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  6. Mersey Deanery

The Mersey Deanery (also known as the West Sector of the North West School of Surgery) is a geographically small area that includes training units in Cheshire, Merseyside and North Wales.

There are three university teaching hospitals, three large district general hospitals and three smaller district general hospitals in the training programme. There is close collaboration with the HEE North West (East) sector, and you'll be given the opportunity to rotate to a specialist centre in the North West deanery, if required, to fulfil your advanced training needs.

Email Musaab Hamdoon (BSoT rep)

Training Centres

The region's main training units are:

Training Hospitals
Cheshire
  • Arrowe Park Hospital, Upton, Birkenhead (use the link beow to email the TPD, Mr Snehal Patel)
  • Countess of Chester Hospital
  • Leighton Hospital, Crewe
Merseyside
  • Aintree University Hospital, Liverpool
  • Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen University Hospitals
  • Southport & Ormskirk Hospital
  • Whiston Hospital, Prescot
North Wales
  • Glan Clwyd Hospital, Rhyl
  • Wrexham Maelor Hospital
Email the Training Programme Director

Training Programme

The urological training programme aims to provide very high quality training in all aspects of urology. Your initial training will be in core urology; later in your training, there will be opportunities to gain experience in more specialised areas. You'll find that all the main urological sub-specialities are offered within the training centres.

As an ST3 you can expect to start at one of the smaller district general hospitals or the Royal Liverpool Hospital, with a focus on core competencies.  Each year thereafter, you'll be asked to rank three hospitals that you would like to go to and to give your reasons for your choices.  Trainees are usually given one of their three choices, provided their training needs are met.  

As well as undergoing a first-class training in general urology, you'll be expected to participate in a four-month rotation at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital (for paediatric experience) and four months at The Liverpool Women’s Hospital for urogynaecology. These usually take place at ST5 level, before you sit the FRCS Urol examination.

There are two units performing major pelvic cancer work, as well as centres which provide a spinal service, reconstruction and andrology.

Teaching Programme

There is a monthly teaching programme which is run in conjunction with the HEE North West East Sector (North West) deanery and most teaching takes place on a North West region-wide basis.

There is  monthly Mersey journal club and a local trainee-run research collaborative.  

A locally run MSc in Urology started in September 2018, on which all new ST3s are encouraged to enrol.

Research and Audit

The University of Liverpool plays a leading role in the Cancer Research UK Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre and runs the Liverpool Tissue Bank. Research themes include fundamental studies of cancer cells and the molecular biology of cancer, as well as translational research and tumour specific research in urology, including renal cancer. The main research areas are:

  • Clinical and non-clinical (or non-human) studies designed to advance therapies to the clinic or develop principles for application of therapeutics to human disease;
  • Investigations that define the biology of disease and provide for the development of new/improved treatments for human disease;
  • Any clinical trial of a treatment that was based on the above; and
  • The biology-chemistry “bridge”.

The Bottom Line

The region itself encompasses the vibrant conurbation of Liverpool and the historic city of Chester, as well as miles of sandy coastline and rolling countryside.

One, three-kilometer section of the beach near Crosby (north of Liverpool) is home to a group of 100 lifesize, cast iron statues by Antony Gormley, which all face out to sea. The sculptor describes his installation as " ... harnessing the ebb and flow of the tide to explore man's relationship with nature ... "

Liverpool has been a centre of pop culture for decades and part of Britain's seafaring tradition for hundreds of years. In the 1960s, Liverpool dockland fell into disrepair but this area has now been refurbished as a visitor attraction which has revitalised the riverside area.

Merseyside, where the locals are friendly (even if they do speak "funny" at times) and where "if you want a cathedral, we've got one to spare", is a great place to work and a wonderful place, to live and raise a family.

Contacts & admin info for North West

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