About the Programme

The Pan-London Intensive Care Medicine programme provides high quality training in teaching centres throughout the Capital which equips trainees with the skills and experience needed to meet the challenges and demands of the NHS today and tomorrow. The diverse nature of London's population offers unparalleled clinical exposure. ICM trainees undertake training placements in world renowned centres of excellence across the capital including district general hospitals, teaching hospitals, research units and specialist tertiary referral hospitals.

The London programme has more than 200 trainees who enter higher specialist ICM training from core training programmes and equivalence pathways.

Both single and dual (anaesthesia, emergency medicine, renal, respiratory and acute medicine) specialty training are well represented and each trainee undertakes a bespoke and individually tailored programme designed to meet their training needs and personal career ambitions.

London ICM Training sites include:

• Barnet Hospital
• Charing Cross Hospital
• Chelsea and Westminster Hospital
• Great Ormond Street Hospital
• Guy's & St Thomas' Hospital
• Hammersmith Hospital
• Homerton University Hospital
• King's College Hospital
• Kingston Hospital
• National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery, Queen Square
• Newham Hospital
• Northwick Park Hospital
• Queen's Hospital, Romford
• St Bartholomew's Hospital
• St George's Hospital
• St Helier Hospital
• St Mary's Hospital
• The Royal Brompton Hospital
• The Royal Free Hospital
• The Royal London Hospital
• The Royal Marsden Hospital
• University College London Hospital
• University Hospital Lewisham
• Whipps Cross Hospital

For more information on specific Intensive Care Units please refer to the FICM webpage here.

Each department has a Faculty Tutor.  Their contact details are available via the relevant FICM Regional Advisor.

The new ICM Curriculum: Supporting Excellence was implemented on 4^th August 2021.  All ICM Specialty Registrars (StRs) single CCT and dual, moved to the new ICM curriculum except for those within 12 calendar months of attaining their Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) who wished to remain on the 2010 Curriculum. 

Information regarding the 2021 and previous ICM curricula (including transition guidance, key dates & documents) can be found on the FICM Website:  https://www.ficm.ac.uk/trainingexamstrainingcurriculaandassessment/icm-curriculum

Please use this resource to ensure your are familiar with the curriculum and capability outcomes that need to be achieved and evidence in training.

In each training placement (whether an ICM or dual specialty post) trainees should be assigned an ICM educational supervisor (ES) who will be able to provide local support and guidance.  If you are not placed on the ICM programme as a dual trainee then it is likely that your Faculty Tutor will not be aware of you and will need to be contacted directly.  Your Regional Advisor or TPD will be able to help identify the Faculty Tutor if needed.

Your ES is responsible for the overall supervision and management of a doctor’s educational progress during a placement or a series of placements. Trainees should regularly meet with their ICM Educational Supervisor (at the start, middle and end of a placement as a minimum) to review progress and achievement of learning outcomes. They are also responsible for the educational agreement, and for bringing together all relevant evidence to form a summative judgement about progression at the end of the placement or a series of placements. If at any stage, you are concerned or running into difficulty please contact your ES, Faculty Tutor (FT) or TPD as soon as possible.

If you are a current ICM trainees and do not have an ICM Educational Supervisor, please contact the local ICM Faculty Tutor (FT) who will be able to help.  Your Regional Advisor or TPD will be able identify the Faculty Tutor if needed.

Special Skills Year (SSY)

The LSICM is keen to be able to support single specialty ICM trainees in their choice of a Special Skills Year, we have been successful in either placing within the programme or facilitating via an OOPT everyone’s first or second choice SSY over the last few years.   On joining the programme we recommend that you read the handbook (https://www.ficm.ac.uk/sites/ficm/files/documents/2021-10/icm_curriculum_handbook_special_skills_year_section_0.pdf) and have a think about what you would like to achieve within your SSY year.  If there is something very specific that you hope to do which is covered by the handbook and you wish to actively pursue an OOPT then this will likely be supported though if not in a centre that usually provides ICMN training it will be subject to GMC and FICM approval.  If you are planning this then please include the stage 2 TPD in your thoughts as they may well be able to advise on the workability of the plan, or even suggest options for specialty clinical fellow posts.

