Consultant In Palliative Medicine

We are seeking to appoint an enthusiastic, motivated, forward thinking Consultant in Palliative Medicine to an innovative community post in Bolton. The post holder will be joining the service at a time of exciting change and development to improve the provision of palliative care to the residents of Bolton.

The post holder will be working predominantly in the community setting, although the service is integrated, so it also provides hospital based services. This includes a proactive emergency department service by two senior clinical practitioners (8a), to identify and manage unmet palliative care needs and identify people who are sick enough to die in order to start advance care planning. This service has been shown to reduce admissions, with a low re admission rate, and reduced length of stay.

The post holder will work alongside a consultant colleague in the community setting, to support the newly appointed community senior clinical practitioners and a specialty doctor. The service is developing to deliver a 7 day rapid response service and 'Hospital at Home' virtual ward provided by the palliative care senior clinical practitioners, alongside advanced clinical practitioners in the Admissions Avoidance Team and other specialist teams running virtual wards. The post holder will need to provide leadership and service development support in setting up these services.

The on call requirements are yet to be determined, as weekend working to support the new service needs to be piloted, there is a requirement to be flexible and engage with these pilots. The current consultants provide 1:5 frequency 2nd on call cover to Bolton Hospice.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will be joining the service at a time of exciting change and development to improve the provision of palliative and end of life care to the residents of Bolton.

The post holder will be working predominantly in the community setting, although the service is integrated, so it also provides hospital based services as well. This includes a proactive emergency department service provided by two senior clinical practitioners (8a), to identify and manage unmet palliative care needs and identify people who are sick enough to die in order to start advance care planning.

The post holder will work alongside a consultant colleague in the community setting, to support the community senior clinical practitioners (8a), a team of band 6 and 7 specialist nurses and a specialty doctor. The service also supports the placement of an FY2 trainee, who is supernumerary, and an ad hoc placement for an StR in Palliative Medicine. The service also has a specialist team of physiotherapists and occupational therapists and the team do joint visits when necessary.

The service is developing to deliver a 7 day rapid response service and 'Hospital at Home' virtual ward provided by the senior clinical practitioners.

Job responsibilities

The post holder will be expected to engage, lead and drive changes to prove the benefits of expanding the service in a community setting and further develop the team to support the service.

Person Specification Qualifications

• Primary Medical Qualification MRCP, MRCGP, FRCR or FRCA
• On the Specialist Register in Palliative Medicine or within 6 months of obtaining CCT

Experience

• Experience of the practice of multi disciplinary Specialist Palliative Care within hospital, community and hospice settings at a senior level.
• Experience of teaching and educational supervision
• Leadership skills, including experience managing change and motivating teams
• Engagement with management training

Skills

• Advanced Communication Skills
• Ability to drive service improvement
• IT skills and knowledge of Electronic patient record systems
• Ability to conduct virtual consultations where necessary
• Commitment to continuous personal development
• Understanding the strategic role of the consultant
• Able to work collaboratively with other teams
• Teaching experience in various settings

Knowledge

• Knowledge of clinical governance
• Understanding NHS structure and function
• Expert knowledge of symptom management and its safe practice in different clinical settings

Other

• Live within an acceptable distance of the Trust
• Able to participate in an on call rota
• Current driving licence and use of car for work

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

£113,565 to £150,569 a year pro annum pro rata