North West School of Surgery - Plastic Surgery, West Sector (Mersey)

Key Contacts

Miss Charlotte Defty,
Plastic Surgery Training Programme Director
for Cheshire and Merseyside

Based at Whiston Hospital
Email: charlotte.defty@sthk.nhs.uk

Overview of Plastic Surgery in the West Sector

Plastic and reconstructive surgery is the restoration of human form and function. Plastic surgery is not limited by anatomical site and surgeons learn principles and techniques that are transferable to other specialties. Plastic surgeons often work closely with colleagues in orthopaedic surgery, ENT, oral and maxillo-facial surgery, neurosurgery and general surgery; this is to provide multi-disciplinary care to the patient.

Entry on to a plastic surgery training programme is via national selection, led by NHS England – London and the South East. Higher surgical training spans 6 years from ST3 to ST8. Trainees are encouraged to sit the FRCS (plastic surgery) examination at the end of ST6, allowing the final years of interest to allow development of training in a particular sub-specialty of the trainees choice. Many trainees complete fellowships in a sub-specialty area of interest. A TIG (Training Interface Group) Fellowship presents the opportunity to work in a specialty that spans plastic surgery and other allied specialties (e.g. hand, cleft lip and palate, aesthetic and reconstructive etc.).   

The following sub-specialties are core to plastic surgery and training provided in the west sector:

• Hands, wrist and brachial plexus
• Trauma, burns
• Skin, MOHS
• Breast
• Head and neck, oculoplastics
• Lower limb
• Craniofacial, cleft lip/palate, facial palsy, ear reconstruction
• Paediatrics, hypospadias, congenital limb reconstruction
• Aesthetic surgery

Teaching

There is a regional teaching programme involving the whole of the North West, this includes an annual OSCE held in Manchester, and is supplimented by local teaching at each hosptal site.

Hospitals on the Plastic Surgery East Sector Rotation

GMC Programme Code: NWE1033 (was MER958)

All of the above sites have satellite locations and offer outreach services.

Page Last Updated 02 August 2021