Medical Palliative Consultant

Job responsibilities

JOB DESCRIPTION

Job Title

Consultant in Palliative Medicine

Reports to

Clinical Director

Location

Based at the Hospice buildings in Pembury, Kent, or Five Ashes, East Sussex, with potential requirement to work at other locations within West Kent and East Sussex.

Responsible for

2 or 3 doctors out of Specialty Doctors, Associate Specialists, Specialty Registrar or Specialty Trainee (as agreed with Clinical Director)

Scope & Job Purpose

To act as a Consultant Specialist Palliative Medicine resource to the Hospice multi-disciplinary team, the Hospice Outreach Service, the Hospital Palliative Care Team, as well as those in Primary Care across the catchment area. To work to ensure a proactive integrated model of palliative care service delivery to all patients within the catchment area.

Key Responsibilities

1. Deliverables/Outcomes

To act as a Consultant Specialist Palliative Medicine resource to the Hospice multi-disciplinary team as well as those in Primary Care across the catchment area.

To be the medical lead for either the In-Patient Unit or Hospice Outreach Service as agreed with the Clinical Director and to provide medical input to the Living Well Service and Counselling and Support Services as required.

To provide regular sessions to support the hospital palliative care team at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, identifying patients for early transfer to the hospice or for discharge with increased support. To increase the profile of palliative care in the area of acute admissions and to educate staff to facilitate early discharge.

To cross cover the other hospice consultant when absent, taking up their regular clinical commitments and meetings as appropriate.

To clinically supervise the doctors in training, Specialty Doctors, and Associate Specialists in the Hospice, providing them with expertise and leadership and training around clinical decision making. To act as Clinical Supervisor and/or Educational Supervisor for the doctors in training as appropriate.

2. Management and Leadership

To liaise with managers of the appropriate services, looking at performance outcomes and ensuring excellent documentation and evaluation of services.

To line manage hospice specialty doctors and associate specialists, meeting with them regularly and undertaking their annual PDRs, setting their objectives and job plans.

To participate in the Clinical Management Team, helping to represent the medical team and disseminate information back to the team

To be the lead for Clinical Policies and Guidelines (CPG) feeding into Clinical Governance subgroup and to contribute to the requirements of Clinical Governance within the Hospice.

To ensure effective working relationships with those agencies concerned with the provision of health and social care services and those representing the interests of patients

To attend external working parties as appropriate to contribute to the development of Palliative Medicine in the wider context.

To continue to develop Specialist Palliative Care clinical provision in line with local priorities and the discerned needs of the catchment population.

3. Communications and Teamwork

To strive to achieve excellent verbal and written communication with patients, carers, staff, and volunteers within and outside the organisation.

To be a co-operative and supportive member of the hospice staff team, ensuring that the line manager is aware of any issues in the workload which may affect other members of the hospice team

To maintain confidentiality of all information acquired especially about patients, carers, staff and volunteers.

To respect and guide all volunteers and to develop effective working relationships including, when requested, providing regular feedback on their performance.

4. Audit and Research

To participate in clinical and other service audits and developments with the aim of ensuring a high standard of patient care and to encourage and support other staff undertaking audits.

To contribute to the development of policies and clinical guidelines within the organisation, using an evidence-based approach.

To be the medical lead for research within the hospice, working to encourage, support and disseminate research projects throughout the hospice. To work in collaboration with the Kent and Medway Research Priority Group and the University of Kent helping to identify projects suitable for HitW involvement and actively recruiting patients for trials. To act as Principal Investigator when appropriate and ensure excellent documentation for research files.

To actively contribute to the Trusts Education and Clinical Governance programme alongside the current consultant.

5. Training and Development

To play a key role in the delivery of teaching in palliative medicine to healthcare professionals served by the hospice and within the acute trust

To share the responsibility of post-graduate training and clinical supervision of the specialty and training doctors working at the hospice

To be involved with the placement of medical students at the hospice and to coordinate and evaluate their teaching

A proactive interest in life-long learning is expected along with engagement in continuing professional development.

To undertake an annual appraisal both at the hospice and at MTW NHS Trust and through self-development, continuously update and improve knowledge and competencies. To be proactive in undertaking any additional activities required to be revalidated

6. General

To ensure compliance with the General Medical Councils published guide Good Medical Practice including the Duties of a Doctor.

Maintain professionalism through adherence to recognized Codes (e.g. NMC, GMC, HPC) and work within the boundaries of Hospice in the Weald policies.

Maintain personal development through the Hospice Personal Development Plan. Continuously updating and improving knowledge and competencies.

Engage in the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the area you are working and achieve the required level of competence.

Any other duties that may be reasonably requested.

Recognise the growing need for 24/7 working patterns and flexibility.

Strive for excellence at all times

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Essential

Desirable

Qualifications

Entered on Specialist Register or within 6 months of CCST

MRCP, MRCGP, FRCA, FRCR or equivalent(s)

Further postgraduate qualification, e.g. MSc, MA

Formal training in teaching techniques

Experience

Recent palliative care experience and breadth of awareness of palliative care issues

Knowledge of evidence-based practice

Demonstrates knowledge of oncological and hematological malignancy and non-cancer life limiting conditions

Experience of teaching in a multidisciplinary setting

Knowledge of research methodology and experience of conducting research in palliative care

Experience of committee work

Essential Skills

Excellent communication and interpersonal skills

Computer Literacy

Management skills.

Leadership skills

Basic Ultrasound skills

Project Management Skills

Personal Attributes

Ability to work under pressure

Strong team player

Enthusiastic and Motivated

Committed to striving for Excellence

Ability to reflect on own practice

Awareness of own limitations

Experience

Essential

• Recent palliative care experience and breadth of awareness of palliative care issues
• Knowledge of evidence-based practice
• Demonstrates knowledge of oncological and hematological malignancy and non-cancer life limiting conditions
• Experience of teaching in a multidisciplinary setting
• Knowledge of research methodology and experience of conducting research in palliative care

Desirable

• Experience of committee work

Essential Skills

Essential

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Computer Literacy

Desirable

• Management skills
• Leadership skills
• Basic Ultrasound skills
• Project Management Skills

Qualifications

Essential

• Entered on Specialist Register or within 6 months of CCST
• MRCP, MRCGP, FRCA, FRCR or equivalent(s)

Desirable

• Further postgraduate qualification, e.g. MSc, MA
• Formal training in teaching techniques

Personal Attributes

Essential

• Ability to work under pressure
• Strong team player
• Enthusiastic and Motivated
• Committed to striving for Excellence
• Ability to reflect on own practice

Desirable

• Awareness of own limitations

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).