With over 60 theatres located on the RVI, Freeman Hospital and Westgate Cataract Centre sites, our surgical teams oversee around 63,000 procedures every year.
Many of these are highly specialist and unique to the Northern Region including our pioneering robotic surgical programme covering more surgical specialties than any other centre in Europe, which we deliver on all theatre sites.
We provide 24/7 cover for both planned and emergency surgery and our operating department practitioners (ODPs) play a major role across the entire peri-operative journey – they are involved in all three phases of every patient’s surgical journey.
As such, the skills needed are incredibly diverse and require staff to keep abreast of the most up to date practice and techniques to ensure we provide consistently high standards of patient care.
As our Trust offers the second largest breadth of specialist services in the UK, we offer excellent career prospects and are committed to ensuring our staff have access to all the education and development support that they might need whilst enjoying a positive experience in our theatres with exposure to fantastic opportunities across a wide range of surgical specialties.
Lifelong learning
Staying abreast of this ever-evolving profession whilst ensuring the continuous pursuit of excellence means embracing lifelong learning.
You may need to seek out education and training to maintain your practice, meet revalidation requirements, or have longer term goals such as furthering your career. For example, ODPs can pursue Surgical First Assistant (SFA) training or Surgical Care Practitioner (SCP) roles.
Or you may be seeking a change in direction such as management, education or clinical research.
As an outstanding organisation we are committed to continuously investing in the development of our staff who can benefit from a wide range of learning opportunities.
Continuing professional development (CPD) is something that every member of our staff, at every level, can access at any time and CPD funding is currently supporting many ODP staff to complete their top up degrees.
CPD support at Newcastle Hospitals
Whether formal or informal, the purpose of CPD is to enable staff to continually update and renew their knowledge and skills, enhance evidence-based practice and ultimately ensure that they are able to meet patient needs and service delivery in a constantly changing practice environment.
We believe CPD is extremely important to ensure our staff can fully liberate their potential, developing into confident, autonomous practitioners armed with exemplary skills and competencies.
All staff are encouraged and supported to develop their skills and competencies with dedicated support from our Clinical Educators and leadership team, and the Newcastle Clinical Skills Academy is here to help colleagues understand what learning opportunities are available, how to access them and the funding support they can benefit from.
Choosing the right CPD for you
There is a huge and diverse range of learning and development opportunities for you to choose from. We offer a wide variety of courses which are run in-house by our Education Workforce Development team and you can seek advice from our team here at the Newcastle Clinical Skills Academy about what might work for you.
If it’s something relating to leadership that you’re looking for then head to the Leadership section of our website to find out more.
NMAHPs LeadershipIf you have a particular interest in research then our section on how to #MakeSpace4Research will tell you everything you need to know.
Health and Care Professions Council
As Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) Operating Department Practitioners are members of the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and are required to meet the HCPC’s 5 CPD standards.
Find out more about what the HCPC means for AHPsUpdating your CPD profile
Keeping an up-to-date file of progress which documents your activities and achievements so that you have this to hand at any time should you be asked to provide it.
You can find out more about how to fill in a CPD profile and see lots of examples of CPD activities on the Health and Care Professions Council website.
Association for perioperative practice (AFPP) support
The AFPP website has an education hub which provides an online education service with pre recorded webinars, journals, and an online CPD portfolio for storing evidence of CPD activities.
Please note you need to be a member of the AFPP to be able to access some of the information.
The Association for Perioperative Practice – Education HubRemember
You have the power to make your own decisions about which CPD activities are most beneficial to you, your practice and your career.
Clinical Educators
Our theatre staff are also supported by dedicated Clinical Educators who can provide you with advice and guidance no matter where you are in your career, and signpost you to a wide and diverse range of resources.
Claire Winter, Senior Clinical Educator
Freeman Hospital Theatres claire.winter4@nhs.net
Lynn Hunter, Clinical Educator
RVI Theatres lynn.hunter3@nhs.net
Simon Newbold, Clinical Educator
Day Treatment Centre simon.newbold2@nhs.net
Contact us
- To find out more about how to benefit from CPD funding and other learning and development opportunities at Newcastle Hospitals, get in touch with the Newcastle Clinical Skills Academy team.