General Medical Practitioner

Job responsibilities

As a General Medical Practitioner, you will be a vital member of our multidisciplinary team, dedicated to delivering high-quality medical care to our patients. You will operate both autonomously and collaboratively with our healthcare professionals to diagnose, treat, and manage a diverse range of health conditions. Your role will encompass direct patient care, clinical leadership, and active participation in quality improvement initiatives.

The post-holder will manage a caseload and address a wide spectrum of health needs within a primary care setting, ensuring the highest standards of care for all registered and temporary patients.

Key responsibilities

• Work independently and in conjunction with other healthcare professionals to assess, diagnose, and treat patients within primary care, initiating direct referrals as appropriate.
• Provide expert professional advice to patients, carers, and colleagues, ensuring the maintenance of clinical excellence.
• Develop new and innovative concepts, models, methods, and practices to enhance primary care services, meeting the evolving needs of the PCN population.
• Deliver comprehensive medical care, managing a diverse caseload and addressing a wide range of health conditions.
• Work closely with a multidisciplinary team to ensure integrated and holistic patient care.
• Participate in quality improvement initiatives and clinical audits to continually enhance patient care and service delivery.

Clinical Responsibilities:

The General Medical Practitioner (GP) works autonomously and is accountable for own professional actions.

• Conducting face-to-face and telemedicine consultations to assess, diagnose, and manage patients health conditions.
• Identifying and treating acute and chronic illnesses, injuries, and other health conditions.
• Providing preventative care services and lifestyle advice to promote overall health and prevent disease.
• Managing long-term conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and asthma, ensuring patients receive ongoing care and monitoring.
• Prescribing medications, reviewing treatment plans, and monitoring patient side effects and effectiveness.
• Referring patients to specialists or other healthcare services when necessary for further diagnosis or treatment.
• Educating patients and their families about health conditions, treatment options, and preventative measures.
• Encouraging healthy lifestyle choices and providing resources to support patients in making positive changes.
• Collaborating with other healthcare professionals, including nurses, pharmacists, and specialists, to ensure comprehensive and coordinated care.
• Maintaining accurate and up-to-date patient records, including medical histories, treatment plans, and progress notes.
• Participating in clinical audits and quality improvement initiatives to enhance patient care and service delivery.
• Conducting home visits for patients who are unable to attend the clinic due to mobility issues or severe illness if cover is not available under the home visiting team.
• Elicit a patient history appropriate to the clinical situation, which will include, presenting complaint, history of the present illness, past medical history, social history, family history, medications, allergies, review of systems, risk factors and appropriate targeted history.
• Perform a physical examination tailored to the needs of the patients and the demands of the clinical situation.
• Assess and prioritise patients undergoing treatment.
• Demonstrate continual evaluation of the patients and use expertise to recommend adjustments/amendments to treatment plans, in consultation with the patient and members of the multi-professional team.
• Make direct referrals to other members of the health care team.
• Requests bloods and radiological test as appropriate.
• Request and perform diagnostic tests as agreed locally.
• Chase, view and Interpret results and report findings.
• Discuss and agree assessment outcomes with patients, carers, and other health care professionals to enable patients to make an informed decision regarding their treatment.
• Assesses diagnoses and treats patients attending primary health care services with a range of acute, non-acute and chronic medical conditions.
• Assesses diagnoses and treats patients in surgery or own home who require acute medical attention and refer to appropriate agency.
• Refers patients as appropriate to other members of the multi-disciplinary team, secondary care and to other statutory and voluntary organisations.
• Interprets a range of diagnostic tests and routine clinical procedures.
• Makes critical judgements of the highest order to satisfy expectations and demands of the job.
• Works within professional guidelines and codes of conduct.
• Works with all relevant practice policies and procedural guidelines e.g., infection control, chaperoning, risk management etc.
• Contribute to practice targets both local and national within the disease management agenda e.g., QOF/Prescribing Incentive Scheme.
• To actively implement safeguarding protocols for children and vulnerable adults and to know who to refer to and how to escalate concerns about radicalisation.

