Specialists from across the UK and India gathered at University Hospital of North Tees for a two-day workshop on advanced endoscopy, with live demonstrations, lectures and case-based discussion forming the centre of the programme.
The North Tees Advanced Endotherapy Workshop took place on Thursday 8 and Friday 9 October. It brought clinicians, trainees and other healthcare professionals to Stockton to examine developing techniques and technologies used in advanced endoscopic care.
Training built around real cases
The programme was convened by Professor Vikramjit Mitra, Dr Iosif Beintaris and Dr John Jacob. Professor Derek Bell, chair of University Hospitals Tees, opened the event.
North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust said the teaching combined live clinical work with expert lectures and discussion of case . That mix matters in a technical specialty: published guidance from the British Society of Gastroenterology says simulation and image-based learning are useful, but work best when combined with hands-on courses, trainer development and to human factors.
The announcement does not include a session-by-session agenda, so the precise procedures and techniques shown during the live teaching cannot be independently listed.
The workshop was endorsed by the Royal College of Physicians, the British Society of Gastroenterology, the North East and North Cumbria Endoscopy Network and the Northern Endoscopy Training Academy. Speakers came from centres around the UK as well as India, giving local trainees access to approaches and experience from beyond the region.
on the agenda
Artificial intelligence was among the subjects considered during the two days. The Trust said the discussion looked at how could be used in endoscopy to support patient care, but its report did not describe a particular system, trial or change to local clinical practice.
That distinction is important. The British Society of Gastroenterology describes AI in gastrointestinal medicine as a rapidly developing field that may support detection, recognition and quality in endoscopy. Its AI Task Force is also working on standards, training and the ethical and medicolegal questions that come with clinical adoption. In other words, the technology has potential, but safe use depends on , clear standards and staff who understand both its strengths and its limits.
What the event tells us, and what it does not
For Stockton, the workshop shows that specialist clinical education is being delivered at University Hospital of North Tees, a hospital within a Trust that provides hospital and community services to about 400,000 people in its district. Sharing expertise locally can help clinicians and trainees keep pace with changing techniques without treating a single event as proof of better .
The Trust has not published an attendance figure, a list of the procedures , an evaluation of the teaching or any patient data. It also has not announced a date for a future workshop. The confirmed result is narrower: over two days, North Tees hosted a professionally endorsed training programme with national and international input, and placed practical skills, case discussion and the cautious adoption of new technology on the same agenda.