Job responsibilities
THE
ROLE
The
successful candidate will be assigned an educational supervisor and will
receive training in medical oncology during an 18-month period. They will receive full exposure to both
elective and non-elective cancer medicine in the UK, including develop
clinical, communication and leadership skills (with a specific emphasis on
young-onset cancers) in a fast-paced, supportive environment.
The
appointee will be expected to undertake audit and quality improvement projects,
as well as to attend clinical governance meetings, mortality and morbidity
meetings, regional and national educational meetings. Research activity is
encouraged.
The
appointee will actively participate in the local educational programme of
teaching undergraduates as well as postgraduates. The trainee will gain
specific leadership experience of the maintenance and quality approval of TYA
cancer services, the work of an NHS England Operational Delivery Network,
international collaborations in TYA cancer service delivery, and the design and
delivery of TYA-focussed research programmes in epidemiology, patient-reported
outcomes, and clinical trials where appropriate within the placement.
Career
Counselling: Career advice and guidance should be sought, in the first
instance, from the allocated educational supervisor, who will normally be a
consultant for whom you work. The initial meeting with your educational
supervisor should take place within two weeks of joining when you will be able
to draw up your Personal Development Plan. You will have access to ePortfolio
within the first two weeks of joining.
Trainee
in Difficulty: Any problems with your training should be discussed with your
Educational Supervisor, or if necessary, with the Director of Medical Education
and/or representative of the Postgraduate Dean, or the MTI team at the Royal
College of Physicians.
ONCOLOGY
DEPARTMENT
In
January 2008, adult oncology services across Leeds were relocated into a new
purpose-built £250M, 63,000m2 specialist Cancer Centre building (the Bexley
Wing) on the St James's University Hospital site.
The
Bexley Wing is one of the largest oncology facilities in the UK, within one of
the largest acute general hospitals in Europe.
There are 350 beds, day-care and out-patient facilities for adults and
TYA, and a patient hotel. The Bexley Wing incorporates services in non-surgical
oncology, haematology, the Academic Unit clinical offices and support areas and
substantial services in cancer surgery. There is a dedicated NIHR-funded
facility for patients in complex early-phase clinical trials.
Leeds
Teaching Hospitals Trust has 2,000 beds spread across 6 hospital sites,
employing 14,000 staff, with an annual income of £990M.
Clinical
and Medical Oncology are based in the Bexley Wing and run as an integrated
service within a single bed base, and integrated site specialist teams. The
service provides comprehensive non-surgical oncology services to the Trust and
to the population of West and the majority of North Yorkshire. They are key components of the Leeds Cancer
Centre. There is a hub and spoke
arrangement with the surrounding cancer units in Airedale, Bradford, Dewsbury,
Halifax, Harrogate, Huddersfield, Pontefract, Wakefield, and York. This covers a population of approximately 2.7
million. In addition, there are other
tertiary referrals from a more extensive catchment area of >5.4 million from
East Yorkshire, East Lancashire, and North Yorkshire. Last year the Leeds
service treated over 10000 new patients.
The
radiotherapy department has ten service linear accelerators and two further
service efficiency accelerators and three CT simulators, a dedicated
brachytherapy suite containing two theatres and shielded treatment rooms on the
wards support unsealed source therapy. A £2.4million Appeal is raising money to
deliver an MRI simulator within the radiotherapy department.
There
are dedicated clinical cancer research facilities with beds and a nursing research
team. The links to the Academic Unit of Cancer Medicine are strong and there
are world class molecular oncology labs and research programmes on site.
Leeds
Cancer Centre
The
Leeds Cancer Centre provides specialist tertiary services, including medical
and clinical oncology, for the treatment of intermediate and rarer cancers
within North and West Yorkshire and all cancers from within the city
itself. It also provides treatment for
common cancers to the local population of 1.2M.
The
Leeds Cancer Centre Network covers a population of approximately 2.7 million.
