Stroke Medicine

This programme has been developed in response to the clear need for the NHS to train physicians in the specialist expertise of stroke medicine. Stroke is the most common cause of hospital death and severe acquired disability in the UK, and accounts for over 5% of NHS resources. Stroke encompasses elements of neurology, cardiovascular disease, ageing and rehabilitation. Until now there has been no formal training structure for those who wish to pursue a career in Stroke Medicine and it has been difficult for trainees to obtain the full range of relevant skills.

The primary purpose of sub-specialist training in stroke medicine is to promote the development of physicians with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to function as an expert consultant resource within specialist stroke services. The detailed role of a stroke physician will vary depending on the type of service within which they are practising. The training programme recognises this, but expects all stroke specialists to have core knowledge and skills in all areas of diagnosis, investigation and treatment relevant to the care of stroke patients. Furthermore, stroke physicians will require skills in service development, team working, teaching, critical appraisal and service evaluation. They should be familiar with stroke research methods and keep up to date with relevant research findings.

This programme is open to all trainees holding MRCP (UK) or equivalent and an NTN in a relevant medical specialty, namely Geriatric Medicine, Neurology, Rehabilitation Medicine, Cardiology, Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, or General (Internal) Medicine. The background specialty of such clinicians is considered to be less important than the possession of those competencies needed to provide a specialist stroke service. After satisfactory completion of Subspecialty training in Stroke Medicine, trainees would be eligible to have the Subspecialty of Stroke Medicine included in their entry in the GMC's Specialist Register, after the award of a CCT in their parent specialty.

Given that that there is a recognised need for stroke specialists it is expected that training posts for Stroke Medicine will be created in all Deaneries.

The programme has been designed to be adaptable to meet the needs of trainees from a variety of backgrounds, and the impact of sub-specialties on the duration of the parent specialty will be a matter for the parent specialty.

Due to regular revisions, arising from changes in the training environment and the requirements of the PMETB, the JRCPTB are currently running various curricula for trainees in each specialty.  All relevant curricula are listed at the bottom of this page under Documents.  Use the filter option on the right-hand side, together with the guidance notes below,  to help you select the correct document.  In summary:

• If you are a run-through (Specialty Registrar [StR]) trainee, you will follow the curricula tagged as ST3+

• If you are an ‘old style’ SpR, you are following the curricula tagged as SpR

• If you enrolled prior to 01/01/03, you will be following the original curricula which are no longer available for download, see note below

 
Competence Based Curricula – StRs

PMETB has received the assessment system (blueprint and RITA/ARCP grid) for Stroke Medcine and this has been approved.  

The assessment blueprints show the possible methods that can be used to assess each of the competences in the curriculum. Trainees and trainers should refer to the blueprints for guidance on the appropriate assessment methods for each aspect of the curriculum, and so plan the training programme according to the criteria set by the RITA Decision Aid. It is not expected that all competences will be assessed by all methods, rather that there will be a sampling of competences within a variety of settings, both within formal and workplace-based assessment, from which overall competence acquisition has to be determined.  RITA Decision Aids are not available for sub-specialties.

 Acute care common stem (Medicine) trainees will also follow the ACCS training manual.

Competence Based Curricula – SpR (for trainees enrolling after 1 Jan 2003)

The JCHMT introduced revised curricula for all the medical specialties together with a generic curriculum that applied to all trainees back in 2003. These are competence-based and set out the knowledge, skills and attitudes to be acquired by trainees before they may be awarded a CCT. 

Curricula (for trainees enrolling before 1 Jan 2003)