Senior Fellow in Paediatric Neurosurgery

Job responsibilities

The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS trust is one of the largest trusts in the UK and provides comprehensive secondary services to Leeds and tertiary services to West and North Yorkshire. The Leeds Childrens Hospital is based at the Leeds General Infirmary and is situated in the centre of the city, adjacent to Leeds University, with which there are strong links.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT

The Department of Neurosurgery provides a comprehensive adult and paediatric neurosurgical service to the 2.5 million people of West and North Yorkshire. Due to Commissioning pathways, the catchment area for Paediatric Neurosurgery extends North to Middlesbrough and East to Hull & East Yorkshire, increasing the catchment area to approximately 3.4 million. The Neurosurgical Department is housed within the Jubilee Wing of the General Infirmary at Leeds. The paediatric neurosurgical service is located within the Leeds Childrens Hospital located in Clarendon Wing at the Leeds General Infirmary.

The department of Neurosurgery in Leeds provides world class Paediatric Neurosurgical care. The service is consultant led and is delivered through dedicated subspecialty services. The Paediatric Neurosurgical service has very strong links with Neurology, Neuro-Radiology, Neuro-Pathology, and Leeds University.

The Leeds Childrens Hospital has one of the largest bed-bases in a UK Childrens Hospital. Paediatric neurosurgery inpatient care is shared with the paediatric neurologists on a combined paediatric neuroscience ward (L52) with 12 beds. Facilities in the Childrens Hospital include a fully equipped 16-bed paediatric intensive care unit, 6-bed high dependency unit, neonatal intensive care, neonatal unit, and 8 childrens operating theatres, including one paediatric emergency theatre. The PICU, neuro-theatre and ward are co-located on the same floor. The paediatric neurosurgery theatre is well-equipped with BrainLAB neuro-navigation, a Zeiss Kinevo microscope (tracked), HD & SD endoscopes, intra-operative ultrasound and facility for intra-operative neurophysiology as required. An intra-operative MRI scanner / BrainLab-integrated theatre suite opened in Spring 2019. The Kinevo microscope is fully equipped with filters, 3D film system and full digital integration to the BrainLAB operating theatre suite.

The paediatric neurosurgical service comprises 4 whole-time consultants (Mr Atul Tyagi, Mr John Goodden, Mr Gnanamurthy Sivakumar, Ms Rebecca Chave-Cox). They deliver a specialist first on-call paediatric neurosurgery consultant rota. They work closely with the paediatric neurology team and the paediatric neuro-rehabilitation consultant providing shared care of inpatients. They are supported by specialist nurses for hydrocephalus, craniofacial, spasticity and oncology.

The paediatric neurosurgery department's work grows each year. The paediatric operative caseload is currently around 350-cases per annum, with approximately 40 new tumour cases per year. Sub-specialist surgery services include non-syndromic craniofacial surgery, Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR), spinal dysraphism and paediatric neurovascular surgery.

The adult Neurosurgical Department has 64 adult beds in two wards with an additional 7 bedded dedicated Neuro-intensive Care Unit as well as a 7-bedded dedicated High Dependency Unit. There are four adult operating theatres including one dedicated to emergency surgery 24 hours per day. There is an integrated spinal service offering all aspects of spinal surgery which is made up of 3 Neurosurgical and 7 Spinal Orthopaedic Consultants. The current adult caseload is approximately 3000 inpatients per year and approximately 2000 operative cases per year.

The Neurosurgical Department has close links with the other neuroscience specialities that are all on site including Neuro-Radiology, Neurology, Neuro-Anaesthetics and Neurophysiology. The Neuro-Pathology department is based on the St Jamess hospital site and provides a full histopathology service, including an intra-operative frozen section service. A well-equipped molecular pathology service provides up-to-date oncology profiling of paediatric and adult tumours, including H3K27M, IDH, TERT, BRAF, and 1p19q testing.

The Neuro-Radiology Department is based at the Leeds General Infirmary and comprises 6 Consultants, three of whom provide Endovascular services for adults and children with Neurovascular conditions.

The General Infirmary at Leeds is a Level 1 Trauma unit for both adult and paediatric patients and there are close links with surgical specialities including trauma, maxillofacial, plastics and ENT surgery. An intra-operative High-field 3T MRI complex opened in Spring 2019. This further enhances the capability of the department and the training of the Fellow.

A Neurosurgery Skills Lab simulation facility equipped with Zeiss operating microscope and endoscopic equipment is available for 24h use. This allows basic and advanced skills training and including micro-neurosurgery (including vascular anastomosis), and endoscopic training.

The fellowship is intended to allow an experienced peri-CCT UK-based neurosurgical trainee the opportunity to gain more experience over a one-year period in paediatric neurosurgery. This post has been approved for training by the Royal College of Surgeons as part of the RCS Senior Clinical Fellowship Scheme.

The RCS accreditation has been very valuable with the first two Fellows both achieving successful Consultant appointments.

The Fellow is expected to be capable of working with increasing levels of independence as they progress through this one-year post. It is expected that sufficient experience will be obtained from this fellowship to allow the Fellow to offer themselves for appointment to a Consultant position involving a substantial commitment to paediatric neurosurgery. They will gain experience in the assessment, investigation and operative management of patients presenting with the full range of acute and elective paediatric neurosurgical pathology. The additional sub-specialist supra-regional services delivered in Leeds will further enhance this experience

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.

Experience

Essential

• Recently completed or approaching completion of UK higher neurosurgical training or equivalent
• Demonstrable interest in developing consultant level sub speciality skills in Paediatric Neurosurgery
• Evidence of surgical experience through provision of relevant logbook summary

Additional Requirements

Essential

• Provide complete details of employment history
• Evidence that career progression is consistent with personal circumstances
• Desire to develop career in Paediatric Neurosurgery as a sub speciality interest
• Aware of own training / career development needs
• Demonstrates probity
• Enthusiasm for all aspects of Paediatric Neurosurgery
• Ability to work effectively within a multidisciplinary team

Qualifications

Essential

• MBBS or equivalent medical qualification
• ARCP Outcome 1 at ST6 or equivalent experience
• Passed UK Neurosurgery Speciality Fellowship Examination (or equivalent) - FRCS(Neuro.Surg)

Desirable

• Relevant BSc, MD, PhD CCT in Neurosurgery

Clinical, Academic, and Personal Skills

Essential

• Up to date GCP certification from NIHR
• Demonstrates understanding of research, including awareness of ethical issues.
• Demonstrates an interest in and commitment to the speciality beyond the mandatory curriculum
• Evidence of papers / publications in peer-reviewed journals
• Evidence of presentations in national / international relevant scientific conferences

Desirable

• Evidence of relevant academic and research achievements, e.g. prizes, awards, distinctions, other achievements
• Evidence of interest in, and experience of teaching

Eligibility, Fitness to practice, and Language Skills

Essential

• Full registration with GMC with current Licence to Practice please state GMC number
• Experience of at least 1-year working within Neurosurgery in NHS in UK.
• Skills in written and spoken English demonstrated by either: (1) undertaken undergraduate medical training in English; or (2) academic International English Language Testing System (IELTS) score of

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).