Consultant in Palliative Medicine

Job responsibilities

Key Responsibilities:

Clinical:

To share responsibility with the senior medical team for the advisory support offered to the hospice community services (including domiciliary visiting, attending and leading multi-disciplinary team meetings and outpatient appointments).

• To share responsibility and engage with the clinical community engagement work which seeks to achieve fair access to clinical services, which includes an approach based on need rather than diagnosis, with a focus on palliative care in non-cancer conditions.
• To participate in the senior medical cover for the 24-hr Advice Line.
• To take part in 1 in 5 second on-call rota, defined as a Category B (medium frequency, low intensity) providing senior cover to the inpatient unit and 24 /7 advice line
• To provide cross-cover for members of the senior medical team annual, study and short-term sick leave, which may include review of and leading medical management of hospice inpatients
• to undertake additional duties in exceptional circumstances in the case of emergencies and unforeseen circumstances as necessary for the continuity of patient care.
• To work at all times within the GMC codes of practice

Quality Improvement:

• to take part in the hospice clinical audit programme coordinated by the Patient Safety and Quality Team, which may include participation in local, network wide and national audit.
• To be aware of and compliant with clinical and information governance policies, procedures and frameworks and to recognises and report incidents as required
• To be part of a learning and safety culture, learning from both what we do well and from incidents that have occurred
• To contribute to the writing of clinical policies and guidelines that are evidence-based and in line with best practice
• To participate in relevant clinical meetings where governance, service development or improvement may be discussed
• To engage with hospice research activity if appropriate, within the boundaries of your skills and competence, in liaison with the Medical Director, the Research Nurse and the hospice Research Advisory Group

Communication

• To demonstrate effective communication skills with patients (and their significant others), which includes being able to elicit the key concerns from their perspective, and to handle difficult conversations with empathy and sensitivity
• To communicate clearly with colleagues, being respectful at all times, even where differences of opinion may exist
• To maintain patient confidentiality in line with professional guidance
• To follow hospice policy and procedure in terms of dealing with concerns and complaints from service users

Teamwork

• To champion equality, diversity and inclusion
• To contribute to a culture that is respectful and supportive, celebrating success and fostering reflection and learning
• To value the contribution of the multi-professional team in delivering services to patients and carers
• To act as a role model and ambassador for the medical team and the hospice

Personal and Professional development

• To engage fully with an appropriate framework of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) e.g. the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) CPD diary, which will demonstrate appropriate learning targeted to your needs, and the impact of the learning on yourself, colleagues and the organisation
• To engage fully with appraisal and revalidation requirements as set out by the GMC and the NHS revalidation team

Teaching, Training and Supervision of others

• To clinically supervise and manage junior medical staff working at the hospice in training and non-training grade roles, and support their orientation
• To act as educational supervisor for training grade doctors as needed
• To contribute to the teaching and supervision of medical students and other professional visitors who may be placed at the hospice
• To take part in the delivery of external education sessions for other professionals in liaison with the hospice education department

Management

• In liaison with the Medical Director, to take on appropriate areas of management, which may include a specific medical link role with other departments and services or require attendance at relevant management meetings

Qualifications

Essential

• - Maintenance of full registration and licence to practise with the GMC.
• - MRCP or MRCGP
• - Entry on the GMC Specialist Register via one of the following:
• Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) in place at the time of appointment OR
• Certificate of Eligibility for Specialist Registration in place at the time of employment or likely to be obtained within 6 months (Specialist Trainees that do not hold a CCT must be due to be awarded one within 6 months of the interview date)

Desirable

• - Higher academic degree e.g. MD, MSc, PhD (A)
• - Qualification in teaching (A)

Personal Attributes

Essential

• - Ability to lead a team and form effective working relationships with and among team members of all disciplines
• - Ability to inspire, motivate and develop junior medical staff
• - Ability to work independently as well as part of the Medical Directorate and hospice Senior Medical Team, to balance individual requirements against those of the Senior Medical Team and hospice organisation as a whole
• - A passion for palliative care and for the work of the Hospice
• - Driving license and own transport
• - Good level of self-awareness and strategies to maintain wellbeing
• - Aware of limits of own competence and able to identify areas for personal and professional development

Skills

Essential

• - Appropriate clinical skills and able to work at consultant level
• - Proven teaching ability with experience of large and small group teaching
• - Willingness to undertake teaching for medical undergraduates and postgraduates + all grades of nursing staff and AHPs
• - Experience and skills in undertaking audit projects and evidence of completed audit
• - Good IT skills, word-processing, presentations and spreadsheets
• - Good written and verbal communication skills. Evidence of the ability to communicate with patients, colleagues, staff and hospice supporters at all levels

Desirable

• - Proven track record in research and willingness to undertake further research
• - Evidence of relevant publications in peer reviewed journals
• - Completion of a general management course or programme
• - Interest in medical management
• - Advanced communication skills training
• - Educational Supervisor Training

Experience

Essential

• - Recent experience and familiarity of UK healthcare systems and practices (or equivalent)
• - Training in management of patients with specialist palliative care needs.
• - Experience of the management of both malignant and non-malignant disease.
• - Knowledge of contemporary NHS and voluntary sector management issues.
• - Knowledge of political context within which we operate.
• - Awareness of core principles and guidelines in relation to research in clinical practice

Desirable

• - Clinical experience in the hospice inpatient and community settings

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).