Locum Hospice Speciality Doctor

Job responsibilities

The post reports to the Hospice Consultants.

The sessional rates are set with reference to the NHS Specialty doctor salary scale (£59,175 - £95,000) and vary between £113.79 - £182.69 per session. The starting rate will be dependent on previous experience.

Introduction

Barnsley Metropolitan District is home to around 250,000 people with many former mining communities. The Specialist Palliative Care Service across the district has grown in the last ten years.

The Hospice has ten in-patient beds, medical outpatients, Counselling and Bereavement Support, and a therapy-led Support and Wellbeing service (The Orangery) providing Complementary Therapy, Physiotherapy, and Carer Support. In 2023/24 there were around 170 admissions to the IPU.

The Hospice currently employs two consultants and four substantive specialty doctors in Palliative Medicine, who staff the Hospice IPU and provide district wide support, working closely with GPs, community nurses, doctors and other consultants in primary, community and acute care settings. The medical team also includes a GP specialty trainee doctor and an F1 doctor, and a number of bank hospice doctors who work on the weekend rota and cover ad hoc week days.

South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SWYFT)

SWYFT provides a community specialist palliative care team consisting of Clinical Nurse Specialists, Specialist Dietician, Physiotherapist, Occupational Therapist and Social Worker. The service is delivered to patients in their own homes, including care home and nursing homes. This is a seven-day service 9.00 am to 5.00 pm.

Barnsleys End of Life Care Team is employed by SWYFT and work across the district to develop the workforce and systems to improve the quality of generalist palliative care.

The Hospice has an SLA with SWYFT to provide Responsible Officer services to the Hospice, reviewing medical appraisals and making recommendation to the GMC with regard to revalidation.

Barnsley Hospital NHS Trust

Barnsley Hospital is a 500-bed district general hospital built in the 1970s and provides a full range of services. The team comprises five Clinical Nurse Specialists, who are non-medical prescribers. The team receives four programmed activities of medical input per week. There are between six and seven hundred referrals to the team each year. The nurses provide a seven-day face to face service (9.00 am 5.00 pm).

There is also an End-of-Life Care Team within the hospital who support patients approaching the end of life and facilitate Fast Track discharges to care homes and patients own homes. The hospital also has two CNSs for Acute Oncology who work closely with the Specialist Palliative Care Team.

Out of hours medical provision

First on call for the Hospice and advice is provided by specialty doctors, bank hospice doctors, and the GP specialty trainee doctor. A second on call rota is provided by the consultants in collaboration with those in Rotherham and Doncaster. There is no on-call requirement within the regular contracted hours of this post.

Duties and Responsibilities

Direct Clinical Care of Patients

To provide clinical care and medical input to the multidisciplinary team for patients under the care of the Barnsley Hospice, under the supervision of the named consultant

Day to day medical care of in-patients. To see such patients in primarily the hospice in-patient setting with occasional need to review hospice day therapy or outpatients

To keep accurate records of clinical care using the electronic patient record (SystmOne)

Manage admission of new patients to the hospice and arrangements for discharge

To liaise with the other medical staff over the management of Hospice in-patients and to conduct joint ward rounds with them.

To receive and deliver full and effective handover between doctors on the team and within the multi-professional team.

To meet relatives and/or carers of patients and provide support where appropriate, necessary and possible

To develop and maintain effective working relationships with other members of the multidisciplinary hospice team

To comply with all Hospice clinical policies and procedures

Liaison between Teams

To facilitate information transfer between specialist palliative care teams on transfer of patient care

To liaise with other practitioners in the hospital and community to ensure the best outcomes for palliative care patients

Supporting professional activities

To keep up to date and undergo regular appraisal

To complete mandatory training requirements for hospice doctors

To participate in systems to support patient safety in the hospice

To take advantage of CPD opportunities to maintain and develop learning in specialist palliative care

This list is not exhaustive, and the responsibilities may be reviewed and adapted in discussion with the post holder. It is expected that the post holder will work flexibly alongside colleagues to ensure the highest quality of service to patients and those close to them.

Other responsibilities

Act as an ambassador of the Hospice, maintaining honesty, integrity and trustworthiness at all times

Maintain strict confidentiality at all times

Apply health and safety and fire precautions

Follow clinical risk management and safeguarding procedures and relevant good practice guidelines

Ensure data protection is maintained at all times

Be flexible in terms of working hours in order to meet service needs

Support the hospice as required, across the range of duties commensurate with the role

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working with patients with advanced, progressive disease and those in the last days of life

Desirable

• Experience of pain management, Oncology, Psychiatry

Skills, abilities, and personal attributes

Essential

• Demonstrates breadth of experience and knowledge in clinical practice
• Understands the importance of audit and research to the continuing development of clinical practice
• Familiar with the principles underpinning clinical governance
• Evidence of excellence in verbal and written communication skills
• Computer literate
• Experience and interest in undergraduate and post-graduate teaching
• Works well as part of a multidisciplinary team
• Professional manner
• Able to organise time effectively and prioritise effectively
• Able to display empathy and sensitivity
• Able to recognise own limitations and seek help when needed
• Resilience and ability to operate under pressure
• Applicants must meet professional health requirements in line with GMC/Good Medical Practice
• Demonstrate probity (displays honesty, integrity, aware ethical dilemmas, respects confidentiality).

Desirable

• Personal involvement in audit/research
• Involvement in Clinical Governance activities
• Advanced Communication Skills course
• Experience in SystmOne electronic patient records
• Completed a teaching skills course eg Training the Trainers

Qualifications

Essential

• Full GMC registration with a licence to practice

Desirable

• MRCP, MRCGP or equivalent

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).