Warwick Medical School
Clinical Academic Training (CAT) Committee Meeting
Minutes of the meeting of the Clinical Academic Training Committee held on 27th September 2012
at 6.00pm Room A-042 Medical School Building.
Present:
Charles Hutchinson (Chair), Paul O’Hare, Saverio Stranges, Tom Barber, Magdy
Sakr, Angharad deCates, Rebecca Kearney,
Apologies:
Dean Bruton, Matthew Cooke, Gavin Perkins, Neil Johnson, Liz Hughes, Kate
Seers, Scott Weich, Peter Winstanley, Matthew Costa,Siobhan Quenby, Hannah
Smith
In Attendance:
Amy Grove
1. Welcome and Introductions


Magdy Sakr is attending on behalf of Matthew Cooke/Gavin Perkins to represent
Emergency Medicine
Angharad deCates is an ACF in Psychiatry and will be the ACF representative for the CAT
Committee on behalf of Hannah Smith
2. Warwick CAT programme overview
Meetings for ACL, ACFs
CH – CH and AG organised a half day CAT meeting for all ACFs ACLs on the 26th September. The
majority of trainees were present, those who did not attend have been asked to meet with Charles
separately. The meeting gave the trainees a chance to meet each other and Charles and discuss
any issues and improvements to the programme. An annual full day meeting will be arranged (Jan
2013), ideally there will be three meetings a year to meet as a group. They will include keynote
talks from academic staff and trainees, plus poster presentations from all trainees.
AdC – as a new ACF she was surprised that no guidance was given when she started. It will be
helpful to know what is expected of her during her ACF. There is an official ACF representative, but
not an ACL rep. AdC asked if it was an elected post, the committee did not know.
CH –there needs to be consistent support for ACF/ACLs who can represent the group as a whole.
ACFs ACLs are welcome to attend the general research skills training which is provided by the
CAT programme. This is held in the CSRI Wednesdays 12.00-13.00.
CAT Handbook
CH - The future of the CAT programme is to ensure that each trainee has their own objectives set
during their time at Warwick. Each trainee was given a ‘handbook’ detailing what had to be
achieved by when. These were speciality specific. Feedback from trainees was requested by
Charles.
ACTION – provide feedback to CH on the handbook speciality section. ALL
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Mentoring
CH- CH would like to develop an appropriate mentoring system for all the trainees, as they can be
useful for career development. During the trainees meeting there was a lot of confusion as to what
a mentoring was, trainees thought it was standard supervision.
RK- suggested that the non-medical clinical academic pathway have set aims and objectives and
guidance which could inform our CAT mentoring system as well as the trainees aims
3. ACF ACL appointments
Update on 2011-2012 appointments
In 2012 we had five posts awarded
 Emergency Medicine – Have 1 ACF post outstanding. A deferral request was not supported
by the Deanery. The speciality have until March 2013 to appoint a candidate or the post will
be lost
 Trauma and Orthopaedics – Have appointed 2 ACFs who started August 2012, they have 2
ACLs to appoint prior to March 2013. The applications are with human resources at
Warwick to advertise
 Reproduction – Have appointed 1 ACF who started August 2012
 Clinical Radiology - Have appointed 1 ACF who started August 2012
Update on 2012-2013 appointments
In 2013 we had three posts awarded
 Trauma and Orthopaedics – 1 ACF to be appointed August 2013
 Public Health – 1 ACF to be appointed August 2013
 General Psychiatry - 1 ACF to be appointed August 2013
 Diabetes and Endocrinology – 1 ACL to be appointed before March 2014
The advert for the ACF 2013 recruitment round is released on the NIHR website on the 15th
October. The closing date will be 12th November 2013. Please see the URL for more information
http://www.nihrtcc.nhs.uk/intetacatrain/2013%20Applicants
4. CAT handbook
CH - The future of the CAT programme is to ensure that each trainee has their own objectives set
during their time at Warwick. Each trainee was given a ‘handbook’ detailing what had to be
achieved by when, these can be found on pages 11 & 13. The aim of programme is for ACFs to
develop clinically and obtain a grant to do a PhD, ACL to get grants and develop themselves to be
REF returnable to apply for SRF post or clinical scientist posts. It is important ACF ACLs know
what they are aiming for during their time.
CH – we may need to customise the output/objectives of ACFs who already have a PhD,
expectations need to be changed towards a focus on research applications and papers
SS – stated that there has been misleading information regarding CLs required output and
achievements from the University
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CH- confirmed that this was a misunderstanding by the University and it was dealt with by Peter
Winstanley and Martin Underwood.
CH – asked for feedback on the handbook from speciality, copies were distributed for comment
5. MSc component for ACFs
CH- ACFs are encouraged to do a masters course at Warwick during their ACF. Very few of them
are doing one. We need to encourage trainees to make use of the resources that are available.
There was some discussion about developing an ACF specific masters course at Warwick but is
limited benefit as so many good research modules exist already.
SS – stated that this needs to better communicated to the ACFs so they know what is available.
We could identify and promote the course models that we think would be helpful, for example
UReCA and study design. There are modules that would benefit ACF development.
PoH - when the posts started MScs were tied to the post. Elsewhere there is a masters level
research module that are mandatory. £54k was made available for developing a masters
programme but we do not need to as it is already done well at Warwick. Trainees must have
transferable keys skills and an overview of research methods.