Otherwise you will be contacted by the stage 2 TPD to arrange it at least a year in advance and your top three choices will be asked for, in general we will do this in order of your ranking at national recruitment to HST, but this will not always be possible as every ICM trainee has a bespoke training timeline and programme.  We will do our best to accommodate your requests within programme and if not possible to advise on possible centre to contact for clinical fellow posts.

It is a requirement of training programmes that an Annual Review of Competence Progression (ARCP) is undertaken each year.  In London School of ICM, we try to align the timing of your annual ICM ARCP with critical progression points eg end of stage.  This means your ARCP may not be at the end of an academic year.  If you are a dual trainee, please also be aware you will have an ARCP in both specialities on an annual basis and only your ICM portfolio can be accessed and reviewed at the ICM ARCP.  The ICM Operations Team will email you with the intended ARCP date and what information/evidence is required so please keep an eye out for this communication and read it carefully.  All ICM ARCP’s are held in absentia.

Whilst the ARCP process can seem quite daunting, it should be relatively straightforward with steady preparation during each academic year.  In addition to regular meetings with your Educational Supervisor (ES) we recommend liaising with them and your Faculty Tutor as soon as you are made aware of your ARCP date so they can support you in your ARCP preparation and compile & submit an Educational Supervisor’s Structured Report (ESSR) with plenty of notice.

The exact requirements for each year’s ARCP vary and will depend on your stage of training.  These are outlined in the FICM checklist found here

For the purposes of revalidation you will also need to upload a form R which outlines your full scope of practice (including any additional work, paid or not, which requires GMC registration). This applies even if you are on statutory leave or out of programme.

Please note the following and avoid common pitfalls:

·       You will receive a comprehensive email from the HEE Operations Team outlining what you need to submit for your ARCP.  Please read this carefully and include everything detailed in the communication

·       The Educational Supervisors Structured Report is a vital and essential piece of information which helps inform the ARCP panel and anything that needs to be viewed by the panel must be linked to the ESSR. 

·       Please be aware that the “Document Store” cannot be viewed ARCP panels

·       The ESSR must cover the full date range from your previous ARCP – linked evidence outside the date range is not visible to an ARCP panel.

·       Please ensure you link a logbook summary.  The panel will want to view cumulative numbers of procedures and as well as numbers of procedures undertaken since your last ARCP.  FICM has a number of recommended logbook resources: https://www.ficm.ac.uk/trainingexamslifelonglearning/logbook-resources

·       All evidence INCLUDING FORM R must be linked before submission and Educational Supervisor & FT “sign off” otherwise it cannot be viewed by the ARCP panel.

Please ensure you upload the Form R itself (not the notification of completion of form R). The link to complete the Form R can be found in your ARCP invite

·       If you are a Dual Anaesthesia/ICM trainee, please be aware that the panel can only view evidence in your ICM portfolio (even if you have linked it through from your anaesthesia portfolio to your ICM ESSR).  Therefore, any evidence in your anaesthetic portfolio which needs to be reviewed by the ICM ARCP Panel needs to be loaded onto the ICM section of LLP and linked accordingly

·       You will be notified via the Lifelong Learning Platform when your outcome form has been completed by the ARCP panel. Please remember to review this form and accept it. The panel will provide feedback on the form, please note any objectives and if a provisional next ARCP date under 1 year has been set by the panel. If you are unsure of any of the comments on the form or objectives that have been set, please discuss these with your TPD. 

For more information on ARCP’s & FAQ’s please click here:

End of Stage

Your end of stage will be assessed at an ARCP and as well as the usual evidence  the panel will be looking to see completion of the curricular requirements documented in HiLLOs and completion of the FFICM for the end of stage 2.  If you unsure of your current end of stage date then please contact your TPD and have plenty of notice to prepare.

For stage 1 the end of stage 1 date should be confirmed at recruitment and if it changes due to LTFT, dual specialty recruitment etc. reconfirmed.  As a rule of thumb your end of stage 2 date will be 1 year WTE before CCT for a standalone trainee, 2 years WTE before CCT for a dual anaesthetic trainee and 1.5 years WTE before CCT for other dual trainees.  Your end of stage 3 date is your CCT date and that should be confirmed at each ARCP.

