab 

the day before. Over the coming months we will be extending simulation training to F2s, core medical trainees, 

anaesthetic trainees and many other groups. 

One unplanned bonus of our new auditorium is that it makes an excellent cinema. The Maidstone Hospital Film 

Club has shown its first film and is planning an interesting and entertaining monthly programme. 

As Clinical Tutor I am always looking for ways to stimulate our corporate academic life. For many years we have run 

two presentation prize competitions for doctors in training – the Alan Pentecost and the Robert Hardwick. 

I am delighted to report that the standard of entries is getting higher and higher; the hardest task is whittling them 

down to three finalists. We run an art competition for Trust staff, and again get entries of very high quality. I am 

now planning two new competitions. First the Postgraduate Centre Trustees have agreed to fund (to a maximum of 

£5000) a research bursary to enable a doctor in training (or a group containing at least one medical trainee) to start a 

research project. This will be run by the Trust’s research department, with a competitive application process in the 

autumn. Secondly I am planning to hold a competition for a practical innovation introduced by a trainee, rather 

along the lines of the Royal College of Physicians’ Learning to Make a Difference programme. 

So, all in all, I think I can truthfully claim that academic life is flourishing in Maidstone Hospital as never before. 

We cannot rest on our laurels. There are many challenges ahead, not least that of service configuration, which will 

see several departments moving away from Maidstone. But I am confident that we can meet these challenges and 

continue to offer a stimulating and supportive educational environment for our very motivated trainees. 

3



I can’t believe another year has passed since the Postgraduate Centre extension work took place and the new 

Academic Centre was built. We have seen a lot of changes in that time and the Centre is noticeably busier and with 

many evening and weekend meetings now taking place. 

An exciting new addition to the Centre has been the installation of a Simulation Suite, where trainees can practice 

their clinical skills under the supervision of a faculty of consultant trainers, headed by Dr Paul Moran, Consultant 

Anaesthetist at Maidstone. A Sim‐Man was purchased with Deanery funds and a substantial contribution from the 

SIFT fund administered by Dr Bim Bhaduri, Undergraduate Tutor for Maidstone. It is a Foundation School mandatory 

requirement that all F1s in the Trust should have completed simulation training before commencing F2 training, and 

consequently the faculty has organised training of the F1s on both sites as a priority. Other specialty leads have 

shown an immense interest in using the facilities for their own trainees and are currently liasing with Paul on how to 

run the training. 

A Film Society has been set up recently in the Centre in which all Trust employees are invited to attend free of 

charge. Films will be shown on a regular basis in the evening and staff can mingle together to watch and then 

discuss the film afterwards over a coffee. The first film shown was “The Third Man”. Please forward any 

suggestions for future films to the Postgraduate Centre. Posters advertising the next showing will be displayed 

shortly throughout the Trust and through the Trust publicity office. 

The Postgraduate and Library teams organised a Coffee morning and raffle this year in aid of the “Children in Need” 

charity. A healthy sum of some £450 was raised for this worthy cause. Thanks go to Vicki for arranging this successful 

event. 

Vicki Fuller joined the Postgrad team last August. She mans the Reception Desk and welcomes all callers to the 

Centre. She is responsible for room bookings and included in her role is that of “champion” to Core Medical and 

Oncology trainees within the Trust. Apart from their usual heavy workload Sheena Harris continues to “champion” 

the F1 trainees with Angela championing the F2s. Lynne runs the undergraduate programme for a large number of 

medical students who opt to do electives at Maidstone, and has also taken on the important role of Simulation 

Administrator. 

Again, I would like to thank the Postgraduate team for all their hard work this year. By pulling together as a team we 

have been able to deliver the high standard of service that the KSS Deanery and the Trust expect of us in our 

increasingly demanding environment. Team is the Theme! 


Medical Education Manager 


Postgraduate Centre 

Left to right: Sheena Harris, Stephanie Joyce, Vicki Fuller, Celia Cusworth, Angela Pendleton, Lynne Cox 

and Kelie Jest Psychiatry Administrator. 

4

A New way of Training 


Dr Paul Moran 

Simulation Faculty Lead 

The way we train junior doctors and 

medical students has undergone massive 

changes over the last few years. We have 

already moved away from the 

apprenticeship to deliver more structured 

competency based training. Going hand in 

hand with this is simulation training. 

This year we have managed to convert the 

Clinical Skills room and the Robert 

Hardwick room into a Simulation Suite. This 

incorporates an impressive audiovisual 

system that links not only these rooms but 

also the Alan Pentecost and Marie South 

rooms. This enables candidates to watch 

simulation scenarios unfolding away from 

the action. We have had three high fidelity 

patient simulators delivered. This includes 

one adult manikin, the SimMan 3G, and 

two paediatric manikins, the Gaumard 

paediatric and newborn HALs. These 

manikins are state of the art technology. 

They are all linked to the control room 

wirelessly and the faculty is able to control 

many different signs and symptoms as well 

as all the physiological variables. The 

manikins even respond to treatment and 

drugs in the appropriate manner. All of the 

manikins and the conversion of Simulation 

Suite was made possible by funding 

provided by Dr Bim Bhaduri, the 

Undergraduate Tutor, from the SIFT fund. 

The Simulation Faculty has been hard at 

work developing courses for different 

doctors and nurses at MTW. This includes 

writing realistic clinical scenarios and 

programming them on to the computer. 

The first course that has been up and 

running is the mandatory Foundation year 

1 simulation training. This has meant that 

we haven’t had to send our junior doctors 

to London for the first time (and we don’t 

have to pay for it!). We first opened the 

doors for training on the 10 th March 

(although the official opening wasn’t until 

7 th April) and since then we have managed 

to complete the simulation training of over 

half the F1s across the Trust. We now aim 

to have simulation courses for a number of 

different specialties including Medicine and 

Surgery, Paediatrics, Anaesthetics and 

Obstetrics up and running by the next 

academic year. The aim is to make these 

courses as multidisciplinary as possible and 

therefore making sure all Doctors, Nurses, 

Midwives and ODPs are working towards a 

common goal of improving patient safety 

and care. Watch this space! 

Paul Moran 

Simulation Grand Opening 

Pictures which took place on 7th 

April 2011. Pictures include the 

Chief Executive ,Postgraduate staff 

and attendees training in the 

Simulation suite 

Library and Knowledge Services 

Emma Aldrich Knowledge Manager 

Ann Foreman Systems Librarian 

David Copsey Head of Library and Knowledge Services 

Increasing the number of e‐journals and 

e‐books we purchase and ensuring that 

these are easily accessible via Athens. 

Search for titles at: 

www.southeastlibrarysearch.nhs.uk, and 

access with your Athens username. 

Library staff and users are continuing to 

enjoy working in our enlarged, refurbished 

premises, and the past year has seen a 

number of developments. 

These include: 

Issuing FREE Trust encrypted memory 

sticks to MTW employees who join the 

library. 

