Job responsibilities
INFORMATION
ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT
The
Department of Neurosurgery provides a comprehensive adult and paediatric
neurosurgical service to the 2.5 million people of West and North Yorkshire.
Due to Commissioning pathways, the catchment area for Paediatric Neurosurgery
extends North to Middlesbrough and East to Hull & East Yorkshire,
increasing the catchment area to approximately 3.4 million. The Neurosurgical
Department is housed within the Jubilee Wing of the General Infirmary at Leeds.
The paediatric neurosurgical service is located within the Leeds Childrens
Hospital located in Clarendon Wing at the Leeds General Infirmary.
The
department of Neurosurgery in Leeds provides world class Paediatric
Neurosurgical care. The service is
consultant led and is delivered through dedicated subspecialty services. The Paediatric Neurosurgical service has very
strong links with Neurology, Neuroradiology, Neuropathology, and Leeds
University.
The
Leeds Childrens Hospital has one of the largest bed-bases in a UK Childrens
Hospital. Paediatric neurosurgery inpatient care is shared with the paediatric
neurologists on a combined paediatric neuroscience ward (L52) with 12 beds.
Facilities in the Childrens Hospital include a fully equipped 16-bed
paediatric intensive care unit, 6-bed high dependency unit, neonatal intensive
care, neonatal unit, and 8 childrens operating theatres, including one
paediatric emergency theatre. The PICU, neuro-theatre and ward are co-located
on the same floor. The paediatric neurosurgery theatre is well-equipped with
BrainLAB neuro-navigation, a Zeiss Kinevo microscope (tracked), HD & SD
endoscopes, intra-operative ultrasound and facility for intra-operative
neurophysiology as required. An intra-operative MRI scanner /
BrainLab-integrated theatre suite opened in Spring 2019. The Kinevo microscope
is fully equipped with filters, 3D film system and full digital integration to
the BrainLAB operating theatre suite.
The
paediatric neurosurgical service comprises 4 whole-time consultants (Mr Paul
Chumas, Mr Atul Tyagi, Mr John Goodden and Mr Gnanamurthy Sivakumar). They
deliver a specialist first on-call paediatric neurosurgery consultant rota.
They work closely with the paediatric neurology team and the paediatric
neuro-rehabilitation consultant providing shared care of inpatients. They are
supported by specialist nurses for hydrocephalus, craniofacial, spasticity and
oncology.
The
paediatric neurosurgery department's work grows each year. The paediatric
operative caseload is currently around 350-cases per annum, with approximately
40 new tumour cases per year. Sub-specialist surgery services include non-syndromic
craniofacial surgery, Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR), spinal dysraphism and
paediatric neurovascular surgery.
The
adult Neurosurgical Department has 64 adult beds in two wards with an
additional 7 bedded dedicated Neuro-intensive Care Unit as well as a 7-bedded
dedicated High Dependency Unit. There
are four adult operating theatres including one dedicated to emergency surgery
24 hours per day. There is an integrated spinal service offering all aspects of
spinal surgery which is made up of 3 Neurosurgical and 7 Spinal Orthopaedic
Consultants. The current adult caseload is approximately 3000 inpatients per
year and approximately 2000 operative cases per year.
The
Neurosurgical Department has close links with the other neuroscience
specialties that are all on site including Neuroradiology, Neurology,
Neuroanaesthetics and Neurophysiology.
The Neuropathology department is based on the St Jamess hospital site
and provides a full histopathology service, including an intra-operative frozen
section service. A well-equipped molecular pathology service provides
up-to-date oncology profiling of paediatric and adult tumours, including
H3K27M, IDH, TERT, BRAF, and 1p19q testing.
The
Neuro-Radiology Department is based at the Leeds General Infirmary and comprises
6 Consultants, three of whom provide Endovascular services for adults and
children with neurovascular conditions.
The
General Infirmary at Leeds is a Level 1 Trauma unit for both adult and
paediatric patients and there are close links with surgical specialties
including trauma, maxillofacial, plastics and ENT surgery. An intra-operative
High-field 3T MRI complex opened in Spring 2019. This further enhances the
capability of the department and the training of the Fellow.
A
Neurosurgery Skills Lab simulation facility equipped with Zeiss operating
microscope and endoscopic equipment is available for 24h use. This allows basic
and advanced skills training and including micro-neurosurgery (including
vascular anastomosis), and endoscopic training.
The
fellowship is intended to allow an experienced peri-CCT UK-based neurosurgical
trainee the opportunity to gain more experience over a one-year period in
paediatric neurosurgery. This post has been approved for training by the Royal
College of Surgeons as part of the RCS Senior Clinical Fellowship Scheme.
The
RCS accreditation has been very valuable with the first two Fellows both
achieving successful Consultant appointments.
The
Fellow is expected to be capable of working with increasing levels of independence
as they progress through this one-year post. It is expected that sufficient
experience will be obtained from this fellowship to allow the Fellow to offer
themselves for appointment to a Consultant position involving a substantial
commitment to paediatric neurosurgery. They will gain experience in the
assessment, investigation and operative management of patients presenting with
the full range of acute and elective paediatric neurosurgical pathology. The
additional sub-specialist supra-regional services delivered in Leeds will
further enhance this experience.
THE
LEEDS WAY VALUES
Our
values are part of what make us different from other trusts, so we see this as
a strength, as well as a responsibility. They have been developed by our staff
and set out what they see as important to how we work. Our five values are:
Patient-centred
Collaborative
Fair
Accountable
Empowered
All
our actions and endeavours will be guided and evaluated through these values
Additionally,
the following are core values which relate specifically to this post:
The
beliefs and attitudes that underpin effective performance within the job
role. Emphasis should be on the
requirements of the role not the individual when completing this section. Examples might include: quality focus,
mistakes are used as a continual learning experience, honesty, integrity etc.
DUTIES
OF THE POST
a) General
This
fellowship post is approved by the Royal College of Surgeons for post-CCT
training in Paediatric Neurosurgery as part of the RCS Senior Clinical
Fellowship Scheme.
The
Fellowship is designed for Neurosurgical clinicians at the end of training to
provide all aspects of sub-speciality training in paediatric Neurosurgery and
thus prepare for a consultant role subspecialising in this field.
The
fellow will be fully immersed in the Neurosurgical service. This will include a thorough grounding in the
clinical management, investigation and surgical techniques for optimally
managing all neurosurgical paediatric conditions.
b) Operative
The
Fellow is expected to gain independent competencies in dealing with the breadth
of paediatric neurosurgery procedures, including hydrocephalus (shunt &
endoscopy), oncology (including supratentorial & infratentorial tumours),
craniofacial and spina bifida / dysraphism surgery. Active participation in the
spasticity programme is also available if desired.
c) Non-operative
The
Fellow will attend specialist clinics and the Multidisciplinary meeting to gain
a thorough understanding of the management of paediatric disorders.
d) Out-of-hours
The
post-holder will participate in the Neurosurgical out of hours rota which
includes cover of adult and paediatric neurosurgical conditions.
LEVELS
OF RESPONSIBILITY
Horizontal
team working with colleagues including neurosurgical clinicians, Spinal
Orthopaedic surgeons, researchers and the clinical nurse specialist team is
expected.
TEACHING
AND RESEARCH/STUDY AND TRAINING
There
are many opportunities within the department for research ranging all the way
from simple audits right up to opportunities to complete a PhD.
