The first programme we developed, was Remote Surgical Skills. This was created to allow medical staff working in remote or austere environments access to surgical skills.

In such roles, if the onsite medic cannot treat the patient then this could lead to them being evacuated. Skills taught are; suturing, local anaesthesia, foreign body removal, minor procedures and a number of emergency techniques.

The course first ran in 2004 and was given approval by The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh for CPD and later sponsorship from Ethicon. This is run as a three day residential. Originally this was held on site at Keele Hall pre-dating the University’s medical school.

The next major programme was sparking the idea for a remote medical post graduate course. From inception in 2003, the original curriculum of 1200 hours has only varied by 1 of the 10 compulsory modules. Finally launching in 2010, the post-graduate Diploma of Remote and Offshore Medicine, DipROM RCS(Ed), has seen it’s first run of students being awarded for successful completion.

The whole course was designed and run for distance learning. A focus was on the minimal amount of outside teaching materials. Books are heavy things, especially when you have  lot of travelling in your job. Another requirement was for the minimum amount of residential days. Most remote medics get paid by the day, so the course needs to fit around them.

Other courses have been developed for government, private and humanitarian aid bodies operating in austere environments. We are able to provide training and support services both in the UK and worldwide through our network of specialist medical providers. The design and materials lists are developed in the UK along with the core training texts and teaching aids.