| BGS
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Trainees column |
| Email your comments Our role is to represent Trainees on the various committees of the British Geriatrics Society, which gives the opportunity for our ideas and opinions to be put forward and considered at the highest level. The Trainees Committee also co-ordinates the dissemination of important information amongst the trainees nationally, a role of increasing importance in the current times of changes to training curricula and assessments. The current members of the committee are: Jonathan Birns is continuing to represent trainees on the Policy committee. This group is involved in the writing of policies and statements for the BGS on a variety of pertinent topics relating to health care of older people, and also responds to Parliamentary inquiries. There are now two representatives on the Education and Training committee. The committee helps to determine BGS policy with regard to under-graduate and postgraduate education and has a role in formulating responses on behalf of the Society with regard to generic training issues, such as Modernising Medical Careers and the Tooke Report. We are represented here by Claire Steves, an SpR on the South East Thames rotation, currently working at St Thomas’s Hospital in Lambeth and Adam Gordon, a year 3 SpR on the mid-Trent rotation. He has an academic interest in medical education and is also helping to co-ordinate the National Survey of Under-graduate Teaching in Ageing and Geriatric Medicine. Adam is interested in hearing from colleagues who have suggestions or proposals as to how training in geriatrics might be better co-ordinated or delivered, and if anyone has a specific training issue where they feel the Society may be able to help, he is happy to liaise on their behalf. Emma Vardy, currently a 4th year SpR in the Yorkshire region, is Vice-chairman of the committee. Her primary role is to serve on the Academic and Research Committee of the Society. She has a strong background in research, having taken time out of her SpR rotation to complete a PhD, and is concerned with the issue of how to promote and develop the academic geriatricians of the future. She will soon be emailing all BGS trainees for views on this topic and experiences of research to date. We also have representatives on the national Councils. English trainees are represented by Andy Clegg, a 2nd year SpR on the Yorkshire rotation, currently based in Halifax; and Mark Baxter. Knowledge Based Assessment - Update There are two concerns, currently under negotiation, which could cause the KBA to be delayed. The fee for the assessment has been set at £800 per candidate per sitting. I have raised the point that this is much more than initially expected, and may be hard for trainees to afford, especially with the recent cuts in study leave budgets. This issue is of concern to all the speciality organisations, and is currently the subject of negotiation. The BGS has asked for a breakdown of the anticipated costs to run the exam, to try to assess how much is cost, and how much profit. Concerns have also been expressed by the speciality regarding the qualification that will be awarded once the exam is passed. The RCP are planning on running the exam overseas so that it can be taken by those who have not been through an accredited Geriatric Medicine training programme. It is important that those who have completed specialist training are easily differentiated and given due recognition, from those who have not. The also needs to be a clear distinction between those who have passed the Diploma in Geriatric Medicine fromh those who have passed the KBA. Unless these issues are resolved, the KBA is unlikely to run in May this year. BGS Newsletter, March 2008 |