Consultant Emergency/Trauma General Surgeon

Job responsibilities

University Hospitals Sussex provides the Major Trauma Centre (MTC) and Cancer Centre for Sussex and Surrey at the Royal Sussex County Hospital (RSCH), serving a catchment population of over 1.25 million. The Trust provides a full range of tertiary services including cardiac, neuro, spinal, major head and neck surgery and interventional radiology. This year the brand-new Louisa Martindale Building opened on the Brighton site. This £500 million building houses 28 wards, a theatre complex, intensive care unit, postgraduate education space and has sea views.

The Directorate of Abdominal Surgery and Medicine consists of departments of upper GI (UGI), Lower GI (LGI), emergency general surgery (EGS) and gastroenterology/endoscopy. The department of emergency general surgery is still in development and the post holder will have the opportunity to shape the department as it becomes established.

The post holder will provide care for patients with emergency surgical pathologies including multisystem trauma in addition to an elective practice in their subspeciality (UGI or LGI surgery). The post holder will be responsible for managing emergency admissions and providing surgical same-day emergency care clinics and managing emergency surgical in-patients. A surgical assessment unit is planned to open at RSCH in Spring 2024 and the successful candidate will be expected to refine the clinical pathways in the SAU to ensure safe and effective care.

Appointees will have regular day time emergency operating sessions and will be allocated elective operating and clinic sessions depending on their subspeciality. The out of hours emergency surgical cover will be shared by the majority general surgeons in the Directorate. A trauma damage control surgery rota is in development as part of the major trauma service, not all of which will be provided by General Surgery; experience of major trauma surgery and haemorrhage control is desirable.

RSCH is the main site for general surgery in-patients and emergency admissions: elective surgical work, outpatients and endoscopy may be undertaken at other sites. All on-call work is carried out on the RSCH site. There is currently a 12-week rota cycle resulting in a 1:6 on-call pattern. During the 12-week cycle each person on the EGS team will undertake a maximum of two on-call weeks other weeks will be a mixture of Surgical Assessment Unit cover, emergency operating (CEPOD) and elective work. On call frequency will reduce with the expansion in surgical consultant numbers.

PRH is where day surgery/short stay elective general surgery procedures are carried out. Day time cover for the small number of in-patients at PRH is provided in turn by a surgeon on site that day doing a theatre list or a clinic. Out of hours clinical concerns from the junior doctors regarding in-patients at PRH are escalated by phone to the on-call registrar or consultant at RSCH and transferred to RSCH if necessary. Only in extremis would the RSCH on call consultant be required to travel to PRH out of hours. As PRH site develops this may develop into a more robust junior and consultant on call presence.

A small number of low complexity day case general surgical procedures are carried out at Lewes Victoria Hospital. The post holder may be required work at LVH. There are no surgical in-patent facilities at LVH.

Blocks of time for administration are allocated within the DCC allocation of the elective weeks. Time for administration work is not allocated separately during the busy acute weeks but during on call afternoons and after the morning ward rounds urgent admin tasks can be attended to.

We are looking for an individual who is an outstanding clinician and leader in their field. There are many opportunities provided by working in an acute teaching hospital with a strong commitment to clinical excellence, teaching and research, and high-quality patient experience. We are particularly looking for a leader with experience and knowledge of surgical governance.

The post holder will be expected to take a significant role in ensuring governance and oversight of the EGS service. This includes active participation morbidity/mortality meetings, delivery of local and national audits, implementation of NICE guidance and leading quality improvement activities. Previous experience in the development of quality governance structures would be desirable and additional job planned time may be available for candidates wishing to take a lead role in governance.

The Trust houses an active postgraduate training centre and is closely linked to Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS). We are developing a surgical faculty across the trust and are also seeking surgeons with extensive knowledge and experience in postgraduate surgical education. Postgraduate qualifications in education would be desirable. Appointees would also have the opportunities to pursue closer links with BSMS in undergraduate education once in post. A strong research portfolio would be of benefit to applicants. Research time within job plan can be negotiated on appointment. Successful candidates will have the opportunity to apply for honorary academic positions at the medical school.

The Trust has the required arrangements in place to ensure that all surgeons have an annual appraisal with a trained appraiser and supports surgeons going through the revalidation process. All consultants are encouraged and supported to become appraisers for consultant colleagues. Training and time in job plans is allocated for consultant appraisers.

The post holder accepts that they will also perform duties in occasional emergencies and unforeseen circumstances at the request of the appropriate consultant, in consultation, where practicable, with their colleagues, both senior and junior. While it has been agreed between the professions that they will perform such duties, the Secretary of State stresses that additional commitments arising under this sub-section are exceptions and you should not be required to undertake work of this kind for prolonged periods or on a regular basis.

Experience

Essential

• oBasic medical degree
• oPostgraduate qualification or appropriate specialist qualification
• oFull GMC Registration with a licence to practice
• oCCT in Surgery or equivalent (equivalence must be confirmed by GMC by date of AAC)
• oEntry onto the GMC Specialist Register or eligibility for entry within 6 months of the date of the AAC

Desirable

• MD
• PhD
• oRelevant post CCT fellowships

Clinical Skills

Essential

• oExperience in Emergency General Surgery with suitable evidence
• oUnderstanding of clinical risk management

Desirable

• oExperience in Surgery for major trauma/working in a major trauma centre
• oPost graduate qualifications relating to trauma/damage control surgery
• oExperience in leading Q&S and governance oversight.

Knowledge

Desirable

• Breadth of experience in and outside specialty
• oQualification in risk management, patient safety, quality improvement or equivalent

Organisation & Planning

Essential

• oExperience and ability to work in multi-professional teams
• oUnderstanding of NHS / Clinical governance / Resource constraints

Desirable

• oEvidence of advanced managerial/leaderhsip skills: achievements/ courses attended
• oEvidence of leading organisational change
• oEvidence of leading a surgical governance programme

Teaching Skills

Essential

• oEvidence of an interest and commitment to medical education

Desirable

• oRecognised teaching qualification relevant to medical education

Academic & Research

Essential

• oEvidence of participation in audit

Desirable

• Research experience
• Publications
• Prize and honours

Career Progression & Personal Attributes

Essential

• Appropriate progression of career to date
• oEvidence of good communication skills both oral and written

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

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