Developing a new knowledge service, 

Netvibes, enabling us to pull dynamic 

resources from websites, journals, 

newspapers, MTW staff teaching 

materials, chat forums all into one place: 

www.netvibes.com/mtwlibrary ‐ Want a 

tab for your department/ speciality? Let us 

know! (Large GP/Primary Care section now 

live) 

Moving steadily towards greater provision 

of e‐resources to provide 24/7 access to 

evidence; this year we have purchased 

BMJ Case Reports and Up‐To‐Date. See the 

library website for access details. 

www.mtwlibrary.nhs.uk 

We continue to offer FREE membership to 

MTW, KMPT, NHS West Kent, SEC 

Ambulance Trust. 24/7 access to the 

library is still a very popular service – 

collect a fob from staff during our opening 

hours to make use of us overnight and at 

weekends. ALL 15 PCs can be accessed via 

your MTW login OR a generic username 

and password, and the rolling programme 

of replacement/ reimaging is having a 

radical effect on PC speeds. Come in and 

try them out! 

FREE training is available to ALL members 

of the library, in the library OR in your 

workplace at times and dates to suit you. 

Groups welcome! Please contact Alison 

Millis for bookings: alison.millis@nhs.net. 

Library and Knowledge Services were 

assessed as fully compliant in 59 of 61 

criteria at the 2011 Deanery Contract 

Review. The remaining actions are in 

progress. 

5 

Pictures above of Maidstone Hospital Library


Dr Elizabeth Hill 

SAS Tutor 

At the time of writing, I am looking forward to our second trust wide SAS afternoon next week. 

Following on from comments from the SAS group, this has primarily a clinical focus this year, with topics 

including simulation, diabetes, sepsis, and radiology from local experts, as well as presentations from 

Miad on the benefits of their work with SAS doctors in London, and a chance to take some advice on 

pension planning from Mike Willoughby of Chase de Vere‐‐something for everyone there I hope, as well 

as a chance to socialise and chat to colleagues in different areas of the Trust. 

Over the summer our focus will be on preparing for the appraisal round coming in the Autumn. Last 

year saw a huge leap in the number of SAS doctors taking part in the Trust appraisal process ‐‐ and 

importantly an improvement in the standard of individual appraisals, bringing SAS doctors towards the 

level of consultant appraisals. We also built a core of 7 SAS appraisers ‐ a great achievement, especially 

considering that some Trusts still exclude SAS doctors from becoming appraisers. 

Graham Russell, our appraisal lead will be running update courses for appraisers, and I have arranged to 

purchase on‐line training on appraisal, to help those still a little unsure of the process. Additionally, we 

will be running workshops to help answer individual queries, and I plan to offer portfolio development 

clinics. 

A busy and exciting Summer and Autumn ahead! 

Elizabeth Hill SAS Tutor 

Dr Jonty West 

GP Programme Director 

I started as one of the three Programme Directors of the Maidstone GP Vocational Training Scheme in 

October, alongside Richard Laurent & Mike Strachan. I took over from Annie Walker, and it turns out 

that filling her shoes is proving to be a big challenge! 

The VTS runs a half day release educational programme on Wednesday afternoons through the year for 

GP Trainees in their third (final year), and also for those second year trainees in General Practice posts. 

The topics we have covered this year include clinical, management, ethics, as well as several sessions 

with actors, working on communication and consulting skills in preparation for the MRCGP Clinical Skills 

Assessment (CSA). 

I have greatly enjoyed my first taste of being a Programme Director. 

Unfortunately for me, the hard work is really just about to start – Annie had left me a draft timetable for 

this year, now I have to prepare for next year!! 

Anyone interested in training to be a GP can usually find me or Richard at the Postgraduate Centre on 

Wednesday afternoons. 

6 

Jonty


Najma Amir 

Centre Manager 

IMACS 

First year of IMACS 

(International Minimal Access Centre 

for Surgery) 

We had official opening of IMACS on 28th 

May 2008. The first year was a busy and very 

exciting year developing the pathways, team 

building, website, external and internal links. 

Our website www.imacs.org.uk was 

launched last month. The site truly reflects 

the genius and great imagination of Clare 

Grove and expertise of ARC web designers 

who have jointly done a wonderful job. 

While we have done our best to provide the 

material for the website , this will evolve 

with time. We would like to engage more 

specialities and departments as well as 

clinicians and nurses on the website. Please 

contact me to discuss your ideas and 

suggestions for involvement with IMACS. 

Our very successful course in Microbubble 

technique was led by Mr P Jones, Dr Ali Sever 

and his team and was not only very well 

attended but was hailed a pioneering course 

in the speciality. Mr O Devaja and 

Mr A Papadopoulos led the Gynaecology 

courses. We have not only run courses and 

meetings from our centre but also offered 

teaching and training on the international 

scene, which has brought the recognition to 

MTW which it thoroughly deserves. We will 

have our first group of international 

surgeons visiting IMACS, MTW from Pakistan 

this summer for Laparoscopic training. We 

will also be linking up with AIMS Centre ITALY 

in June to demonstrate live Minimal Invasive 

Oesophageal surgery. 

A Minimal Invasive Oesophagectomy 

international meeting is planned for July this 

year with an international faculty. Two 

regional courses are announced in 

Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy and 

Laparoscopic Nissen Fundoplication. After 

approval from Dr Elizabeth Hill, SAS tutor 

MTW we have circulated the programme to 

the regional SAS doctor’s in addition to 

registrars. Dr Hill has championed the cause 

of SAS doctors education and training. We 

have not only agreed to offer Laparoscopic 

training courses at a reduced course fees to 

the SAS doctors but also agreed to select 

appropriately motivated and skilled doctors 

attending these courses and include them in 

our faculty. This will offer them a new 

dimension in their work place and enhance 

their teaching, training and learning 

experience. This year we have announced 

the first annual friendly T/20 cricket match 

between IMACS and MTW management 

teams on 2nd of July as "Heart burn and 

Barrett's Oesophagus awareness day". This 

will be a family day out for the players and 

the spectators and the funds raised will be 

donated to the local charity for homeless ‐ 

"Maidstone Christian Care" by our Chief 

Executive Mr Glen Douglas. This will be just 

another small contribution by the staff of 

MTW towards the community in addition to 

its routine services. 

Once again our "super heroes ‐ the League of 

Friends" led by Mrs Joyce Langton are 

helping us with the event organisation and 

their services to the hospital are recognised, 

appreciated and admired by everyone in the 

Trust. 

I am also pleased to announce that since 

April I have a complement of full team with 

Mrs Sue Weston, secretary and Mr Marcelo 

Wilson Barnett, AV technician joining IMACS. 

This has helped us immensely to speed up 

the organisation and development of courses 

and other activity in the centre. 

