Job summary
We are delighted to announce an opening in our Deep brain stimulation (DBS) training programme from August 2025 and are looking for a committed neurosurgeon who has either completed or due to shortly complete their basic neurosurgical training to undertake a RCS England approved fellowship in functional neurosurgery with a particular focus on deep brain stimulation for movement disorders. North Bristol Trust acts as a tertiary referral centre for complex movement disorders and we regularly receive patients from the whole of southwest of England and south wales with additional complex referrals from across the UK. The post will involve clinical training in the whole of the patient pathway with movement disorders which will include assessment, surgical management and perioperative care of surgical patients. The DBS service has strong links with the University of Bristol and research opportunities will be available for the interested candidate.
The Functional Neurosurgery service has gone from strength to strength in this department, has a full team of core and extended members providing surgical interventions for movement disorders, pain and epilepsy.
Main duties of the job
a) To attend clinics and functional neurosurgery/movement disorder MDT meetings.
b) To assess patients prior to and following surgery and throughout follow-up using the core assessment protocol.
c) To assist in surgical preparation of DBS surgery including obtaining planning scans and planning the DBS trajectories.
d) To assess patients during the surgical procedure/medical treatment as well as offering them assurance and support
e) To programme deep brain stimulators (DBS) and educate patients, carers and staff regarding use of hand held programmers.
f) To advise on the evaluation and testing of new equipment relating to the treatment of movements disorders.
g) To advise patients, relatives and health care professionals regarding assessments, medical treatment, surgery, discharge advice and follow up care.
h) To advise patients and relatives regarding medication adjustment within patients' group directions.
i) Liaise with the Movement Disorder Nurse Specialists within the Trust (where applicable).
j) To accurately document data, results and care given as agreed with the neurosurgeons, neurologists and researchers and collate up to date patient assessments.
k) Act as a specialist resource for the Trust and surrounding NHS Trusts/and health care providers for movement disorder conditions.
About us
North Bristol NHS Trust is a progressive and ambitious teaching and research organisation, and a specialist regional centre for major trauma, neurosciences, plastics and burns, orthopaedics and renal services. With a turnover of £550m and 8,000 staff, our clinical teams have built a strong reputation for exceptional healthcare, personally delivered. Our acute services moved into the brand new, £430 million state of the art Brunel Building in May 2014 enabling us to work together to create the environment for exceptional healthcare. This 800 bed hospital at the Southmead site offers some patients single rooms with en-suite facilities, greatly improving privacy and dignity and helping to control the spread of infections but most importantly of all, enabling each patient to be treated as a person. At the heart of what we do is a caring and compassionate workforce. We treat some of the most difficult medical conditions, in an increasingly complex patient population. Our vision is to be the provider of choice for patients needing our specialist care. We want to deliver innovative services with excellent clinical outcomes in the most appropriate setting for our patients. We are committed to maintaining a culture of openness, transparency and candour in all we do and especially in the way we communicate with our patients and their families
Job description
Job responsibilities
The Neurosurgical Department undertakes approximately 3800 operative procedures per year, in a suite of 4 dedicated Neurosurgery theatres (3 x elective and 1 x emergency). Neurosurgery patients benefit from access to a fully functional Intraoperative MRI scanner in addition to navigation facilities in all theatres, Neuromate Robot, Intraoperative O-Arm for stereotactic localisations for DBS and Stereo EEG as well as routine Intraoperative Neurophysiology monitoring of cortical, subcortical white matter, spinal cord, cranial and peripheral nerves.
The team is fully supported by access to specialist Neurosciences services including Neuroradiology, Neuropathology, Neurophysiology, Neuropsychiatry, and therapy services, as well as a dedicated team of DBS Specialist nurses.
Neurosurgery benefits by working closely with a large and academically active Neurology and Neuro-Psychology department within the directorate. The Brain Centre within Southmead Hospital is a specialist hub for Dementia, MS and functional disorders with several ongoing national clinical trials which are run in conjunction with The Institute of clinical Neuroscience (ICN) allied to the University of Bristol.