6. Budget update
CH- all ACFs and ACLs have £1000 available per year for their academic training. In the past it
has been used for clinical exams but this will not be allowed as of August 2012. The trainees have
been informed. Charles will sign each form prior to the funds being released, he may be lenient if
the clinical training benefits towards the research.
CH- we have £11k left over from previous trainees budgets, £1k was given to the matched post in
D&E. The remainder will be used to run courses and training events.
7. Speciality update reports:
a. Orthopaedics-AG – 1 CL at present and 2 CLs due to be recruited before March 2013. 4
ACFs, 1 of whom has been successful in obtaining a PhD fellowship from Arthritis
Research UK to commence in Oct 2012 ACTION- MC to provide an update on
recruitment at next meeting
b. Reproduction – AG-3 CLs at present, 1 leaving for a consultant post Nov 2012. 3 ACFs
in post
c. Public Health- SS- 2 CLs currently in post and are doing well. 1 ACF and a second to
be recruited 2013. One ex ACF was successful in obtaining a Wellcome fellowship
which he commenced Aug 2012.
SS- Threats to public health? there was a PH board meeting to discuss this issue,
but the way forward is unclear. How to split the responsibility between the local
authority and the University is unknown. ACTION: SS to discuss at the next
meeting
d. Diabetes – TB- 2 CLs in post, 1 is a matched post
e. Emergency Medicine – MS- 1 CL in post in 2012. 1 ACF post available from 2012,
needs to be recruited by March 2013 ACTION- MC to provide an update on
recruitment at next meeting
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Psychiatry –AG- 2 ACFs, 1 is in year two and the other has just finished the ACF post
Aug 2012. She has completed her PhD and would be in a good position to apply for a
CL post. 1 ACF appointment to be made in 2013
g. Clinical Radiology – CH – 1 ACF started at UHCW in August 2012
h. Medical Education –AG- 1 ACF funded at Warwick, has just enrolled on an MD at
Warwick
i. Anaesthesia – AG-1 ACF located at Birmingham and supervised at Birmingham. This is
due to end in 2014, Birmingham and Warwick happy with this agreement
j. Nursing/AHP – BK- Nursing AHP 3rd round recruitment is available (this is parallel to
the ACF/ACL programme). BK applied for the CL post and will find out the result Jan
2013. The application process was not simple, particularly the commitment to the
contract arrangements between the University and the Trusts. There is money available
to support the positions but it is very difficult to set them up. For example, there are
NHS pre-masters level grants for staff who might want to conduct a research project
over 3month. The deadline 15th Oct 2012. It is an annual programme and BK happy to
support the applications. ACTION: CH to discuss during his meeting with Peter
Winstanly in October
f.
8. Output summary report
CH – we have been working to collate all the academic outputs from ex and current
trainees. AG requested information from each trainee which has been input into a
database. There was significant difficulty getting this information from the trainees, the
response was poor.
CH – An output report have been produced and distributed, this is intended to highlight our
activity, not be reflective of trainees individual details.
There were queries from the group as to whether this was all our activity? Whether it was
good? How we compare to other Universities? Are we encouraging our ACFs enough? ,
however, we are not in a position to answer these questions in detail, the report only
provides a baseline to work from for next year. Overall the metrics do not appear to be
outstanding – 2 fellowships awarded for example.
There was also some debate regarding fellowship applications and when they should be
submitted, CH suggested that by end of second year all ACFs should have had an
application submitted, if you submit in year 3 you have not got a second chance to submit
while you are an ACF. If trainees want a smooth progression they want to end ACF and
start PhD. PH work towards the end of year 2, T&O focus it in year 3.
AdC- noted that yesterday (the first ACF meeting) was the first time the ACFs have been
told they should submit in year 2, and this can cause a problem with clashing clinical and
academic agendas.
PoH stated that originally the bulk of time for writing applications is in third year that was
deliberate. If it were to be redesigned it might be better for the second half of second year.
However the clinical time essential to pass exams. They are now time limited, so it can be
tight.
PoH- suggested that it is the supervisors’ job to support the ACFs getting grants, this is in
addition to the Research Design Service (RDS) at Warwick
CH – we could ask staff who sit on the panels to review the grants before they go in, peer
review process. This would be helpful.
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SS- queried if ACFs had to do any teaching? CH- stated that they have to do some
teaching as part of their training, all specialities have to teach.
9. Matched posts
CH - matched post at Warwick are limited, we only have 2 in D&E, CH is hoping to create a post in
Radiology during 2013. We are expected to be 50:50 matched to funded CL posts. Can we badge
existing lectures/clinical research fellows as matched posts? We could aim to advertise for two
posts at a time, 1 NIHR funded and 2 funded by the University.
PoH- We only have one as a University out of 11, we (PoH CH) are meeting with Peter Winstanley
in October to discuss expanding.
Action – all specialty leads to provide feedback where they feel they can produce matched
posts, or considered positions where matched posts could be created.
10. AOBs
CH- noted that academic training numbers are provided by the deanery and trainees have to
specially ask for it
11. Meeting dates for 2013
CH- Scheduling the CAT committee meeting is difficult, it has traditional taken place out of hours
so that clinical and academic colleagues can attend. However this has resulted in poor attendance.
The next meeting will be arranged via a doodle pole to try and accommodate all views. ACTION:
AG to organise.
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