Specialty Doctor - Maternity cover

Job responsibilities

Job Description

1. JOB DETAILS

Job Title: Locum Specialty Doctor in Palliative Medicine

Location: Based Searle House, Exeter EX2 5JJ

Salary: NHS 2021 Specialty Doctor Pay Scale, in

accordance with previous experience

Hours: 0.6-0.8 WTE, 6-8 Planned Activities (PAs) per

week. This will include 2-3 working days including

a Friday, along with weekend and overnight nonresident

on call.

Team/Directorate: Medical

Responsible To: Medical Lead Consultant

Responsible For: N/A

Accountable to: Clinical Director

2. JOB PURPOSE

To work flexibly and collaboratively across Hospiscare inpatient and community

settings, providing specialist palliative care advice for patients in the Royal Devon

University Hospital (RDUH), Exeter.

Responsible for providing medical management for patients, predominantly in

Hospiscare Inpatient Unit (IPU), as part of a multi-disciplinary team delivering

specialist palliative care.

To provide medical advice and support for patients and to multi-disciplinary teams

across all care settings including Community and the Royal Devon University

Hospital.

To participate in the weekend and overnight 24 hour non-resident on-call specialist

palliative care medical rota for hospice inpatients, community and patients in the

RDUH.

3. KEY RESULT AREAS/PRINCIPAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

3.1 Main Responsibilities

Medical management of hospice inpatients, including assessment and

management of pain and other symptoms, and of psychosocial effects of

advanced illness, to establish a therapeutic, holistic relationship with patients

and those close to them.

Provide specialist palliative care advice to medical colleagues, including

General Practitioners throughout Exeter, Mid and East Devon and doctors at

the RD&E Hospital, in order to maintain the highest clinical standards in the

management of patients and support for those close to them.

Liaise with multi-disciplinary healthcare professionals and relevant agencies

to ensure appropriate care and support is provided for patients and those

close to them.

Contribute to educational programmes and clinical attachments, and support

clinical placements and education for 4th Year University of Exeter Medical

School (UEMS) students attached to Hospiscare, to promote the development

of the highest standard of palliative skills.

Assist with quality improvement activities to ensure Hospiscare policies and

procedures remain up to date with current research and good practice in

palliative care, supporting compliance, patient safety, learning and continuous

improvement.

Complete clinical notes in line with Hospiscare requirements to ensure

compliance and that accurate and up-to-date information is always available

for multi-disciplinary team colleagues.

Maintain continuing professional development, engaging with annual

appraisal and five-yearly revalidation cycles, to ensure knowledge and

practice is relevant and current.

Infection Prevention and Control

Maintaining a safe environment for patients, visitors and employees is everyones

responsibility. All staff are required to adhere to Hospiscare Infection Prevention

and Control Policy and make every effort to maintain high standards of infection

prevention and control at all times. This includes ensuring personal and team

compliance with all relevant policies and procedures, and acting upon or reporting

any identified risks.

Disclosure and Barring Service

This role requires a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Enhanced level

check with Adults and Children Barred Lists.

3.2 Key Contacts

Internal:

Medical Lead Consultant and Medical team

Clinical Director

Chief Nurse

Lead Advanced Nurse Practitioner

Head of Clinical Governance

Ward (IPU) Manager

Community Cluster Team Leaders (CCTLs)

Learning and Development team

Clinical Quality team

Clinical Co-ordination Centre

Supportive Care Team

Rapid Response Team

External:

Patients and those close to them

General Practitioners and primary healthcare teams

Doctors and multi-professional colleagues at RDUH

University of Exeter Medical School

Specialist Palliative Care nursing team (SPCT) and Enhanced Supportive Care

(ESC) team at RDUH Hospital

Placement students

Medical colleagues at other south west hospices

3.3 Health & Safety

Ensure that Health and Safety guidelines and fire regulations are strictly

adhered to

Comply with safe working practices as defined by Hospiscare

Complete online training as and when required

Take reasonable care for your own health and safety and that of others who

may be affected by acts or omissions at work

Report any accidents, incidents or near misses as soon as reasonably

practicable

Manage own work life balance and general wellbeing, including any relevant

pressures in respect of lone working, travel, difficult environments and

challenging situations

Updated: June 2025 Page 4 of 7

3.4 General

Be aware of and adhere to Hospiscare policies and procedures at all times

Take part in progress/performance reviews throughout the year

Cooperate with other Hospiscare departments

Attend training courses and complete online training modules as required to

meet the requirements of the post

Take responsibility for own personal development, seeking out opportunities

to learn new skills

Undertake any other duties as requested by management which are

reasonably deemed to be within the scope of the role

3.5 Other

Apply the Hospiscare values and behaviours to every aspect of the role at all

times

Promote and maintain the brand standards of Hospiscare

Knowledge

Essential

• Understanding of the complexities of working with individuals at times of distress and conflict
• Understanding of the role of ongoing quality improvement as a way to ensure patient safety

Desirable

• Understanding of the key issues relating to End of Life Care including national strategies and policy development

Skills

Essential

• Highly developed communication and interpersonal skills, including language competency, required to do the job effectively and safely, and liaise appropriately with contacts at all levels
• Highly developed ability to work effectively alongside other professionals, maintaining clinical credibility within a multi-disciplinary team
• Highly developed ability to synthesize complex information utilising an evidence-based approach
• Developed IT skills

Personal attributes

Essential

• Ability to work as part of a team, prioritise clinical workload and manage time effectively
• Ability to work autonomously, problem solve and take responsibility, with Consultant support when required
• Positive and confident outlook, empathetic with patients, those close to them and colleagues
• Commitment to continuing professional development (CPD), appraisal and revalidation processes, and to the requirements of clinical governance and audit
• Ability to respond positively in a rapidly changing environment, and to deal with contentious and challenging situations in creative and non-judgemental ways
• Positive approach to teaching
• Awareness of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in all aspects of work

Additional requirements

Essential

• Able to fulfil physical and manual handling aspects of the role
• Able and willing to participate in the non-resident on-call rota, including weekends and Bank Holidays

Desirable

• Car owner and driver

Qualifications

Essential

• Primary medical qualification
• Full registration as a medical practitioner
• with the General Medical Council (GMC)
• Membership of a recognised medical defence
• organisation

Desirable

• Membership of the Royal
• Colleges of Physicians or
• Royal College of General
• Practitioners, or equivalent
• qualification
• Certificate/Diploma/MSc in
• Palliative Medicine
• Teaching and/or
• mentorship/supervision
• qualification
• Advanced Communication
• Skills

Experience

Essential

• Demonstrable relevant clinical experience
• Demonstrable experience of multidisciplinary
• team working

Desirable

• Experience of palliative
• care in a specialist setting
• e.g. Hospice, Community
• Palliative Care or Hospital
• Specialist Palliative Care
• Team
• Experience of teaching a
• range of students and
• healthcare professionals
• Experience of using
• Electronic Patient Record
• Systems e.g. SystmOne,
• Emis or EPIC

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).