Nick Winter 

MEM 

The facilities at the Academic Centre are now state‐of‐the‐art and the educational opportunities available to trainees second to 

none. We take many GP and Foundation Trainees on 4 month rotations in Psychiatry and Celia Cusworth and myself and our 

respective LFGs are talking about how we can work together to provide simulation training to all trainees. From a psychiatric 

perspective, it is good for our core trainees to maintain their core medical skills whilst trainees with no experience of working in 

mental health can surely benefit from simulated sessions on, for example, post‐operative psychosis. After all, physical illness does 

not preclude mental illness and vice versa. 

Another area where we work together is in the provision of mock OSCEs for medical students organised by Lynne Cox. A psychiatry 

station is always needed and our core trainees are more than willing to step in and fill the examiner role. My questionable acting 

skills have also been occasionally required to role play various mental disorders – which always makes for an interesting day at 

work! 

Should anyone have any queries about working in Psychiatry please drop by my office on the first floor of the Academic Centre or 

give me a call on 01622 222034. There is a notice‐board outside my office with contact details for the team should no one be 

available to answer your query. 

Nick Winter 

Medical Education Manager – Psychiatry 

Kent & Medway NHS & Social Care Partnership Trust 

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The Postgraduate Newsletter - Issue 5 - June 2011 - Designed and Published by Angela 

Wow £430.05 was raised for Children In Need last year by the Academic Centre! 

How did we do this....? 

On the 19 th November the Academic Staff organised a bake sale and raffle. This took place in the main dining area, 

and doors opened at 11am. Member of staff from the Postgraduate Centre and Library baked cakes and the 

response was amazing, we were overloaded by cakes and goodies from Cup Cakes to Victoria Sponge Cakes to 

Chocolate Chip Cookies. Even some Maidstone Hospital Doctors got creative in their kitchens! 

But we didn’t stop there.... 

Vicki Fuller of the Postgraduate Centre also organised a raffle for the afternoon. She wrote off to local companies 

begging for donations. Her hard work paid off and the outcome was amazing! 

Here is a list of some of the prices that could have been won by you: 

Meal for 2 at the Duke of Wellington Restaurant, Maidstone 

Free wash, Cut & Finish from Rush Hair, Maidstone 

Stainless Steel outdoor BBQ from Tesco Express, Gillingham 

£30 gift certificate from George Vaults Wine Bar, Rochester 

Free fish & chips for 2 from Deep Blue, Hermitage Lane, Maidstone 

£10 gift voucher from Sainsbury’s, Maidstone 

Bottle of Vodka donated by the Three Sisters Mobile Bar Company, Gillingham 

White framed mirror donated by Bell Glass, Gillingham 

Bottle of Whiskey & Chocolates donated by League of Friends, Maidstone Hospital 

And last but not least a cuddly Teddy Bear donated by Ken & Shirley Spree (patients of Maidstone Hospital) 

The raffle took place at around 1.30pm and there was about 60 anxious doctors, nurses and admin staff all waiting to 

see if there number had been picked out of the hat...Led by Dr Thom the raffle was under way! The atmosphere was 

brilliant, a lot of laughter and fun was had by all!! 

Here are some of the lucky winners: 

Kelie Jest (Psych’s) won the BBQ 

Sheena Harris (Postgrad Centre) won the free Wash, Cut & Finish 

Dr Jappie (Consultant Anaesthetist) won the meal for 2 at Duke of Wellington 

Dr Garth Somerville (Director of Medical Education) won the free Fish & Chips 

Darren Yates (Communications Manager) won the tin of Roses 

Dr Shaniel Sonecha (F1 Doctor) won the hair removal kit 

Dr Fred Pink (CT1 Doctor) won the bottle of Whiskey 

Pictured above is Vicki Fuller from the Postgraduate Centre and Stephanie Joyce Faculty Administrator sampling the products! Also pictured are the donated prizes and 

cakes made by the Academic Centre staff and many of the junior doctors including Dr Mira Mikhail. Dr Michael Flitman, Dr Holly Merrick & Dr Grace Chew 

8


1st Place 

Painting/Drawing Section 

Alexandra Holmes 

“Cabbages & Clementines” 

2nd Place 

Painting/Drawing Section 

Linda Sayer 

“Remember” 

1st Place 

Photography Section 

Susannah Lowe 

“With your name on it” 

2nd Place 

Photography Section 

Keith Anderson 

“Nosey neighbours” 

2010 

Entries 

The Robert Hardwick Postgraduate Centre annually holds an art competition which is open to all staff, across site to 

enter. The competition is divided into two sections, painting/drawing & photography . 1st and 2nd place cash prizes 

are awarded to the winners. 

This year, due to the refurbishment and extension of the Centre, some of the 2010 works of art, as shown above, 

have only just gone on display into the new gallery which is situated by the entrance to the library on the 1st floor of 

the Academic Centre. 

The 2011 Art competition has just been advertised. The rules are (1) All entrants must be members of staff on any 

site across the Trust (2) You may submit a Maximum of 2 exhibits (3) All entries must be safely framed & 

(4) All entries must be no larger than A3 in Size. The Closing date is Thursday 16th June 2011 at 3pm. Entry forms 

must be completed. Judging will take place on Friday 17th June 2011. Judges for this years competition include the 

new arts coordinator for the hospital Sarah Taylor & Jeremy Marshal, Freelance Graphic Designer and former 

employee of The News of the World newspaper. 

For further details: Please contact Angela Pendleton 01622 224748 or email angela.pendleton@nhs.net 

(Postgraduate Centre (based within the Academic Centre) Maidstone Hospital. 

9


The Giant Pouched Rat Emerges as Astute Diagnostician 

Dr George Bird Clinical Tutor 1994‐2003, Consultant Gastroenterologist Maidstone Hospital 

There are a few doctors in Maidstone Hospital who will look 

blank when you mention the Giant Pouched Rat. They may be 

well up on the cricket scores, absorbed from a long relaxing 

lunch hour taken in front of the Mess TV, or they may have 

skipped lunch and got home early. They may have enjoyed a 

quiet walk to Tesco Direct in the middle of the day. But they will 

have missed the prize winning presentation by Louise Paolini on 

April 15 th . 

The Robert Hardwick prize regularly serves up education, 

entertainment and also a handsome cash prize to the 

winner, and each year the winner never fails to implant in one’s 

mind a memory of something that amuses and informs. Louise, 

currently a medical F1, has made a study of the Giant Pouched 

Rat, which is being used in Africa to sniff out TB infection in 

sputum samples. More than this she is sponsoring her very own 

rat, which will soon be identifying infected mucus in the poorer 

parts of Africa, and saving time, money and reagents. Not one 

for sentimentality, she revealed the rats have none of the 

personality of dogs and can be trained as a simple 

laboratory tool. She will never meet her rat, but by the time it 

has lived out its three score months and ten, it may well have 

saved large numbers of lives in its work for a medical charity. 

Our current Medallist is John Withington, Surgical SpR and 

expert on 20 th century surgical history. Taking as his theme the 

sacrifices of surgical training, he enthralled us all with his pitying 

comparison of today’s feeble surgical registrars compared with 

the dogged, diligent and indomitable personalities of the last 

century, who had drunk deeply of surgical training and become 

the adaptable, capable and wise doctors of yesteryear. 

