Job responsibilities
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
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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