The Cancer Units surrounding Leeds are evolving into a pattern of linked
District General Hospitals. This has
occurred through Trust merges and the drive to provide and maintain higher
standards of site specialist care for the local population. The consequence of this is the new Cancer
Units provide services for approximately 450,000 thousand of population. Most of the current Cancer Units already have
the concept of resident oncology services in most cases Medical Oncology,
complimented with visiting Clinical Oncology.
This has allowed the development of some limited in-patient facilities
and a higher level of local care for common cancers. They will have primary responsibility for
the local resident services in the Units and in some cases take part in Cancer
Centre Multi-disciplinary Teams for intermediate cancers and so allow some
decentralised chemotherapy for ovarian, upper GI or urological cancers. The need to maintain co-ordinated patterns of
care as well as professional links and post-graduate education are fundamental
principles. The ability to maintain
research and development across the whole network will also be facilitated.
The
Cancer Centre has established a number of clinical groups for each of the key
cancer sites/generic issues. Each group
is headed by a designated Clinical Lead.
The Groups aim to ensure the development of cancer services in accordance
with Calman/Hine principles. The Trust Lead Cancer Team includes the Lead
Cancer Clinician, Dr Rob Turner, the Lead Cancer Manager Ms Julie Owens, the
Lead Cancer Nurse Ms Karen Henry and a Data Manager.
DUTIES
AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE POST
Provision
of medical oncology Services within the Hospital with responsibility for the
prevention, assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of illness within the
intensives team caring for Teenagers and young adults (TYA) with cancer,
sarcomas of soft tissue and bone, melanoma, and germ cell tumours.
There
are active collaborations in place between adult and childrens cancer services
(including solid
tumours
and haematology) through a comprehensive world-leading TYA cancer service and
associated
research
programmes and international leadership.
Close
working with medical, nursing, and allied health professionals assists in
providing high quality patient care. The team has a full complement of
specialist cancer nurses, TYA cancer multi-disciplinary team, pharmacy, and
wider support, and works through an Age-appropriate ward for TYA, plus an acute
oncology unit, oncology admissions ward and 2 other in-patient oncology wards.
The
post holder will be accountable to Dr Hook as clinical supervisor (also
Training Programme Director), Dr Lee as Lead Clinician for Medical Oncology,
and Dr Young as Clinical Director of Oncology CSU.
Induction:
The candidate will undergo Hospital Induction immediately on taking up the
post, as well as the first convenient Induction Course organised by the RCP
(London) four times each year. The RCP induction will be covered by the trust
study leave budget.
MTI
Symposium: The candidate will be expected to attend the annual RCP symposium
for MTI candidates.
Orientation:
The successful candidate will undergo a period of orientation. This will
include observing consultants in clinic, shadowing registrars on call and
shadowing registrars in the wards. Candidates will take clinical
responsibilities and only be placed on the on-call rota once the supervising
consultant deems them competent to do so. To be on the cardiac arrest rota, the
candidate will need to have received ALS certification. The period of
orientation will be for a period of 4 8 weeks. In some cases, a longer period
of orientation may be required. This will be decided by the educational supervisor
and departmental clinical lead.
The
post holder will meet with the educational supervisor to discuss personal
development plans within the first six weeks of commencing the post.
Clinical: The International Training Fellow will be
responsible, with SpR colleagues, for both inpatient and outpatient work.
1. Inpatient: The post holder will be
expected to attend consultant ward rounds (2 / week) and will perform personal
ward rounds on the patients admitted on call under the supervising
consultant(s).
2. Outpatient: The post holder will train
and work in 2 clinics / week under supervision (TYA and Sarcoma in the first
instance). They will discuss patients seen in clinic with the supervising
consultant as educational opportunities.
3. On call rota: The post holder will be
on the SpR on call rota for oncology non-resident, 1:29, with zero-day
provision after night shifts.
The
post holder will also have service improvement responsibilities within the
intensives medical oncology team and will be given training in a breadth of
medical oncology specialities depending on level of experience and pre-existing
competencies.
Administration
Duties: These include responsibility for inpatient discharge summaries,
outpatient letters etc and the management of other junior staff on the team.
