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2026 Update by TriPS Reps:

 

There are just over 100 accredited specialist registrar training slots/numbers in the UK which are divided between 24 accredited centres [England (n=21), Wales (n=1), Scotland (n=2) and Northern Ireland (n=1)]. Two other hospitals provide specialist paediatric surgical services (Hull Royal Infirmary and Aberdeen Children鈥檚 Hospital) and a more junior level of surgical training.

 

 

The distribution of trainee positions has been somewhat arbitrary, dependent often on how past surgical chiefs were in demanding these positions rather than strictly on any logical analysis. Alder Hey in Liverpool for instance has 10 specialist trainee posts compared to the relative paucity of specialist posts at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London with only 5. Still, London as a whole does have 5 more training centres with a total of 22 slots, almost a quarter of the total number.

 

Scotland has proportionately more trainee slots when measured against overall population and annual number of births. Thus, Scotland鈥檚 population and births for 2019 was聽 8.1% and聽 7% respectively with 12.6% of the UK trainee slots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Consortia

The UK training centres are divided up into 6 consortia (larger, slightly unique deaneries, if that helps you) (see Figure 1). It may look nonsensical to link some of these centres, but we have been reliably informed that the boundaries were drawn based on specialities offered and geography and not based on politics and the pencil lines of a drunken surgeon after a row. As a result, the division of consortia has undergone some small changes over the years.

Trainees gain a training number in a specific consortium. These can carry large geographical distances and trainees are required to rotate between at least 2 centres during their 6 years of Speciality Training, so it is important to bear this in mind when applying. The larger consortia (South East and Northern) try to place trainees in an area so that they rotate around set groupings which offer all the specialisms they need; for example the South East recently unofficially separated into 4 sub-regions (Kings/Chelsea/GOSH; Norwich/Cambridge/Royal London; Oxford/Southampton, Brighton/St Geoge鈥檚/Evelina) and you would be less likely to get Newcastle and Leicester in one training pathway up North. These rotations can make settling in place difficult, but spending time in multiple centres does carry training advantages.

Some of the smaller centres, such as Norwich, Brighton or Cardiff, tend to have more junior trainees while the larger centres, such as Birmingham, would be where you would generally gain the final flourish of big cases to finish your training.

Requests to transfer between centres in one consortium is up to the local TPD and is an informal process of working out the training and personal needs of the individuals involved. However, transfer between consortia is managed at national level by the Interdeanery Transfer (IDT) system. The requirements for IDT previously focused on applicants having a significant change in personal circumstances, however in 2022 an additional criterion was introduced to consider IDTs for other reasons. It remains advisable, however, not to accept a training number somewhere you don鈥檛 want to be as IDTs are in no way guaranteed. Recent trainees applying for IDT have been successful 75% of the time and this required a median of 2 attempts.

Specialities Available

Of course, we are all trained as 鈥済eneral鈥� paediatric surgeons 鈥� able to take on anything and everything without the intervention of compensation lawyers! There comes a time when a particular branch of surgery holds more direct appeal.聽 To achieve such competence then there must be sub-specialism in training as well. The larger centres approach full-spectrum provision. Practically all centres offer Urology training at least to take trainees to CCT competence. Post-CCT urology posts tend to be stand alone and offered only at larger centres such as GOSH, Evelina Children鈥檚 Hospital, Glasgow, Birmingham etc. There are also a handful of colorectal and thoracic fellowships available.

Trauma is usually co-located with the Adult UK Major Trauma Centres (MTC) in densely-populated urban areas, though not always. Alder Hey, Sheffield, Birmingham, Bristol and Manchester are all Children鈥檚 Only MTC. Cambridge is an Adult and Children MTC but in a relatively quiet part of the country.聽 More chance of a tractor-related accident than a motorway pile-up there!聽 More esoteric specialties such as hepatobiliary surgery are only available in the three National centres of King鈥檚 College Hospital, Birmingham and Leeds.

Core & Foundation Training

Core training rotational posts in paediatric surgery remain widely available. These are often only single posts in each centre, though some have up to 3 available. Core trainee posts are offered in 21 centres via national Core Surgical training recruitment.

Some centres have more of an accent on Foundation posts. This seems most apparent in Scotland where, for instance Edinburgh has 9 Foundation slots available.聽 There are also some English centres such as Oxford who have adopted this theme. They have 6 Foundation posts available.聽 By contrast there is only 1 in any of the London training centres, at the Evelina. Overall, 15 centres have Foundation Training posts in Paediatric Surgery.

