Consultant in Renal Medicine

Job description

Job responsibilities

The successful applicant will become part of the consultant team doing general nephrology clinics in the north of our catchment area including the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, Crawley and East Grinstead and transplant clinics in Brighton.

When visiting Princess Royal Hospital the applicant will also see any inpatient referrals made to us, as part of our outreach consultant team.

They will be responsible for a cohort for haemodialysis patients which will be at our main dialysis unit in Brighton.

The successful applicant will have the option to be involved in renal procedures at the RSCH involving native and transplant biopsies and tunnelled lines. They will also have the opportunity to develop renal clinics in their area of specialist interest.

There is no general medical component to this job.

The applicant will be involved in the renal on-call rota at the RSCH managing renal inpatients on the ward, outliers and referrals from elsewhere in the catchment area of SKU on a 1:9-11 basis.

The position is currently vacant now and cold be filled straight away otherwise but we would hope to appoint to this position to start from early 2024.

Departmental Facilities and Workload

The Sussex Kidney Unit

The Sussex Kidney Unit (SKU) sits within the University Hospitals Sussex Specialised Services Division. SKU provides specialist renal services for the whole of East Sussex and the majority of West Sussex, with a catchment population of 1.2 million. The SKU is a tertiary referral centre, taking referrals from Eastbourne, Conquest (Hastings), Queen Victoria (East Grinstead), East Surrey and Worthing Hospitals.

SKU moved to its current premises in February 2004, and provides outstanding, state-of-the-art facilities for the provision of specialist renal care including a screening room for radiologically guided line insertions. Within the unit, there are 41 haemodialysis stations, devoted areas for the peritoneal dialysis and home haemodialysis programmes, a large out-patient clinic area, a day case area and a 26 bed ward. The unit has had the agreement that we will be able to expand in to the space that currently haematology occupy when haematology move to a different site, allowing for expansion of our day case area and increase the dialysis capacity on the main site.

i) Clinics

Currently there are general nephrology and advanced kidney care clinics clinic run by SKU in Brighton, Haywards Heath, Crawley, Eastbourne, Bexhill, Worthing and East Grinstead. Transplant and vasculitis clinics are held at the Royal Sussex County site. Dialysis clinics are held in all our dialysis units. We also run a weekly hypertension and specialist genetics clinic in the RSCH.

ii) Dialysis

The current take on rate for dialysis is around 115 p.m.p. At present there are around 500 patients on haemodialysis and 90 on peritoneal dialysis, with steady growth still anticipated over the next few years. There are satellite dialysis units in Bexhill (56 patients), Eastbourne (Polegate) (84 patients), Crawley (50 patients) and Worthing (55 patients). There is a home haemodialysis program (40 established and training patients) and peritoneal dialysis programme, (approximately 50% on automated PD).

iii) In-patients

The unit currently occupies 26 in-patient beds on a 36 bedded ward that is shared with haematology. These provide beds for access surgery, renal biopsies and angiography, and management of patients with AKI and CKD. The unit receives around 150 referrals per annum of acute kidney injury patients requiring dialysis, and we can provide plasma and red cell exchange. The ward dialysis team undertakes in-patient dialysis and plasma exchange.

We also provide in-reach ward rounds both in Worthing Hospital twice weekly, and Princess Royal Hospital weekly.

iv)Renal transplantation

Since 1996, renal transplants for patients on the SKU waiting list have been performed at St Georges and Guys. Patients whose transplants are performed at St Georges return to SKU at one month, and patients transplanted at Guys return to SKU for long term care three months post-transplant. There are currently over 550 patients under long term transplant follow up at the SKU.

Workload

The job plan will be based on 10 PAs to include 9 DCC PAs and 1 SPA, and will allow for flexible working. This may be worked flexibly over a seven day working week. It is anticipated that patient related administration would be performed within the confines of 9 PAs.

Provisional assessment of Programmed Activities in Job Plan:

For a whole-time contract:

• Direct Clinical Care: 9 PAs average per week

(includes clinical activity, clinically related activity, predictable & unpredictable emergency work)

Clinics are generally 4 hrs in length and include a mixture of 20 minute follow up slots and 40 minutes for a new patient. All clinics have administration time allocated to them within the consultant job plan along with time for follow up patients between clinics to address any correspondence and review investigations.