When you have successfully completed your end of stage ARCP the panel will confirm that your end of stage certificate can be issued, will reconfirm the end of stage date and ask you to send the certificate to your regional advisor.  There are 5 regional advisors covering London (NW, NC, NE, SW and SE), and for the purposes of your end of stage certificate we’ll advise you to contact the RA that covers the Trust you have completed your stage in.  Please read your ARCP outcome form for this information.

Regional Training Days are organised by Health Education England and the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine. There will be 10 half day (2pm - 5pm) sessions per annum, being held once a month excluding August and January.

Each hospital that receives trainees from the Intensive Care Medicine training programme will be expected to organise a half day programme for the trainees, which at present are being held via MS Teams. The Health Education England team will assist in organising publication of the agenda and will also help with the smooth transition between talks and speakers. All ICM trainees are added to the MS Teams channel which allows access to previous training day content.

Tha training days will be delivered as a two year rolling system covering the entire Intensive Care Medicine curriculum.

For all Regional Training Day and event information please access the Events Calendar section of the website by clicking here. Once on the calendar use the search functions on the calendar to find the RTD programme or event required.

Please contact Dr De la Cerda (ICM Regional Advisor for NE Thames gonzalo.de-la-cerda@hee.nhs.uk or the Health Education Team via the PGMDE Support Portal for any queries about the RTD programme.

London ICM Regional Training Days Timetable

NHS England London have published lists per specialty on the PGMDE Support Portal which details the courses each School considers mandatory to support curriculum requirements and those that are optional. 

For more information about Study Leave - click here.

The London School of ICM course list can be found here

In the event you wish to undertake a course outside the mandatory and optional lists please make a prospective application following the Discretionary Course process. This includes seeking support from your TPD.  Please email the TPD and include the points below which provides details of the course, estimated costs and justification for attending the course and justification if it is outside of London.  If your TPD approves your request then it will be sent to the HoS/DHoS for approval before final approval is given. If at any point along the approval process your request is declined you will be emailed and informed why.

Details to be included for DISCRETIONARY STUDY LEAVE REQUEST

Name of course

Course location

Course dates

Course fees

Estimated travel/accommodation expenses

Justification for attending the course*, linked to trainee’s PDP and learning objectives and confirmation that the trainee has not already received funding for an international event during the current period of training (i.e. Foundation or core or higher training programmes, trainees in run through or dual programmes can apply for international events every 3 years as a maximum)

Justification for attending a course located outside of London, Kent, Surrey & Sussex.

* Please note that trainees seeking leadership training should in the first instance be encouraged to access the free NHS Leadership Academy Edward Jenner or the LEEP programme delivered by an NHS Trust or HEE and should only consider any other options when these courses are not available. Please confirm you have explored these options in your application.

In addition to support provided locally by Educational Supervisors, ICM Departments and Trusts & TPD’s, NHS England have a number of resources to help support you during your training including:

The Professional Support Unit (PSU) provides a free service primarily aimed at supporting the progression of postgraduate training for healthcare professionals. The PSU operates independently from training programmes and provides confidential support and advice, by self referral, on many aspects of professional development including:

• Confidential 1;1 advice or support via Single Point of Contact (SPOC) service
• Coaching
• Careers advice
• Psychological support for doctors & dentists
• Specialist communication and linguistics skills support
• Access to dyslexia assessments and specialist and dyslexia coaching
• Access to neurodiversity resources
• Support for those Returning to Practice
• Courses, Groups, Workshops & e-learning
• Individual Support Team (IST) support
• Access to wellbeing & self management resources

Further information can be found on the Professional Support Unit website. 

The Supported Return to Training (SuppoRTT) programme is a resource which aims to support all trainees to safely and confidently return to training after a sustained period of absence. This applies to all trainees absent for 3 months or more, regardless of reason.  Further information can be found on the SuppoRTT website.  

About the London ICM Programme

About training:

To view the latest edition of the Gold Guide: A Reference Guide for Postgraduate Foundation and Specialty Training in the UK, please click here.

Colleges and Societies:

• The Faculty for Intensive Care Medicine (FICM)
• The Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA)
• The Intensive Care Society (ICS)
• The European Society of Intensive Care Medicine