Curated by Mark Davenport, enquires to – [email protected]

 

Workforce report

鈥嬧赌�

Centre	Specialities Provided	Trainee Posts	Senior Clinical Fellow Posts	Post-CCT Fellow Posts	Core 听罢谤补颈苍颈苍驳	Junior Clinical Fellow	Foundation Training
Royal Aberdeen Children鈥檚 Hospital	Urology, Oncology, Thoracic, Upper GI, Colorectal	0	0	0	2	0	4
Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh	Urology, Oncology, Thoracic, Upper GI, Colorectal	5	2	1 (Informal)	1	0	9
Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow	Oncology, Urology, Transplant, Hepatobiliary, Upper GI, Colorectal	8	3	1 (Informal)	2	6	10
Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children	Oncology, Urology, Thoracic, Upper GI, Colorectal, Trauma	4	6	0	1	1	0
Great North Children鈥檚 Hospital, Newcastle	Trauma, Upper GI, Colorectal, Oncology, Urology	3	5	1 (Formal)	2	2	1
Leeds General Infirmary	Trauma, Thoracic, Upper GI, Colorectal, Hepatobiliary, Oncology, Urology	6	6	1 (Formal)	听2	听4	5
Hull Royal Infirmary	Trauma, Upper GI, Colorectal, Thoracic, Urology	0	5	0	1	0	2
Sheffield Children鈥檚 Hospital	Trauma, Thoracic, Upper GI, Colorectal, Oncology, Urology	3	7	1 (Formal)	3	5	3
Nottingham Children鈥檚 Hospital	Trauma, Thoracic, Upper GI, Colorectal, Oncology, Urology (including Renal Transplant)	4	5	1 (Formal)	3	2	2
Leicester Royal Infirmary	Trauma, Thoracic, Upper GI, Colorectal, Urology	3	5	0	1	2	4
Royal Manchester Children鈥檚 Hospital	Urology, Thoracics, Oncology, Upper GI, Colorectal, Trauma	8	3	0	3	4	1
Alder Hey Children鈥檚 Hospital	Urology, Thoracics, Oncology, Upper GI, Colorectal, Trauma	7	2	0	3	2	0
Birmingham Children鈥檚 Hospital	Trauma, Upper GI, Colorectal, Urology, Thoracic, Oncology, Hepatobiliary, Transplant	8	6	听4 (formal)	2	3	1
Bristol Royal Hospital for Children	Trauma, General, Urology, Thoracic, Oncology	5	5	2 (Informal)	2	6	1
University Hospital for Wales	Urology, Lower GI, Upper GI, Thoracics, Oncology	2	6	听0	0	0	1
Norfolk and Norwich	Upper GI, Colorectal, Urology	2	4	0	1	0	0
Addenbrookes	Trauma, Upper GI, Colorectal, Urology, Thoracic, Oncology	2	5	0	1	0	1
John Radcliffe, Oxford	Trauma, Upper GI, Colorectal, Urology, Oncology	2	7		2	4	6
Great Ormond Street	Upper GI, Colorectal, Urology, Thoracic, Oncology	4 (3 general, 1 urology)	4 (additional international urology fellows)	1 (Formal) ?additional formal urology	2	4	0
The Royal London	Trauma, Upper GI, Colorectal, Urology	4	5	3 (Informal)	0	0	0
Chelsea Westminster	Upper GI, Colorectal, Urology, Thoracic	6	4	0	1	0	0
Evelina	Upper GI, Colorectal, Urology, Thoracic	4	7	0	1	8	1
Kings College	Trauma, Upper GI, Colorectal, Thoracic, Hepatobiliary, Bariatric	1	6	0	1	0	0
St Georges	Trauma, Upper GI, Colorectal, Urology, Thoracic, Oncology	3	4	0	1	0	0
Southampton General Hospital	Oncology, Upper GI, Lower GI, Thoracic, Trauma	3	4	1 (Formal)	1	0	0
Royal Sussex County Hospital	Upper GI, Colorectal, Urology	2	5	0	3	4	0

 

Please note this data is not based on SAC statistics but on reports from trainees of current staffing at the time of the Paediatric Surgery Workforce Survey in December 2025.