Basic Truro Guide

Truro is a great centre for training in a really wide range of areas. The Truro team generally takes a reasonably relaxed attitude to registrars - some sessions such as HotHub and ultrasound you will be missed if you aren't there and should set up cover if you aren't going to be able to make it, but you are generally given a lot of white space on your timetable and it is up to you to a degree to make the most of it.

Weekly general ROTAs are created by the secretaries that show everything that everyone is doing in the department. These are really useful not only for showing what you need to do, but also to find out who might be free for checking or to cover things. You will be emailed them, but you can also find them on the server at “S:\TR15\xraysrv\Public\Timetables” and on teams in the “Cornwall Radiologists” team. I've found it helpful to set the current rota as a tab in teams.

These happen every day from 9-9.30, in person in the seminar room and on Teams. They serve three purposes: -

1. Joint review of difficult cases.
2. Demonstration of interesting cases.
3. Feedback.

These can be really useful - don't hesitate to bring any cases you are wanting a bit more talking through or anything interesting you have found. It is always well recieved.

All acute imaging and urgent queries are covered by the Hot Hub team based in the Trelawney Wing of the Hospital. Hot hub shifts run from 0900-1300 and from 1300-1700. Each hot hub shift has two consultants and a registrar timetabled on to it. They are primarily responsible for reporting acute CT and MRI from REFCTIN and REFURG and dealing with phone calls.

Truro's set up here is a really good for training - a large volume of highly relevant on-call cases, with a generally approachable someone to go through them with you right next to you. Don't hesitate to take advantage of it, ask questions, and if there isn't anyone rota'ed to HH it can be a good idea to turn up. The only issue being having the phone at the same time.

Registrar's do ultrasound in three main contexts in Treliske. Main department lists, SRU and Portables.

Main department lists are in the shiny new Trelawny wing department just down from HotHub. Here you may be rota'ed to supervised lists or independent and more subspecialist lists if you are more senior. Speak to the team at the front desk on the right as you come in (5188) if you have any queries, but these lists are generally pretty straightforward and efficient.

SRU lists are up in the emergency surgical unit, and are set up to provide easy access to ultrasound for surgery. These again can be supervised lists, but are often independent for ST3s and up. These can be a bit more hectic and you may have to do lots of the organisation yourself. A full guide here.

Portables are a bit random in Truro. The pathway is more or less “call the reg room and see if there is a random reg there that can do the scan”. A full guide here.

Truro Twilights are relatively supported, but can be pretty busy. In general these are again in the HotHub covering phones and IP CT and MRI reporting from 1700-2130, with a consultant from 1700-1900. Depending on how things go, the consultant then may go home but remain contactable/able to do some remote reporting for the rest of the shift, or just stay in/online if it is busy.

Monday-Thursday Twilight days are 0900-2130, though you are supposed to have a quiet afternoon and are encouraged to take a long break (though this has not been entirely consistent). Friday is 1300-2130.

Weekends again are run almost entirely from HotHub, though with slightly different staffing and hours: for weekends there are 2 consultants and a registrar. The consultants do 0900-1700, and the registrar 1300-2130, though again consultants hay stay around to help out if you are struggling. This 1300-2130 day also applies to bank holidays.

Over the weekend sonographer morning ultrasound IP lists and IR cover continues to run, so you can continue to direct people to these services, and should not end up having to do ultrasounds yourself.

A bit unusually almost all registrars passing through Truro will have to do some Fluro lists - specifically Barium swallows. Thankfully, the local protocol for this is very simple and straightforward and you will generally only get easy limited examinations to do. These are up in the tower block Fluro rooms at the far end. If you haven't done these before you will be rota'ed for some supervised lists first and signed off by Christine Bloor before being let loose on your own lists. Get all your reports checked by one of the GI guys.