Description

Aims:

1)To assess the current provision for individual study leave funding for Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Senior House Officers and Specialist Registrars in England. (not UK? May become apparent later)

2)To determine if there was any between-rotations variation in the provision of study leave funding.

3)To assess the cost of otolaryngology courses, aimed at trainees, advertised in UK otolaryngology journals.

Design:

A telephone survey, conducted between February and May 2006, of 91 Postgraduate Centres at Acute NHS trusts in England with Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery trainees.

Data was collected on Otolaryngology courses, aimed at trainees, advertised in ENT News and Clinical otolaryngology between Aug 2005 and Aug 2006.

Results:
There are 13 Specialist training rotations distributed amongst the 16 Postgraduate Deaneries in England.

Mean study leave funding for ENT Senior House Officers in England was ??737.09 (range ??400??1600) and for ENT Specialist Registrars was ??776.63 (Range ??4001600). There was significant difference between and within rotations in study leave funding.

104 courses were advertised, that met the inclusion criteria for the study, 88 of which were UK based courses.

The mean cost to attend a UK course aimed at Otolaryngology trainees was ??469.13 (range 0??995.00). The mean cost of a course involving dissection was ??660.71 and for lecture only was ??355.97.

Conclusions:

Study leave varies both between and within rotations. A number of trainees are therefore disadvantaged due to the lack of equality in study leave funding.

Current provision for study leave funding is unlikely to meet all the educational needs of doctors in training.

As the study shows, the study leave provision is insufficient to meet the course fees required to attend the recommended courses.