JCST Fellowships

JCST Fellowships provide high quality, high prestige and quality assured advanced training in specified clinical areas of practice that are required by the service but are not trained to unsupervised level by certification. They build on the skills achieved by certification to enable a fellow to contribute unsupervised as a member of the multidisciplinary team to manage patients presenting with the full range of elective and emergency conditions related to the clinical area of practice of the fellowship.

Existing interface training fellowships involving more than one specialty, some of which have been running for over 20 years, are the first of these post-certification fellowships. These unique training opportunities are a joint collaboration between JCST, Health Education England and host NHS Trust training units, with training opportunities provided by the units and overseen and assessed by the JCST through the Training Interface Groups (TIGs), and Specialty Advisory Committees (SACs).

The posts are aimed at highly motivated individuals who want to extend their knowledge, skills and competences in niche areas of surgery beyond their parent specialty training. Fellows must be on the specialist register and ideally within two years of achieving certification.

Fellowship training is available in the following clinical areas of practice:

Cleft Lip & Palate Surgery
12-month fellowship focused on Cleft Lip & Palate and non-cleft velopharyngeal dysfunction, open to surgeons in the disciplines of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Otolaryngology, and Plastic Surgery.

Hand Surgery
12-month fellowship focused on disorders of the hand and wrist, open to surgeons in the disciplines of Plastic Surgery and Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgery. 

Head and Neck Surgical Oncology
12-month fellowship focused on Head and Neck Surgical Oncology, open to surgeons in the disciplines of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Otolaryngology, and Plastic Surgery.

Major Trauma
12-month fellowship open to surgeons and doctors in the disciplines of General Surgery, Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Plastic Surgery, Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgery, Vascular Surgery, and Anaesthetic & Emergency Medicine, who wish to pursue a career in as either a resuscitative or major trauma consultant to the level required in trauma centres in one of two pathways:

  1. The resuscitative surgeon - responsible for immediate life-saving surgery in major trauma.
  2. The major trauma consultant - responsible for delivering and coordinating ongoing patient care.


Mohs Surgery
Six-month fellowship focused on a range of high risk and/or complex skin cancer, open to surgeons in the disciplines of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Otolaryngology, and Plastic Surgery.

Oncoplastic Breast Surgery
12-month fellowship focused on Breast Cancer and or Breast Cancer Reconstruction, open to surgeons in the disciplines of General Surgery and Plastic Surgery with a Breast specialist interest.

Spinal Surgery
12-month fellowship focused on spinal condition, open to surgeons in the disciplines of Neurosurgery and Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgery.

Information on how to apply can be found via Severn Postgraduate Medical Education.