Locum Consultant in Microbiology

Here at East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust

Our mission is: Providing high-quality, compassionate care for our communities

Our vision to 2030 is: To be trusted to provide consistently outstanding care and exemplary service

Our values - We want our staff to believe in, demonstrate and live our values in everything we do. Our values are:

Include We value the diversity and experience of our community colleagues and partners, creating relationships and climates that provide an opportunity to share, collaborate and grow together.

Respect We create a safe environment where we are curious of the lived experience of others, seek out best practice and are open to listening and hearing new ideas.

Improve We are committed to consistently delivering excellent services and continuously looking to improve through a creative workforce that feels empowered to act in service of our shared purpose.

Job overview

East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust has a fantastic opportunity available for a Locum Consultant post in Microbiology - could this be YOU?

You've started reading this advert so why not continue?

This is a 6 month fixed term post based at Lister Hospital located in Stevenage. The post consists of 10 programmed activities (PAs), but part time and job share applicants are welcome to apply.

The Locum Consultant Microbiologists provide a proactive, dynamic, and consultative link between clinicians, the patients, and the laboratory service.

This is a career enhancing opportunity to work in a large district general hospital covering the full range of acute services including an active renal unit, orthopaedics, gastroenterology, respiratory medicine, cardiology, oncology, rheumatology, urology, plastic surgery, obstetrics & gynaecology, paediatrics, and elderly care medicine.

Main duties of the job

The Locum Consultant Microbiologists provide a proactive dynamic and consultative link between clinicians, the patients and the laboratory service. The role includes the provision of advice on appropriate and timely investigations for microbial diseases, professional direction of the laboratory service. Working together with senior Biomedical staff to ensure regular review of the investigative repertoire and the methodology employed, medical reporting and interpretation of results and advice on patient management.

Working for our organisation

At East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust, we are proud of the range of general and specialist services we provide and our 6,000 or so dedicated staff ensure our patients get the best care. Our ability to be flexible and innovative in the way in which we work and deliver our services to our catchment has never been more important than it is now.

We run the following hospitals:

• The Lister Hospital, Stevenage
• New Queen Elizabeth II (New QEII), Welwyn Garden City
• Hertford County, Hertford

We have ambitious plans to become an outstanding, patient led Trust where dedicated staff provide high-quality, compassionate care to our patients. We continue to undergo significant transformation and our staff and patients are at the heart of delivering this ambitious agenda.

We are committed to a positive work life balance for our employees. This means that any employee is entitled to seek to work flexible working patterns and we are committed to listen and consider all requests. Such requests, of course, have to be made and considered formally, and will need to be balanced against service needs, but our starting point will always be to find ways to support making them happen.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

In the paragraphs above you have read an overview about the role we would like to offer and general information about main duties of the post holder. Please see attached - job description which describes in full details the duties, responsibilities and reporting relationships of the advertising role.

Qualifications / Training

• Entry on GMC Specialist Register or, be within 6 months of receipt of Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) at time of interview or, provide GMC confirmed eligibility for entry on the Specialist Register
• Applicants that are non UK trained, will be required to show evidence of equivalence to the UK CCT (CCT or equivalence in Medical Microbiology or Virology)
• FRCPath in Microbiology or Microbiology/Infectious Disease or equivalent
• Evidence of being up to date and fit to practice safely, and aware of own training needs

Previous Experience

• Broad range of experience in microbiology experience including the laboratory diagnosis of infections and their treatment
• Experience of supervising undergraduates, doctors in training and other colleagues
• Ability to offer and be accountable for full and independent expert diagnostic opinion
• Can evidence leading on patient safety issues and achieving a change in practice
• An interest and experience in infection control

Skills

• Able to evidence engagement with clinical governance and the identification of errors and the learning from errors.
• Evidence engagement with appraisal and revalidation

Secondments/Fixed term

Where a vacancy is advertised as a temporary position, the duration will be specified in the advert. If the vacancy becomes permanent towards the end of the specified duration, the successful applicant may not be required to re apply and can be slotted into the role on a permanent basis if appropriate.

If you are an internal applicant applying for a temporary working arrangement, please see the attached notes on secondments.

Committed to our Community

East and North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion for all job applicants, staff, patients and the wider community. We want to create a workforce which represents the communities we serve. We are on a journey to become a more inclusive organisation and we welcome applications from everyone regardless of their background. In particular we encourage applications from candidates with disabilities, and candidates from Black, Asian and Minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds who are currently under represented in various parts of our workforce.

We understand the importance of balancing work and home life. We are committed to support flexible working for our staff wherever possible and all our employees are given the opportunity to discuss potential for flexible working.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and achieved our status in 2019.

We will remove barriers that prospective candidates might face at any stage of our recruitment process. If you have a disability and would like the advert in an alternative format, or would like to talk about how we can adjust the interview process to best support you, please contact us by emailing

We are also proud to support our UK armed forces by supporting Reservists, Cadet Instructors, Veterans and military spouses/partners into employment and offering supportive policies that value their contribution to the community and to our Trust.

We are committed to being a carer friendly environment, addressing the complex needs of families with caring responsibilities. In partnership with Carers in Hertfordshire, all our working carers have access to support from recruitment. We are also a member of Carers UK, providing resources to make balancing work and caring easier. Our approach is inclusive, recognising diverse challenges and creating a supportive environment where carers feel valued.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.