Time is also allocated for MDTs and review outside the clinic template. This is all calculated as per the number of patients an individual is responsible for.

When visiting Princess Royal Hospital the applicant will also see any inpatient referrals made to us and identified on the outlier Bamboo list, this work will be shared with other renal colleagues who also visit the site.

The on call job plan allocates times for on-site working and the need for communication when non-resident. The on-site medical team (F1-ST3+) are the first point on contact for renal patients overnight, there is no overnight renal junior cover.

When on call your working week includes on call duties only and non of the standard working week clinical duties. The roted time for the on call week amounts to 16APas which has been thoroughly diary carded and continues to be so regularly. The time allocation accounts for ward and referral work including administration, evening and weekend reviews and allocated time for emergency calls over night. The increased time spent during the on call week is all incorporated into the job plan such that the overall role is 10pas.

• Supporting Professional Activities: 1 PA average per week

(includes CPD, audit, teaching & research)

All the departmental consultants play an active role in the monthly clinic governance meeting presenting audit, for which time is allocated in the job plan each month (2hrs/month + personal audit time) and the Mortality and Morbidity Meeting with structured judgement reviews (1.5hr/month). Time (2hrs/month) is also allocated for the renal business meeting and consultant meeting on a monthly basis.

We encourage everyone to lead in an area of the department and time is allocated depending to develop their service (approximately 1hr/week depending on the role).

Time can also be allocated depending on interest for teaching at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School and Core trainee/Renal NTN teaching dependent on the number of lectures delivered. In terms of junior doctor supervision, 1 hour/week is allocated for an educational or clinical supervision role. Research is also encouraged and PAs can be allocated from CIRU for interested consultants.

Personal CPD time for a substantive role is allocated at 1PA/week/10pa job plan and this Trust policy was ratified by the BMA for all consultant staff in the Trust to maintain their professional learning and be successfully revalidated. The Trust allocates each consultant with a yearly study leave budget. It also has a robust yearly appraisal service working towards the professionals revalidation.

The Trust also has a new appointees mentoring scheme outside the department. And within the department colleagues are very willing to provide support for new colleagues starting their renal consultant career.

Each consultant has a share of a renal secretary who will help with general administration and letter typing. Each consultant has their own laptop and docking station with full size monitor in their office.

The post holder accepts that they will also perform duties in occasional emergencies and unforeseen circumstances at the request of the appropriate consultant, in consultation, where practicable, with their colleagues, both senior and junior. While it has been agreed between the professions that they will perform such duties, the Secretary of State stresses that additional commitments arising under this sub-section are exceptions and you should not be required to undertake work of this kind for prolonged periods or on a regular basis.

Please see full job description for more details.

Person Specification

Education and Qualifications

Essential

• Basic medical degree
• oCCT in Renal or equivalent (equivalence must be confirmed by GMC by date of AAC)
• oPostgraduate qualification or appropriate specialist qualification
• oFull GMC Registration with a licence to practice
• oEntry onto the GMC Specialist Register or eligibility for entry within 6 months of the date of the AAC

Desirable

• Higher Degree

Knowledge

Desirable

• oBreadth of experience in and outside specialty

Organisation & Planning

Essential

• oExperience and ability to work in multi-professional teams
• oUnderstanding of: NHS / Clinical governance / Resource constraints

Desirable

• oEvidence of managerial skills: Achievements / Course attended

Teachin Skills

Essential

• oEvidence of an interest and commitment to teaching

Desirable

• oRecognised teaching qualification

Academic & Research

Essential

• oEvidence of participation in audit

Desirable

• Research experience
• Publications
• Prize and honours

Career Progression

Essential

• Appropriate progression of career to date
• oEvidence of:- Good communication skills both oral and written

Clinical Skills and Experience

Essential

• Experience in managing renal dialysis and sub speciality patients
• Experience in in-patient and out-patient nephrology work
• Ability to do renal biopsies and haemodialysis lines

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust (279)

Address

Royal Sussex County Hospital

Eastern Road

Brighton

BN2 5BE

Employer's website

https://www.uhsussex.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)