Was he saying that the current trainees were gentle, fluffy but a 

mite incompetent and are our upcoming consultants 

half‐baked? 

Somehow we knew that none of this was going to happen to 

John himself, but what of the orthopaedic surgeons watching 

Sky Sports in the Mess? Were we training pretenders to the 

dignified heritage of surgery and absconders from our learned 

profession? As he stepped up to collect his award, we allowed 

ourselves to wonder. Where exactly were his fellow surgical 

registrars? Were they busy seeing patients and operating away, 

laughing in the face of the European Working Time Directive? 

Or were they cowering at home, furtively reading their surgical 

textbooks, watching the hours tick by until the start of the next 

shift? 

Would you rather be a Prize winner or a Medallist? 

In Maidstone you have the choice because the winner of the 

Pentecost competition is, strictly speaking, a medallist, even if 

the Clinical Tutor has not got around to having the medals struck 

from the ingot of Welsh gold that he keeps hidden away! 

Roll of Honour: 

Pentecost Medal 2010 

1 st Prize – John Withington : ‘Deeds not words. EWTD training 

and the Suffrage Military Hospital’ 

The Giant Pouched Rat 

2 nd Prize – Claudia Da Rochas: ‘No Voronoff, you won’t get me’ 

3 rd Prize – David Carter: ‘The shocking history of ECT’ 

Robert Hardwick Prize 2011 

1 st Prize – Louise Paolini: ‘The scent detecting supremacy of the 

giant pouched rat – sniffing out a new era of TB detection in the 

developing world’ 

2 nd Prize – Holly Merrick: ‘Phage therapy – an alternative to antibiotics 

in an era of multidrug resistant pathogens’ 

3 rd Prize – Renan Ibrahem: ‘Blue genes’ 

10 

The Pentecost Medal 2010 

Left to right: Dr George Bird Judge, Claudia 

Da Rocha , John Withington, David Carter, 

Mr Mohammed Mossa Judge & 

Dr Angus Turner Judge. 

The Hardwick Prize 2011 

Left to right: John Withington Judge, Louise 

Paolini , Dr Robert Hardwick Chair, Holly 

Merrick , Renan Ibrahem & 

Dr George Bird Judge


Monday: 

Monday Grand Round 

1.00 ‐2.00pm 

with lunch at 12.30pm 

Location: The Auditorium 

Protected Teaching 

Tuesday: 

F1 teaching 

1.00 ‐2.00pm 


The Auditorium 

Mandatory 

Wednesdays: 

Core Medical Training 

(Run by Dr Peter Goulden) 

1.00 ‐2.00pm 


Marie South Room 


GPVTS Teaching 

2.00‐5.00pm 

The Robert Hardwick Room 


Regular teaching sessions held at 

Maidstone Postgraduate Centre 

for doctors are listed below 

Thursdays: 

Hot Cases 

1.00 ‐2.00pm 

Marie South or Pentecost Room 

F1 teaching 

1.00 ‐2.00pm 




Foundation Year 2 Teaching 

2pm‐5pm 

The Pentecost Room 


Friday 

Friday Postgraduate Meeting 

1.00 ‐2.00pm 



Protected Teaching 

Pictures taken below are of staff who attended CBRN 

Training day held at the Postgraduate centre 

on 18th May 2011 

Decontamination Response Training 

(text taken from the Learning & Development Prospectus) 

A theoretical and practical two days where staff will 

understand the risks associated with presenting 

contaminated casualties, how to keep themselves, 

their colleagues and other patients safe, how to do the best 

for the casualties whilst protecting themselves, an 

understanding of the practicalities of working with the 

decontamination equipment, information on where to get 

further advice and assistance if required. 

Mr Dib Datta 

Consultant in Obs & Gynae 


On the 14th October 2010, Mr Dib Datta & Ms Wunmi Ogunnoiki organised and chaired an all‐day educational meeting for general 

practitioners (GPs) in West Kent, entitled “Refresher Day in O & G for GPs”. 

The event was sponsored by eight pharmaceutical firms, and carried credit towards continuing professional activity (CPD). 

The day was packed with interesting talks on a range of subjects within the discipline, ranging from genitor‐urinary medicine to 

menopause, all of topical relevance to patients frequenting GP surgeries across the country. 

The meeting was attended by over 90 GPs from Kent and surrounding areas, with a few participants from as far afield as Swindon 

and Aylesbury. The meeting raised £3500 towards the Postgraduate Medical Education Centre (PGMEC) Fund; and which has been 

set aside for investment in O & G trainees towards their training programmes. 

Considering how busy general practitioners are, and how difficult it is to get a slice of their time, the success of the Refresher Day 

attracted plaudits from Mr Glenn Douglas, the Trust CEO, for having involved our major stakeholders in such a big way. 

In 2009, Drs Datta & Ogunnoiki had organised another successful event for midwives, GPs & trainees in O & G, titled 

“ Medical Problems in Pregnancy” with a galaxy of speakers from across specialties within the Trust; and the £2500 raised then was 

contributed towards educational attainment by midwives with our maternity services. 

11


MAIDSTONE 

HOSTS 

REGIONAL 

CIRCUIT 

MEETING 

Mr L A David, Consultant 

T&O Maidstone Hospital 

We recently played host to the South East 

Orthopaedic Circuit Meeting at the newly 

refurbished and very impressive Postgraduate 

Medical Centre at Maidstone Hospital. 

Around a hundred Consultants and Trainees 

in Trauma & Orthopaedics attended the 

event, which turned out to be an extremely 

successful day, with universally positive 

feedback from the delegates, guest speakers 

and industry representatives who attended 

and supported the meeting. 

Organised and chaired by Lee David, with 

contributions from each of the Consultant 

Orthopaedic Surgeons at Maidstone, 

the programme consisted of local 

Third Thoracic 

Ultrasound Course 

for Chest Physicians 

Dr Syed Husain, 

Consultant Chest Physician 


The highly rated and very successful Third 

Thoracic Ultrasound Course for Chest 

Physicians took place in the Academic Centre, 

Maidstone, on Saturday 7 th May 2011, which 

was organised by Dr Syed Arshad Husain 

Consultant Chest Physician at Maidstone 

Hospital. This event was of national 

importance and was attended by delegates 

from all over UK. The feedback for this course 

has remained excellent 

The faculty apart from Dr Husain consisted of 

Dr Naj Rahman, Clinical Lecturer in Pleural 

Diseases at Churchill Hospital in Oxford who 

runs BTS led course from Oxford and 

Dr Phillipa Mills Senior Consultant Chest 

Radiologist Maidstone Hospital, Dr Paul 

Ignotus Consultant Radiologist and Dr Jenny 

Graves Consultant Chest Physicians both at 

Kent & Sussex Hospital. 

presentations followed by a hip symposium, 

‘From Cradle to Grave’, with an array of 

world class guest speakers. The Maidstone 

Department has a strong tradition of hip 

surgery and already holds the regional Hip 

Away Day for Specialist Registrars in the 

South East Region, but this meeting was 

extremely ambitious and high calibre on a 

large scale. Some of our own trainees had 

an opportunity to ‘cut their teeth’ on the 

podium, delivering some excellent 

presentations on the recent work at 

Maidstone, including the Fractured Neck of 

Femur Rapid Improvement Programme, 

which achieved a significant reduction in 

time to theatre and length of stay for hip 

fracture patients; and a review of over 200 

metal‐on‐metal hip replacements 

performed in the Maidstone Orthopaedic 

Unit, which reported reassuringly good 

results. 

