Job responsibilities
The
professorial department of Neuro-oncology is based in the newly completed
Bexley wing at St Jamess University Hospital.
There is a gamma knife machine and IMRT facilities which attract
referrals from across the North of England and Northern Ireland.
The
General Infirmary at Leeds is a level 1 trauma unit and there are close links
with surgical specialties including trauma, maxillofacial, plastics and ENT
surgery.
The
department's work has continued to increase over the past years. The current caseload is some 3000 inpatients
per year and approximately 2000 operative cases per year.
THE
LEEDS WAY VALUES
Our
values are part of what make us different from other trusts, so we see this as
a strength, as well as a responsibility. They have been developed by our staff
and set out what they see as important to how we work. Our five values are:
Patient-centred
Collaborative
Fair
Accountable
Empowered
All
our actions and endeavours will be guided and evaluated through these values
Additionally
the following are core values which relate specifically to this post:
The
beliefs and attitudes that underpin effective performance within the job
role. Emphasis should be on the
requirements of the role not the individual when completing this section. Examples might include: quality focus,
mistakes are used as a continual learning experience, honesty, integrity etc.
Leeds
Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is part of the West Yorkshire Association of Acute
Trusts (WYAAT), a collaborative of the NHS hospital trusts from across West
Yorkshire and Harrogate working together to provide the best possible care for
our patients.
By
bringing together the wide range of skills and expertise across West Yorkshire
and Harrogate we are working differently, innovating and driving forward change
to deliver the highest quality care. By
working for Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust this is your opportunity to be a
part of that change.
WYAAT
is the acute sector arm of the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care
Partnership, one of the largest integrated care systems in the country. The
Partnerships ambition is for everyone to have the best possible health and
wellbeing, and the work of WYAAT, and each individual trust, supports that
ambition.
Neurosurgical
Oncology Surgery in Leeds
The
department of Neurosurgery in Leeds provides world class adult Neurosurgical
Oncology care. The service is consultant
led and delivered through dedicated subspecialty services. The Neurosurgical Oncology services have very
strong links with Neuro-Oncology, Neurology, Neuroradiology, Neuropathology
including Cytogenetics and Leeds University.
As
would be expected, to support oncology surgery, the theatres have BrainLAB
neuronavigation, CUSA, Sonopet, Zeiss microscopes (including navigated),
intra-operative frozen section, and intra-operative ultrasound. All patients are discussed in a weekly MDT
that conforms to the IOG Standards. The intraoperative MRI scanner opened in
2019.
The
Low Grade Glioma service (Mr Chumas, Mr Goodden and Mr Mathew) runs three times
each month with MDT clinics attended by Neurosurgery, Neuro-oncology,
Neurology, Clinical Nurse Specialists (Epilepsy & Oncology) and a research
nurse. As part of their assessment, all
patients also receive a detailed Neuropsychology assessment, and where
necessary Speech & Language assessments are also performed. Patients referred to this clinic are
investigated with advanced MRI imaging, including DWI, spectroscopy, functional
MRI & DTI. Patients are offered the
choice of management options including upfront primary tumour debulking via
awake or asleep craniotomy as well as biopsy or observation. Operating lists for patients with LGG occur
every week, with an average of two awake craniotomies per month. Patients
having awake surgery are monitored closely using Speech & Language
therapists & Physiotherapists during surgery. Tumour debulking soon after presentation is
performed for the majority of patients, mainly as awake surgery. Immediate
post-operative MRI is utilised for all patients.
Duties
of the Post
a) General
This
fellowship post has been approved by the Royal College of Surgeons and the
Society of British Neurological Surgeons and is part of the National Surgical
Fellowship Scheme.
The
fellowship is designed for Neurosurgical clinicians at the end of training to
provide all aspects of subspeciality training in Neurosurgical Oncology and
thus prepare for a consultant role subspecialising in this field.
The
fellow will be fully immersed in the Neurosurgical Oncology service. This will include a thorough grounding in the
clinical management, investigation and surgical techniques for optimally
managing High Grade and Low Grade brain tumours.
There
are further opportunities to develop research and also to attend Gamma Knife
sessions.
b) Operative
The
fellow will gain independent competencies in dealing with High Grade and Low
Grade tumours including awake craniotomy, 5-ALA, Gliadel, frame based and
frameless image guidance. Surgical case
load is expected to be 200 - 250 cases per annum.
c) Non-operative
The
Fellow will attend specialist clinics and the Multidisciplinary meeting to gain
a thorough understanding of the management of brain tumours.
The
High Grade Tumour service manages high grade gliomas and metastases (Mr
Thomson, Mr Corns, Mr Sivakumar and Mr Mathew).
The service runs weekly MDT clinics the same day as the MDT. This clinic is attended by Neurosurgeons,
Clinical Nurse Specialists and a Research Nurse. The emphasis of this clinic is to provide a
subspecialist, rapid, patient centred service that also facilitates
research. There is reserved operating
space on elective lists for these patients and the full range of surgical
techniques is utilised including frame based and frameless biopsy, awake
craniotomy, Gliadel, 5-ALA and routine post-operative MRI scanning to maximise
tumour resection. There are over 100
high grade glioma operations per annum plus a smaller but growing number of
metastatic procedures. Gross total resection, patient satisfaction and research
participation rates in Leeds are all very high.
Run
in partnership with the Neuro-Oncology department there is a very successful
Gamma Knife unit (Dr Hatfield, Dr Flatley, Mr Tyagi and Mr Phillips). This unit treats patients from across the
North of England and Northern Ireland.
The unit treats primarily metastatic disease and benign tumours. There may be opportunities for the holder of
this post to develop skills in using the gamma knife to treat brain tumours.
In
addition to these intrinsic tumour clinics, separate Skull Base and Pituitary
MDT clinics are run with additional MDT support. Leeds also provides comprehensive services
for benign tumours. Skull base and
pituitary work is subspecialised and not considered to be part of this
fellowship.
There
are very strong links with Leeds University and local brain tumour
charities. In the last three years we
have run multiple phase 1 and phase 2 studies.
There have been a number of successful Surgical Neuro-Oncology research
degrees in one of the largest brain tumour research laboratories in the
country. Mr Mathew is an Academic
Neurosurgeon and there is a Professor of Neuro-Oncology.
The
Neurosurgical Oncology service is supported by a team of three Clinical Nurse
Specialists, who work across the Neurosurgery and Neuro-oncology departments
and provide outreach into the District General Hospitals.
