General Surgery


Key People:

  • College Tutor:

    Mr Piero Nastro

  • Clinical Director:

    Mr Jacek Adamek

  • Rota Manager:

    Alex Williams

  • Medical Education Officer:

    Tracy Belcher

The Department of Surgery at Dartford & Gravesham NHS Trust provides training, educational and academic opportunities to enable knowledge and skills to be developed in line with curricula. Education is valued by the department and trainees are supported by the multi-professional teams led educationally by the College Tutor.

The service is well established with several sub-specialties including Laparoscopic, Colorectal, Vascular, Endocrine, Breast and Oncoplastic. There are distinguished surgeons and facilities including specialist laparoscopy theatres. In fact the first ever state of the art laparoscopic OR1 theatre was commissioned here. The department also carries out major Breast Oncoplastic and reconstructive surgery on site and has clinical Nurse Practitioners working in breast, colorectal, upper GI and urology departments.

Inpatients are based on a number of wards. There is a 24-hour ward in the Day Case Unit and many new acute surgical patients present via the Emergency Medicine Department.

The HEKSS webpages have details of the training offered regionally and can be viewed here: www.ksseducation.hee.nhs.uk/specialty/surgery/

The Surgical Curriculum can be seen at www.iscp.ac.uk/

Excetional Reporting Guide Link - https://youtu.be/6Xs3MMWW850

General Surgery Training at DGT


Learning and service commitment are dependent on the grade of the trainee and during the trainee’s time at Darent Valley support is offered from the Surgical College Tutor and allocated Educational and Clinical Supervisors, all of whom will give regular feedback about progress.

Posts and Rotations


Core trainees are appointed as part of the HEKSS’s Core Surgical Training Programme and are in post at DAG for one year. The four-month General Surgery post is part of the ST1 training year and links to a four-month post in Urology and a four-month post in Trauma and Orthopaedics.
Click here to download a sample Core Surgical Training Programme at Darent Valley Hospital:

Education, Teaching and Academic Meetings


Apart from the teaching in the ward rounds, formal teaching is held on a Friday at 10:30hrs in the Surgical Handover Room. There are also daily Trauma Meetings which are educational and Surgical Audit. In addition there is access to Leadership forums and Simulation teaching events.

e-Portfolio

Trainees are required to keep their e-Portfolios up to date; this is regularly monitored by the Clinical Education Department and support provided as required. The portfolios are regularly assessed at the Local Faculty Group Meetings with trainees being provided rapid supportive feedback.
The e-Portfolio may be accessed here: www.iscp.ac.uk/Default.aspx

Local Faculty Group


The Local Faculty Group (LFG) consists of the college tutor, medical education department, clinical and educational supervisors and allied healthcare professionals in the department.

LFG meetings take place every 4 months at the end of each rotation. This allows for feedback from both training and non-training grade doctors, and the opportunity to review highlights and areas of improvement/concerns. Trainee teaching attendance and e-portfolio progress are also discussed, to identify any factors contributing to limited educational opportunities and any further support required. 

Following the LFG, feedback is presented to the Local Education Board (LEB) by each department for review. 

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