Marcos Katchburian and his team presented 

the extensive Maidstone experience in 

treating children with developmental 

dysplasia of the hip, which included some 

very important information for senior 

trainees about to sit their FRCS 

(Tr & Orth) exams. 

Celia Cusworth, Medical Education Manager 

at the Postgraduate Centre also contributed 

hugely in organising this course. Dr Husain 

felt that this was the third within a year of a 

string of many successful national and 

International respiratory medicine courses 

which he plans to organise in the Academic 

Centre. This event has been a very good 

example of team & collaborative work 

between specialties working together and 

giving their valuable time over the weekend 

to improve the academic profile of the 

Hospital Trust. 

He also said that providing Thoracic 

Ultrasound workshops and courses for chest 

physicians on a regular basis would not only 

improve patient care and safety for our local 

Trust but also for the NHS throughout the 

12 

The invited guest lecturers were Professor 

Timothy Briggs from the Royal National 

Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore, who gave 

his British Orthopaedic Association plenary 

lecture on salvage revision hip surgery, Mr 

Marcus Bankes from Guy’s & St. Thomas’ 

Hospitals who delivered a superb 

presentation on young adult hip pathology; 

and Mr John Skinner, also from the RNOH 

and member of the NICE working party on 

metal‐on‐metal hip arthroplasty, who 

updated us on the current situation with 

regard to the use of metal‐on‐metal 

implants. 

Some of the senior members of the regional 

Specialty Training Committee commented 

that it was one of the best meetings of its 

kind ever held in the region and it is hoped 

that more high profile meetings of this type 

will be held at both Maidstone and Pembury 

in the future. 

For more information on the topics 

discussed at the meeting, or details 

of future events, please contact Lee David, 

Specialty Tutor in T&O on leedavid@nhs.net 

country as a whole as there would be less 

chances of complications under Thoracic 

Ultrasound guidance. The course consisted 

of lectures and hands on workshops where 

patients, healthy volunteers as well as 

phantoms were available for examination. 

Several portable state‐ of‐ the‐ art 

ultrasound machines were on display and 

available for use. A great deal of interest 

was generated nationally among Chest 

Consultants/trainees throughout the UK. 

The course received excellent 

attendance of 32 participants, all with very 

good feedback. A training CD is 

distributed with the course packs 

State of the art Ultrasound machines are 

donated by Companies like Sonosite, 

Zonaire and Toshiba and Hitachi and others.


I remember sitting on one of those overnight 

sleeper buses travelling from Yangon to 

Mandalay a week before I started at Maidstone 

Hospital. Sitting next to a Buddhist monk and 

trying to sleep despite some awful out of date 

Burmese slapstick love movie on the bus TV, I was 

desperately trying to remember the ALS routine 

despite it being a far cry from what was my reality 

at that time. Was it 2 minutes or 3 minutes 

between each cycle? When did you give 

adrenaline? Damn, I couldn’t remember anything! 

The 2 months I’d been travelling had completely 

shut my brain down to medicine. How was I going 

to cope suddenly being plunged into being “The 

Medical Registrar on call”. This position that 

everybody seems to dread being and that some 

doctors actually plan their careers around so that 

they don’t have to be one. It didn’t help the day 

before I arrived when the F1 said that the next day 

I would have to do the post take ward round 

because my consultant was away. For the record 

this didn’t actually happen in the end which I was 

relieved about. 

My worst fear was a complete heart block 

because I didn’t know how to put in a temporary 

wire. Surely it couldn’t happen too soon. I would 

surely have some time to read up how to put one 

in. That was not to be the case. On my first 

weekend of being on call, an hour before I was 

due to go home “Peri arrest….. A+E Resus” 

reverberated from my bleep in that piercing 

uncomfortable way it does. One such patient had 

at that untimely moment decided to come in. The 

consultant on call was luckily doing his post take 

at that time and gingerly asked me what my 

temporary pacing skills were like, to which I had to 

drop the mirage of confidence that so many 

Registrars have to have to get through the job. In 

the end, he put it in and I think he secretly loved 

it. I think everyone can guess who that was?! 

But, being a Medical Registrar has so many great 

challenges as well as the feeling of continually 

being pulled in different directions that goes with 

it. When not on call I am doing a specialty I am 

surprised I enjoy so much. There is more admin 

but there is also the feeling that you are finally 

making a difference and actually have some 

knowledge about what you are doing. Suddenly, 

people respect your opinion and you are doing 

what you find interesting on a daily basis. 

When on call there is supporting juniors making 

sure they are not missing things, deciding which 

patients really need to come in, which is a 

constant battle with A+E. Admitting everyone will 

fill up what is already a full hospital. Sending 

people home has risks attached and with that 

choice comes the potential sleepless nights or 

early morning phone call to check they are still 

alive. Being a Medical Registrar puts you at the 

centre of the hospital. I have to say that 

Maidstone Hospital is a great place to be at the 

centre of. It has a real sense of community and I 

relish such places. I have worked at teaching 

hospitals where your own consultant can’t 

remember your name or ignores you whilst 

walking past you in the corridor. This sense of 

community is invaluable. 

It makes going into work on a Monday morning 

bearable and even a privilege. Those Sunday 

evening apprehensions have become a feeling of 

the past. 

This is where I think I am supposed to mention the 

Postgraduate Centre. I really do think that it helps 

maintain such a community. It not only gives the 

opportunity to have a decent lunch instead of the 

peanut butter sandwiches I have in the mess the 

rest of the week. It provides a forum to hear 

about issues such as Female Genital Mutilation (or 

FMG) and Sex Addiction, topics that go beyond 

medicine which is extremely important if we are 

going to be normal all rounded people. And of 

course how would we get through the week 

without the jokes emailed to us by 

Angela Pendleton? 

Below I have tried to live up to these and I hope 

you enjoy them. Thank you for everyone who 

sponsored my half marathon. 

We raised £120 for Comic Relief. 

1) 4 Doctors were talking shop one day... 

An Israeli doctor said, "Medicine in my country is 

so advanced, we can take a kidney out of one 

person, put it in another and have him looking for 

work in six weeks." 

A German doctor said "That's nothing! In 

Germany, we can take a lung out of one person, 

put it in another and have him looking for work in 

four weeks. 

"A Russian doctor said, "In my country, medicine is 

so advanced, we can take half a heart from one 

person, put it in another and have them both 

looking for work in two weeks." 

