Specialty Doctor

Job responsibilities

Key tasks and responsibilities

The role entails but is not limited to: -

Clinical:

The post holder will participate in the planning, development and delivery of palliative medical care to patients by:

• Providing continuity of medical care on the inpatient unit and being responsible with the medical team for the day to day management of patients admitted to the IPU.
• Performing a full holistic assessment of new patients and providing on-going medical review for existing inpatients.

• Prescribing appropriately in line with hospice and the West Midlands Palliative Care Physicians Guidelines for Symptom Control, maintaining accurate and legible drug charts. Completing the requisitions for pharmaceutical and other supplies when necessary

• Keeping comprehensive notes using the Systm1 electronic patient record
• Participating in the consultant ward rounds and appropriate ward multi-disciplinary team meetings
• Liaising, as needed, with other health and social care providers to ensure optimal patient care during and after discharge from Hospice services
• Completing medical certificates of cause of death, coroners or medical examiner referrals and cremation documentation in an accurate and timely manner
• High-quality and timely completion of administrative duties including discharge letters and death notification letters.
• Participating in the Hospice weekend medical rota, (maximum 1 in 5 weekend duties, comprising Sat and Sun day shifts 9am-5pm)

Clinical Governance:

The post holder will be professionally responsible for helping to ensure robust organisational clinical governance, through active participation in activities such as:

• Clinical audit
• Reviewing and making recommendations on the implementation of national guidelines eg NICE
• Keeping up to date with medical developments, new drugs, treatments and medications, relating to palliative care and sharing learning

Teaching and research:

The post holder will be asked to be involved in supervising and teaching medical students and other health and social care professionals on placement, in collaboration with the rest of the MDT

They will also expected to contribute to the internal teaching programme for members of the MDT and, if appropriate, externally as part of the Hospices commitment to educating other clinical teams about end of life care

There is the opportunity to develop relevant research interests and participate in the hospices active research programme

Managerial and Leadership:

The post holder will take on leadership and management activity, to be determined according to skills and professional development needs

General:

The successful candidate will:

• Be expected to undertake Continuous Professional Development. St Giles Hospice will encourage and support this
• Be able to travel between the 2 St Giles sites if required. Travelling expenses will be paid by St Giles Hospice
• Be expected to be aware of his/her responsibilities towards health and safety and to adhere to the fire regulations.
• Be required to familiarise him/herself with the Hospice Policies and Procedures as applicable
• Undergo annual medical appraisal and engage fully with Medical Revalidation. St Giles Hospice is supported with medical revalidation by University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Trust and the responsible officer is their Medical Director

A formal job plan will be agreed during induction

The successful candidate will, on initial appointment and thereafter, be required to inform the Hospice of any regular commitments in respect of private professional services or fee paying services. There will be a similar requirement in respect of additional NHS responsibilities or other external duties.

The post holder must be fully registered with the General Medical Council. It is essential to maintain appropriate membership of a recognised medical defence organisation. Employees at the Hospice do not benefit from NHS indemnity.

Experience

Essential

• Experience of Specialist Palliative care, or related discipline
• Experience of teaching medical, nursing and other healthcare professionals
• Understanding of UK hospice movement
• Understanding of clinical audit and quality improvement methodology
• Demonstrated ability to work in multidisciplinary teams
• Confidence to work independently (weekends), with phone support from a 2nd on call consultant
• Ability to gain confidence and trust of patients families and colleagues
• Ability to respond to change
• Commitment to continuing personal development and medical education
• Developed strategies for ensuring personal and professional resilience

Skills

Essential

• Excellent communication skills, with high standard of spoken and written English
• Proven ability to manage patients with complex physical, psychological and social problems effectively
• Leadership and management skills
• IT literacy
• Excellent interpersonal skills

Qualifications

Essential

• Qualified Medical Practitioner
• GMC Registration with licence to practice (no restrictions)
• Minimum of 4 years post qualification experience with at least 2 years in a UK health setting and related specialty
• Palliative care qualification (e.g. certificate or diploma) or willingness to work towards
• Appropriate Medical liability cover

Personal Attributes

Essential

• Empathetic
• Team Player
• Able to work under pressure
• Collaborative
• Ambassador for St Giles Hospice
• Eligibility to work in the UK
• Valid Driving Licence

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).