I undertook the Thoracic and Upper GI Fellowship at NUH during my ST6 year of training, and would absolutely recommend it to senior trainees thinking about a fellowship year. As a thoracic fellow, I undertook regular thoracic and upper GI theatre sessions, as well as contributing to the OOH general on call rota. The fellowship also provided protected, regular non-clinical time for audit/QI work. I have no doubt that the skills I gained and the experiences I had during that year were instrumental in my successful appointment to a substantive consultant post. This particular fellowship increased my confidence and ability to deliver safe anaesthesia to complex patients undergoing complex surgical procedures and their associated perioperative complications. The wide ranging practical skills and techniques learned are easily transferable to most areas of anaesthetics, something that comes in helpful most days at work. Whilst undergoing the fellowship I was fully integrated into the theatre team and anaesthetic department, and thoroughly enjoyed working closely with those teams. As the year progressed, I would run theatre lists, as well as supervise junior colleagues, whilst feeling fully supported by my consultant colleagues. There is plenty of opportunity to undertake a variety of projects, I focused on teaching during my fellowship and managed to present the work at several conferences, as well as contribute to the BJA Education Journal. The department is incredibly supportive of both the practical aspects of the fellowship, as well as the extra curricular component, giving plenty of opportunity to undertake audit/QI or research. Having a research department as part of the anaesthetic department at NUH is an incredibly helpful resource! The large number of friendly thoracic and upper GI anaesthetists within the department means that there are plenty of senior colleagues to gain experience from, as well as many opportunities to employ those techniques learned.

It was an incredibly beneficial year for my development as an anaesthetist and I would strongly encourage you to apply for it whether your interest is specifically in thoracic and upper GI anaesthesia, or you want to consolidate your generalist appeal as a consultant.

Projects undertaken during fellowship:

CT guided measurement of lamina and TP for epidural and PVT insertion.

• Frailty scoring in thoracic patients

• Difficult airway algorithm for patients requiring OLV

• ‘Anaesthesia for pneumonectomy’ article (BJAEducation)