The American doctor, not to be outdone, said 

"Hah! We took an asshole out of Texas, put him in 

the White House and half the country was looking 

for work the next day!" 

2) Medicine's dream of growing new human 

hearts and other organs to repair or replace 

damaged ones received a significant boost Sunday 

when researchers at the University of Minnesota 

reported success in creating a beating rat heart in 

a laboratory. 

Lawyers are ecstatic that they will now be able to 

receive a transplanted heart that won’t be rejected. 

3)The Psychiatrist was escorting a patient from 

one Psychiatric Hospital to another. They were 

travelling by train, and the Psychiatrist was 

intrigued to see the patient tearing up bits of 

paper and throwing them out of the window. 

“What are you doing that for?” asked the 

Psychiatrist. 

“It’s to keep the elephants away !” answered the 

patient. 

“But there are no elephants in Surrey,” pointed 

out the Psychiatrist. 

“Effective, isn’t it?” was the logical answer. 

4)The man looked a little worried when the doctor 

came in to administer his annual physical, so the 

first thing the doctor did was to ask whether 

anything was troubling him. 

“Well, to tell the truth, Doc, yes,” answered the 

patient. 

“You see, I seem to be getting forgetful. I’m never 

sure I can remember where I put the car, or 

whether I answered a letter, or where I’m going, 

or what it is I’m going to do once I get there 

– if I get there. So, I really need your help. 

What the Hell can I do?” 

The doctor mused for a moment, then answered 

in his kindest tone, “Pay me in advance.” 

5)Following Doctor’s Orders 

Patient: It’s been one month since my last visit 

and I still feel miserable. 

Doctor: Did you follow the instructions on the 

medicine I gave you? 

Patient: I sure did. The bottle said “keep tightly 

closed.” 

6)A doctor of psychology was doing his normal 

morning rounds when he entered a patient’s 

room. He found Patient 1 sitting on the floor, 

pretending to saw a piece of wood in half. Patient 

2 was hanging from the ceiling, by his feet. 

The doctor asked patient number 1 what he was 

doing. The patient replied, “Can’t you see I’m 

sawing this piece of wood in half?” 

The doctor inquired of Patient 1 what Patient 2 

was doing. Patient 1 replied, “Oh. He’s my friend, 

but he’s a little crazy. He thinks he’s a light bulb.” 

The doctor looks up and notices Patient 2's face is 

going all red. 

The doctor asks Patient 1, “If he’s your friend, you 

should get him down from there before he hurts 

himself?” 

Patient 1 replies, “What? And work in the dark?” 

Can anybody spot the diagnosis? 

(See picture below ‐ Woman on the street in 

Bagan, Burma) 

Dr Ben Warner 

Senior Registrar 

Gastroenterology 

Maidstone 

13


The F2 year has been a bridging year between learning how to be a responsible doctor and 

planning for our future careers. For many of us the journey has involved interview 

preparation, studying for postgraduate examinations, discovering the new responsibilities of no longer working as 

the most junior member of the team, spending a weekend on an ALS course (and usually several others), and of 

course a great four months of hard work in A&E. 

I remember one of the first questions asked to us at the induction being, “who knows what they want to do next 

year?” Many were not certain about the answer to this question, some unsure about whether they wanted to stay in 

the UK or take a year out broad, and some, usually those wanting to go into surgical specialities, were very certain 

and had already sat postgraduate exams. Through successful interview preparation with Dr Thom at the 

postgraduate centre and lots of hours learning how to answer an interview question and how we use clinical 

governance each day, and sitting postgraduate examinations most of us have managed to secure places in many 

different specialities. 

Three most intensive four months has to be the time that all of us have spent in A&E. From looking at ECGs of 

patients with chest pain, to dealing with the drunk, suturing some very nasty looking injuries, and learning to 

organise a management plan for a patient in less than four hours, these months have been a steep and 

enjoyable learning curve. Thanks to ALS and wonderful seniors in A&E it has all been much less daunting. 

Thank you Maidstone Hospital and its staff and patients, and more especially to Angela Pendleton, for helping us 

develop ourselves further over the last year, plan our careers ahead, and enjoy our F2 year in Maidstone. 

14 

Dr Bhavna Batohi 

Foundation Year 2 Trainee 

& Foundation Faculty Rep 

2010‐2011


Dr Jennifer Pang, Core Medical Trainee, Maidstone Hospital 

Audits out, Making a Difference in 

The idea of audits is often met with a groan and an internal fight between the need to do it for the CV and the 

inherent feeling that this will be no help at all to the hospital, staff, or patients. The good news is that the RCP and 

The JRCPTB have come up with a new solution: Learning to Make a Difference! 

LTMD is a pilot scheme aimed at empowering trainees to learn how to make real changes to real situations. 

Six deaneries have been recruited to take part in the nationwide project and competition – and Kent Surrey Sussex is 

one of them. The idea is very simple: trainees identify areas of work which could benefit from change, they assess 

whether there is a need for change, implement the change, and review whether there has been an improvement. In 

essence this is the same as an audit loop. However there is thankfully an emphasis on brevity, simplicity, and 

achievability in the project, with the aim to complete a project in a 3‐4 month post. 

We have been busy in Maidstone – having produced 3 of the best projects in the KSS Deanery. 

Between us we tackled the three key pillars of quality of care: patient safety, patient experience and 

clinical effectiveness. CMT Doctors Charlotte Woodhouse, Nicola Goss, and Sally Wirrom‐Jorrie improved Hospital at 

Night, Najib Shahabi improved lengthy discharge delays, and myself and F1 Louise Paolini improved handover 

between the medical and oncology teams. 

Louise and I were lucky enough to be invited to present at the national finals where we heard an excellent spread of 

the projects ranging from hospital‐acquired pneumonia to depression in stroke patients. The best projects 

had repeated the cycles several times in just a few months, with clear benefits to patient care. 

I can genuinely say that we enjoyed doing the projects. It was empowering to be part of change. The projects lacked 

the formality of audits, there was no statistical analysis, and there was much less trawling through notes. 

We understood the need for the projects, as they were our own ideas. The RCP plans to make these compulsory for 

all medical trainees – good news, so we can now put all our enthusiasm, motivation and strong opinions to good use! 