Delivering a quality service

• Recognise and work within own competence and professional code of conduct as regulated by the GMC.
• Produce accurate, contemporaneous, and complete records of patient consultation, consistent with legislation, policies, and procedures.
• Prioritise, organise, and manage own workload in a manner that maintains and promotes quality.
• Deliver care according to NSF, NICE guidelines, and evidence-based care.
• Assess effectiveness of care delivery through self and peer review, benchmarking, and formal evaluation.
• Initiate and participate in the maintenance of quality governance systems and processes across the organisation and its activities.
• Utilise the audit cycle as a means of evaluating the quality of the work of self and the team, implementing improvements where required.
• In partnership with other clinical teams, collaborate on improving the quality of health care responding to local and national policies and initiatives as appropriate.
• Evaluate patients response to health care provision and the effectiveness of care.
• Support and participate in shared learning across the practice and wider organisation.
• Use a structured framework (e.g., root-cause analysis) to manage, review and identify learning from patient complaints, clinical incidents, and near-miss events.
• Assess the impact of policy implementation on care delivery.
• Understand and apply legal issues that support the identification of vulnerable and abused children and adults and be aware of statutory child/vulnerable patients health procedures and local guidance.

Other responsibilities

• Participate in annual appraisal which will include staff multi source feedback (MSF) and patient survey.
• Participate in teaching and training of medical, nursing, paramedic, and physician associate students.
• Supporting the practice staff and responding to requests for advice and assistance from the practice reception, secretarial and nursing staff.
• Attend prescribing, palliative care, virtual ward round, clinical and practice meetings as required.
• Awareness of and compliance with all relevant practice policies/guidelines, e.g., prescribing, confidentiality, data protection, health, and safety, annual QOF Assessment of the Practice.
• Meet timescales/deadlines for audits and written returns to ensure that the Practice meets quality standards and receives the designated funding (e.g., Quarterly Enhanced Services returns, annual QOF audit etc.)

Service improvement.

• Be aware of and assist in current clinical audit.
• Work with colleagues in the team on the development of current and new services and other initiatives.
• Deal with requests from patients and clinical staff for health information leaflets.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Attend annual updates and mandatory training as required.
• Highlight any gaps in knowledge/training needs to their line manager to allow them the opportunity to offer support to fulfil the duties of this post.

Act in a manner that safeguards children and/or vulnerable adults as applicable to the role.

• Work in line with organisational policies and procedural guidelines.

This JD is not intended to be an exhaustive list of activities but rather an outline of the main areas of responsibility. The role is likely to evolve to meet the changing needs of the service.

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working in a primary care environment.
• Evidence of recent teaching, mentorship, and supervision of staff.
• Advanced skills in listening and information processing, alongside empathetic skills to ascertain, understand and respond to individuals complex needs and concerns.
• Advanced knowledge in managing patients with long term conditions.
• Knowledge of clinical governance, confidentiality, data protection and information governance in primary care.
• A solid understanding and experience of QOF.
• Knowledge of the local and national health policy and wider health economy.
• Experience of compiling protocols and clinical guidelines.

Desirable

• Knowledge of public health issues faced.

Qualifications

Essential

• Medical Degree. Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners or equivalent in training if approved by the Royal College of General Practitioners. Certificate of MRCGP.
• Registered GP with the GMC (included on the GP register).
• Included on GP Performers List.
• Posses the right to work in the UK and practice independently.
• Certificate of satisfactory immune status RE: Hepatitis B and other relevant viruses.
• Current General Practice experience with up-to-date GMC appraisal/revalidation.
• Qualified within the first two years post qualification (not beyond the second anniversary of your certificate of completion of training issued by the GMC at the start of your employment).

Other

Essential

• Physical assessment and clinical examination skills.
• Ability to manage high pressure situations e.g., clinical crisis.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Able to work well with other people and deal with the challenges of ever changing and demanding situations.
• Good working knowledge of SystmOne.
• Evidence of knowledge of research methodology.
• Knowledge of Audit principles and evidence of participation in and completion of audit projects.
• Shows ability to work and lead others across professions.
• Able to manage own time and prioritise work.
• Willingness to work flexibly to deliver clinically effective and cost-effective healthcare.
• Ability to integrate the care of a patient by many and various other clinical staff.
• Membership of appropriate Medical Organisation (MDU, MPS etc.)
• Be able to carry out the duties of this post.

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.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).