First students graduate from unique kidney course
STSFTThe first students have graduated from a unique medical course designed for specialised kidney care.
Five higher speciality trainees in kidney medicine graduated from the two year course taught at the renal unit at Sunderland Royal Hospital.
The course develops doctors' skills in interventional nephrology, an area of care that deals with procedures related to dialysis and investigations in kidney medicine, such as ultrasound and kidney biopsies.
It was developed by South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust (STSFT) and Newcastle University and saw students travel from across the country to take part.
Dr Shalabh Srivastava, one of the nephrology experts behind the course, said he hoped thanks to the training kidney care would improve across the country.
"It is a great sense of achievement to see this cohort through as there is no equivalent programme anywhere in the world," he said.
Professor Paul Paes, head of school of medicine at Newcastle University, said seeing the first graduates was "an exciting moment".
"Newcastle University and STSFT have been working in partnership for a long time to train the region's doctors.
"This is a further step in that partnership to improve an area of specialist care that will make an impact locally, nationally and internationally."
STSFT said it had recruited a further two intakes of 10 students to the course.
They include two students who have moved to the UK with their families for the training, one from Malaysia and the other from Saudi Arabia.
The trust said discussions were underway with healthcare organisations in Malaysia, India and Tanzania to build future links around the project.