Left to Right—Dr Louise Paolini F1 Trainee 

Dr Jennifer Pang CMT Trainee 

Pictured below—The Learning to Make a Difference event held in the Auditorium at 

Maidstone Postgraduate Centre on 13th April 2011 

15

The Postgraduate Newsletter - Issue 5 - June 2011 - Designed and Published by 

Sarah Gregson 

Consultant Midwife MTW 

Please see below details of the talk given on 

the Maternity Study Day in April 2011 

about the Kangaroo Research Project 

The Kangaroo Research Project 

Reasons for undertaking the research 

During the last 20 years, many studies have 

found that skin to skin contact (Kangaroo care) 

has significant benefits for preterm babies, 

including better temperature regulation, shorter 

hospital stay, more contented babies, fewer 

infections, better breastfeeding rates, 

improved cognitive and motor development and 

trends towards increased maternal attachment 

and bonding. These benefits are not only 

observed in the developing world but are also 

evident in affluent countries and many 

NICUs in the UK are now implementing some 

form of KC. It has not, however been used in the 

postnatal / transitional care ward environment 

in maternity services, where well premature 

babies from 34 weeks onwards and small for 

gestational age babies are cared for with their 

mothers with help and support from midwives 

and ancillary staff. There has also been no 

research investigating whether the ‘routine’ 

adoption of Kangaroo care for babies cared for in 

this setting can improve outcomes, especially in 

relation to length of stay, feeding and parent 

satisfaction. This was therefore the main purpose 

of this study. 

Objective 

To compare the efficacy of Kangaroo care (skin to 

skin contact with mother) with standard care 

(next to the mother in a cot) for premature, low 

birth weight and babies of diabetic mothers in a 

transitional care ward / postnatal ward setting 

Method and Intervention and outcome 

measures 

A cohort study set in the transitional care / 

postnatal ward at Pembury Hospital. 

Participants were 214 babies (107 in study 

group, 107 in control) with a gestation 34‐ 

36+6 weeks, small for gestational age 

(below 2 nd centile) and babies of diabetic 

mothers. Babies in study group had Kangaroo 

care following birth up to 6 weeks of age. Control 

group had standard care (in cot next to mother). 

Main outcome measures was length of hospital 

stay. Secondary outcome measures were breastfeeding 

at discharge from hospital and at 6 

weeks, admission to Neonatal Intensive Care Unit 

(NICU) and parent satisfaction. 

The Maternity Study day has been run at the Postgraduate Centre annually for the last 2 years with up to 

100 attendees .Sarah Gregson is one of the main organisers of this event 

Results 

There was a significant reduction in mean length 

of stay (4.33 vs 5.01 days p = 0.017, 

95% CI 3.93‐4.73 and 4.58‐5.44) in 

the study group, compared to the control. 

There was also an increase in exclusive 

breastfeeding rates on discharge from 

hospital in the study group (72% vs 55% p = 

0.01, OR 2.09, 95% CI 1.18‐3.69). 

There were no differences in feeding out 

comes at 6 weeks, or in admission to NICU. 

Parents rated Kangaroo care highly. 

Participant’s comments (mothers and fathers) 

regarding Kangaroo care were overwhelmingly 

positive in relation to bonding, feeding and how 

settled the baby was. 

Conclusion 

Kangaroo care is a simple intervention that 

reduces length of hospital stay and 

improves breastfeeding rates on discharge 

from hospital for babies cared for 

in a transitional care / postnatal ward set 

ting. Parents rate Kangaroo care 

highly, especially in the first 2 weeks 

following birth. 

Changes made as a result of the research 

Kangaroo care has now been introduced as 

routine care for babies having transitional care at 

Tunbridge Wells Hospital. It will be shortly 

introduced to Maidstone hospital 

Details of improvements made to patient 

care or treatment at MTW 

Improvements and innovations in the NHS can be 

measured against 3 different benchmarks: effect 

on patients, effect on staff and effect on costs. 

1 Effects on patients 

Mothers and ‘transitional care babies are able to 

go home quicker and more women are able to 

breastfeed exclusively on discharge from 

hospital. Below are some comments that 

summarise what this means for parents. 

‘I have enjoyed bonding more closely with my 

daughter after having problems with my first 

child’. 

‘Amazing experience for fathers to be so close to 

their baby’ 

‘It helped my baby get stronger quicker’ 

‘After some initial feeding problems, my little girl 

fed brilliantly after her first time in the baby 

wrap’. 

16 

2 Effects on staff 

Staff involved with this project report significant 

benefits. See comments below: 

‘I was originally rather sceptical, however once 

the project got started I was totally hooked…..to 

witness the sheer pleasure and amazement of 

parents when the baby was having Kangaroo 

care was just incredible’ 

Marion Adams, Senior Midwife 

‘The protocol for the study was that the usual 

guidelines for caring for transitional care babies 

would be followed which included 3 hourly 

feeding. Traditionally this has meant the baby 

would breast feed 6 hourly and then have a 

nasogastric tube feed in between. With Kangaroo 

care, however, the babies themselves ‘changed’ 

the protocols because they fed little and often, 

often negating the need for a tube feed. This is 

manifest in data collected in an 18 week period 

before the study began where there were 150 

nasogastric tube feeding days reported, 

compared to 53 nasogastric tube feeding days 

after the study ended’. 

Jean Meadows. Lead Operational Midwife 

3 Effects on costs 

The kangaroo study demonstrates that this 

simple intervention has reduced length of stay 

for transitional care babies from 5 days to 4 days, 

thus reducing costs and saving staff time. The 

cost of a baby wrap is around £20 and they can 

be washed and reused, which means they are a 

cost effective intervention. 

4 ‘Giving something back’: 

How the kangaroo research project is also 

helping the developing world. 

Midwives working in partnership with Trade4Life 

have now developed the KangaWrap which is 

specially designed for Kangaroo care as it is much 

lighter and cooler than other wraps. They are 

also working with NHS Innovations to develop a 

KangaKardi to facilitate kangaroo care when the 

mother is confined to bed (such as after a caesarean 

section). Both these items are made in fair 

trade conditions with any profits realised going 

to support charities in the developing world. 

Further research plans 

A further study investigating the effects of 

Kangaroo care for term babies is currently being 

planned in collaboration with the research and 

development department at Maidstone and 

Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust


You may wonder what GPs are doing about the 

pending changes in the NHS even during the pause 

period called by the Prime Minister. For most GPs little 

has changed but for others who are on commissioning 

boards they are running around like headless chickens 

attending several meetings per week. Most of these 

meetings occur in places other than the PGMC & 

occasionally folk attending these meetings will 

comment on the absence of a secondary care presence. 

No doubt there are similar meetings in the hospital 

where the absence of GPs is noted. 

In mid‐April we had what I would regard as a key 

meeting at the Centre where representatives of general 

practice, MTW, both consultants & management & PCT 

were present. The Speaker was Nigel Watson , Chair of 

the BMAs Commissioning Group, the topic 

‘Collaborative Commissioning’. 

The aim of the meeting was to bring all parties together 

to see where the common ground was & where the 

potential for collaboration existed in future 

commissioning processes. 

Dr Tony Jones 

GP Tutor 

Maidstone Postgraduate Centre 

The perspective was unashamedly one of authoritative 

primary care. The speaker invited the audience to make 

a show of hands on the issue of ‘Any willing provider’. 

Not one person in the audience was in favour. 

Implication, everyone is in favour of supporting the local 

Trust. He also made the point that reduced capacity had 

to be the way forward, something more contentious for 

MTW at the current time. 

