Geriatric medicine

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2013 R1 advert - geriatric medicine

This page contains information on the specialty of geriatric medicine, one of the 16 specialties participating in RCP-SRO-coordinated ST3 recruitment.

The specialty

Geriatric medicine (often referred to as 'care of the elderly') is the largest specialty in the UK in terms of consultant numbers.

With society's demographic change and more people living to an old age, the specialty continues to gain both importance and prominence.

Geriatric medicine - trainee characteristrics

It is important that any doctor considering geriatric medicine as a career should:

have an interest in and aptitude for dealing with older people
have a caring and empathic nature
enjoy working in multi-disciplinary teams
be able to communicate easily with colleagues, other health professionals, patients and carers
be enthusiastic and have leadership potential
enjoy complex decision-making and prioritising medical problems
have an interest in ethical issues.

Working/training in an ST3 geriatric medicine post

Geriatric Medicine is an extremely enjoyable and challenging field to work in, no two days are the same!

It offers the individual an opportunity to specialise not only in the care of older people, but also to sub-specialise and develop an interest in related problems such as stroke, falls, dementia, continence, and movement disorders.

Doctors can work in different clinical settings including acute care, rehabilitation wards and the community.

Dual training

Although it is possible to train in geriatric medicine alone and obtain a single CCT, it is strongly recommended that trainees pursue 'dual training' in geriatric medicine and general (internal) medicine (GIM), which takes five years to complete (or pro-rata if training less-than-full-time).

Dual training ensures that specialists of the future have the necessary skills to deal with all the problems which may occur in old age.

If trainees wish to pursue specialist stroke medicine training as well, this requires an additional year of training (extending training to a total of six years).

2013 ST3 recruitment

Recruitment to geriatric medicine will be organised according to the local recruitment model. More information on this can be found on the recruitment models page of this website.

Numbers of available vacancies will be published to the post numbers page as and when these are confirmed by deaneries/UoAs.

Details of deanery/UoA interview dates will be added to the interview dates page as we receive them.

Further information

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