The Wales Clinical Academic Track (WCAT)
WCAT posts are run-through clinical-academic training positions in medicine and dentistry. They are a collaboration between Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW) and the major universities in Wales (Bangor, Cardiff and Swansea).
Each WCAT post provides training from entry through to CCT and includes a salary funded three-year PhD as well as 20% protected academic time during clinical training. Trainees can apply to the WCAT programme at any stage of their training following successful completion of their Foundation Programme training, with exception of their final year.
Trainees apply to the scheme during Round 1 recruitment, via Oriel, and interviews normally take place in the following January/February. We will share advert details and timelines with you so you can discuss further with trainees interested in applying to the scheme. The application process requires candidates to speak to their current TPD prior to applying to the programme to ensure their academic requirements can be accommodated and that the TPD is supportive of the application.
For those trainees not yet accepted onto a training programme, they would need to speak to prospective TPD’s to ensure agreement should they be successful with their application, so you may be contacted by trainees who are considering applying to your programme and WCAT in the following year. Should a trainee be appointed to WCAT in January/February but not hold a national training number for their stage of training, they would need to go to the national recruitment rounds the same year and be deemed appointable in order to take up the WCAT post in the August.
WCAT trainees are supernumerary to the clinical training programme. Should a trainee already with a clinical training number in your specialty be appointed to WCAT, they relinquish that number on taking up the WCAT post, allowing for another trainee to be appointed to their now empty clinical number.
If you have any questions please email HEIW.WCAT@wales.nhs.uk
Training Programme Director Dr Kathryn Peall
Programme Manager (HEIW) Claire Porter
Specialty/Programme Information
Wales Clinical Academic Track (WCAT)
The Wales Clinical Academic Track (WCAT) fellowship programme was launched in August 2009. The primary aim of the scheme is to equip clinical academic trainees with the range of knowledge and skills required to compete as independent investigators in the modern area of translational research.
WCAT provides trainees with a balance between clinical and academic training and includes a salary funded 3 year PhD training fellowship and a period of clinical training with protected academic time (0.2 wte) in the clinical training years.