The only other meeting I have been to at the Centre in 

recent months was one on retirement planning & if all 

the proposed changes including changes to pension 

arrangements become too much, it might be the most 

significant meeting that I have been to in recent 

months. Until such time we in primary care look 

forward to positive collaborative working with you all. 

Mr Akbar Soorma ‐ 

Foundation Careers Advisor 

Self‐assessment 

Decision making 

My name is Mr Akbar Soorma and I am 

a consultant in A&E at Maidstone and 

also the Careers Advisor for Foundation 

Trainees at Maidstone Hospital. 

Please see below an outline of ways in 

which I can help F1 & F2 trainees with 

their future careers after leaving 

Maidstone Hospital. 

For any further information please 

contact my secretary Lara Bateman on 

01622 226002 or you can find me in the 

A&E department. 

Stage 1: An honest appraisal of 

yourself is the first step towards 

discovering the specialty that suits 

you. These tools will help 

you understand your interests, skills 

and influences and how these can be 

useful when considering your future 

career. 

Career exploration 

Stage 2: Good research is an essential 

step to choosing your specialty. 

Career exploration is about knowing 

where to look and what to look for. 

Here you can also learn about some 

of the other career options that may 

be of interest to you. 

Stage 3: Once you have developed a 

good understanding of yourself and 

your career options, you’re in a 

great place to start making 

decisions. Here you will find some 

ways to integrate what you’ve 

learned about specialties with your 

self‐assessment. 

Plan implementation 

Stage 4: Once you are happy with 

your career and specialty choices, 

you’ll want to know how to get into 

training. Here you will find 

advice on building your CV and 

portfolio and how to succeed in 

interviews and assessment centres. 

17


Every year Lynne Cox, Undergraduate coordinator organises a final year OSCEs day for all 

medical students on placement at Maidstone to help with their exams. 

Volunteer doctors (usually led by F1 Trainees) help Lynne to run this day . 

This year Sam Harmer was the lead and has written an overview below. 

The feedback from students highlighted the 

importance of running mocks exams, many 

suggesting the experience was invaluable to 

their finals preparation. 

Pictures right is Dr Charlotte Woodhouse CMT Trainee, 

who volunteered to help on one of the stations 

An immense appreciation is extended to all the 

members of staff who helped make the day 

such fun and a great success. Also, 

immeasurable gratitude simply must go to our 

willing patients who gave up their time and 

allowed nearly 30 students to examine them 

over and over again. 

Final year OSCEs are a nightmare for most 

medical students. There is often a dreaded 

fear that your mouth will go dry and your 

palms so sweaty that you can barely say your 

own name, let alone hold a tendon hammer 

and examine reflexes. 

Dr Sam Harmer 

Foundation Yr 1 Trainee 


The 14 th of April saw an influx of final year 

medical students wandering the postgraduate 

centre with frantic faces. What with finals 

looming and the pressure building, medical 

students from both King’s College and St 

George’s were invited to a mock OSCE to assist 

in the preparation for their big day. 

The mock exam was divided into two sessions. 

There were 15 stations designed to include a 

range of possible finals exams. 

Such delights as examining the cardiovascular, 

respiratory and abdominal systems, taking 

histories, completing prescription charts, 

inserting a naso-gastric tube into a mannequin 

and active oxygen management stations were 

all eagerly examined. 

Pictures Left is Dr Paul Scully, F2 Trainee, who 

volunteered to help on one of the stations 

18


Dr Dina El-Hamamsy - Specialty Doctor in Obs & Gynae at Maidstone 2009-2010 - Audit 

It has been my pleasure and honour to 

be invited to present the results of my 

survey at Maidstone hospital after I had 

moved to East of England 

Multi‐professional Deanery. It was 

Christmas time 2010 and we enjoyed a 

Christmas quiz and prizes too. 

The survey looked at attendance of 

doctors Monday and Friday lunchtime 

teaching from May 2009 to April 2010. 

Attendance was generally homogenous 

along the year and over the week, and 

most attendees were SHOs of medical 

specialties. We explored the various 

factors contributing to poor turn up of 

Registrars especially in O/G, Anaesthesia 

& ITU who came at the bottom of the list. 

It was such an interactive session and we 

handed out a questionnaire (Xmas quiz) 

to shed light on the audience perspective 

of the issue. Prizes had motivated 

everybody to participate! 

It showed that our Postgraduate team 

had made a great effort making 

everybody aware of the teaching plans 

via emails, at induction, ..etc. 

It was also interesting to see how many 

of our colleagues didn’t understand the 

concept of protected teaching and that it 

was actually for them. Simply, it is 

bleep‐free (unless on‐call), and it is for 

ALL doctors except consultants (including 

specialty doctors). Suggestions to 

improve attendance included 

multi‐disciplinary topics, variety of 

speakers (perhaps from other regions), 

involving the poorly attending specialties 

in teaching, and making it generally more 

interesting eg competitions and prizes. 

Some even suggested that lunch could be 

more yummy! 

I have to say I enjoyed the experience, 

and I would like to take this opportunity 

to encourage all junior doctors to make 

the best use of all available learning 

opportunities. I would also urge various 

departments to safeguard the bleep‐free 

teaching sessions, which is tough as we 

all know. Finally, I would like to thank 

Miss Ogunnoiki, who guided and 

supported me all through my Medical 

Education ATSM. 

Special thanks to Dr Thom, 

Angela Pendleton, and Celia Cusworth for 

all their support doing my work and 

bringing it to light. 

Dr Dina El‐Hamamsy MBBCh, MSc, MRCOG 

O/G ST3 L & D Hospital. 

Postgraduate Centre Domestics organise football team to raise money for the hospital 

sponsored by the League of Friends 

In April 2011 an idea was floated between Clive Hedges and 

Jonathan Harris, both Domestic staff, at Maidstone 

Hospital, about starting a Hospital Charity Football Team for 

Maidstone. They took the idea to the Directors and the first 

MGFC (Maidstone General Football Club) was born. The club 

is open to everyone to join, within the Trust (both male and 

female) and they train at Mote Park in Maidstone every 

Saturday. They play 11 a‐side. 

Left to Right Robert Osborne Team Player from Oncology at Maidstone and 

Jonathan Harris Team Manager 

The proceeds from each game will be going to the Hospital 

and/or charity of choice. Their first game is in June against 

City and Kent Football Club, who have kindly donated their kit 

and Maidstone Hospital League of Friends have also kindly 

agreed to sponsor them. Other teams who have shown an 

interest in playing against them are Arriva Buses, Kent Police, 

South East Coast Ambulance Service. They have recently been 

informed that we will be playing Maidstone Athletic Football Club 

in August this year, which will attract a lot of media coverage. 

Contact number ‐ Jonathan Harris 07716585620! 

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Since December 2010, we have been having fun taking pictures of cars 

opposite the Academic Centre who don’t see the one way sign! 

Enjoy! (see front cover of an ambulance driving in the wrong direction to A&E……...oops!) 

Can anyone see a one way sign? 

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The Postgraduate Newsletter - Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS ...

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