Locum Consultant in Palliative Medicine

Locum Consultant in Palliative Medicine

The closing date is 24 April 2026

Fixed term contract 12 months (maternity cover)

Location: Cicely Saunders Institute - King's College Hospital

Salary: £109,725 to £145,478 a year pro rata, excluding London Zone Allowance

Contract type: Fixed term

Duration: 12 months

Working pattern: Part time

Reference number: 213-MED-DH-

Responsibilities

• Provide senior palliative care medical leadership to support skilled decision making and support to patients, palliative care and Trust colleagues, particularly in cases of complexity.
• Lead, deliver and represent excellent palliative care through innovation, collaboration and education.
• Support 24/7 specialist palliative care advice across KHP. On call commitment is a 1:16 rota, Category B, providing telephone advice to health professionals across King's, St Thomas', Guys and Lewisham Hospitals and Guys and St Thomas' community palliative care teams.
• Provide high quality care service to patients, including all aspects of treatment and relevant management duties for the proper functioning of the Care Group.
• Share responsibility with other colleagues for 24 hours, 7 days a week cover for the Unit on a rota basis, including coverage of colleagues' periods of annual leave and short term sickness as detailed in your contract.
• Provide clinical supervision of junior medical/dental practitionersas a shared responsibility with other consultant colleagues.
• Carry out teaching, examination and accreditation duties as required, contributing to CPD and clinical governance initiatives.
• Attend outpatient clinic commitments in peripheral hospitals as agreed with the Care Groups management team.
• Contribute to the Care Groups research interests in accordance with the Trusts R&D framework.
• Contribute to the audit programmes, Morbidity and Mortality, Clinical Governance programmes and Learning from Deaths.
• Take an active role in the formulation, implementation and monitoring of the Care Groups Business Plan, including discussions regarding service plans and developments with internal and external agencies.
• Conduct all activities within the contracted level of service and operating plan for services.
• Exercise professional leadership for all staff working in the specialty, fostering and developing projects focused towards these ends and ensuring that post qualification professional education and other appropriate training is maintained.
• Work in conjunction with clinical and other professional colleagues to ensure that the productivity of staff within the specialty is maintained and their job satisfaction is enhanced, including involvement in the appraisal process for peers and/or junior colleagues.
• Undertake Care Group management duties as agreed with the Care Group/Departmental Manager/Clinical Director.
• Be aware of, and comply with, all Trust infection prevention and control policies, including hand hygiene, personal hygiene, environmental and food hygiene.
• Prepare for and undertake the protective interventions that you are responsible for in a manner consistent with evidence based practice and maintaining patient safety.
• Kings is committed to providing consultant led 7 day services; in the event of future developments, the post holder would be expected to contribute equally with other Consultant colleagues.

Person Specification Qualification

• MRCP, MRCGP or equivalent
• Other higher degree or diploma (e.g., MD)

Registration

• Full Registration with GMC
• Name on GMC Specialist Register on date of taking up appointment

Training and Experience

• Wide experience in all aspects of palliative care, culminating in award of CCT or equivalent
• Specialist training in Palliative Care
• Previous experience working in an acute Trust

Administration

• Experience in day to day organisation of Palliative Care services in a busy Teaching Hospital
• Familiarity with information technology and general computer skills
• Familiar with current structure of UK National Health Service and conversant with recent initiatives and changes
• Familiar with current structure of Health Service and conversant with recent initiatives and changes

Management and Leadership

• Able to demonstrate leadership capability within multi disciplinary teams
• Management course and/or qualification

Audit and Quality Improvement

• Thorough understanding of principles of medical audit
• Must have undertaken and completed audit projects
• Audit Publications

Research and Publications

• Experience of conducting or supporting clinical research
• Keeps up to date with relevant palliative care and related research developments in the field
• Relevant research experience in one or more aspects of palliative care
• Publication of relevant review articles or case reports

Teaching

• Experience of undergraduate and post graduate teaching and exam preparation
• Teaching skills course/qualification

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and a Disclosure to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) is required to check for any previous criminal convictions.