Consultants
Sub-specialist interest(s)
Skullbase
Mr D G Porter
Vascular, Skull Base
Mr K Abhinav
Endoscopic skull base, Pituitary, Vascular
Mr Mario Teo
Vascular, Skull base
Mr Adam Williams
Endoscopic pituitary and pain
Neuro-Oncology
Mr Ven Iyer
Neuro-oncology & Spine
Mr G P Malcolm
Neuro-oncology & Spine
Mr Neil Barua
Neuro-oncology and Movement disorders
Mr Constantinos Charalambides
Neuro-oncology
Complex Spine
Mr Nitin R Patel
Complex Spine
Mr C Wigfield
Complex Spine
Mr Mark Nowell
Complex Spine
Ms Naomi Slator
Complex Spine
Functional
Ms R Ashida
Functional Neurosurgery
Mr N K Patel
Functional Neurosurgery, Pain
Epilepsy Surgery
Mr Angelo Pichierri
Epilepsy
Complex Hydrocephalus
Mr R Edwards
Complex Hydrocephalus, Spinal dysraphism
There is a daily 8:00 a.m. combined clinical and radiology meeting; a weekly tumour MDT, fortnightly skullbase MDT, weekly epilepsy and movement disorders MDT, regular journal clubs and an academic teaching program. The successful applicant will have the opportunity to participate in departmental teaching and would be expected to participate in clinical governance and audit activities.. The out of hours commitment is a hybrid rota (consisting of 18 doctors) of four tiers of middle grade doctors depending on their experience in neurosurgery with the senior most tier providing support as non resident on-call. The emergency neurosurgical work will be from the same catchment population. There is a separate rota of complex spine surgery consultants (drawn from both neurosurgical and orthopaedic spinal units) who support the on-call registrar.
Job description
Job responsibilities
The Neurosurgical Department undertakes approximately 3800 operative procedures per year, in a suite of 4 dedicated Neurosurgery theatres (3 x elective and 1 x emergency). Neurosurgery patients benefit from access to a fully functional Intraoperative MRI scanner in addition to navigation facilities in all theatres, Neuromate Robot, Intraoperative O-Arm for stereotactic localisations for DBS and Stereo EEG as well as routine Intraoperative Neurophysiology monitoring of cortical, subcortical white matter, spinal cord, cranial and peripheral nerves.
The team is fully supported by access to specialist Neurosciences services including Neuroradiology, Neuropathology, Neurophysiology, Neuropsychiatry, and therapy services, as well as a dedicated team of DBS Specialist nurses.
Neurosurgery benefits by working closely with a large and academically active Neurology and Neuro-Psychology department within the directorate. The Brain Centre within Southmead Hospital is a specialist hub for Dementia, MS and functional disorders with several ongoing national clinical trials which are run in conjunction with The Institute of clinical Neuroscience (ICN) allied to the University of Bristol.
Consultants
Sub-specialist interest(s)
Skullbase
Mr D G Porter
Vascular, Skull Base
Mr K Abhinav
Endoscopic skull base, Pituitary, Vascular
Mr Mario Teo
Vascular, Skull base
Mr Adam Williams
Endoscopic pituitary and pain
Neuro-Oncology
Mr Ven Iyer
Neuro-oncology & Spine
Mr G P Malcolm
Neuro-oncology & Spine
Mr Neil Barua
Neuro-oncology and Movement disorders
Mr Constantinos Charalambides
Neuro-oncology
Complex Spine
Mr Nitin R Patel
Complex Spine
Mr C Wigfield
Complex Spine
Mr Mark Nowell
Complex Spine
Ms Naomi Slator
Complex Spine
Functional
Ms R Ashida
Functional Neurosurgery
Mr N K Patel
Functional Neurosurgery, Pain
Epilepsy Surgery
Mr Angelo Pichierri
Epilepsy
Complex Hydrocephalus
Mr R Edwards
Complex Hydrocephalus, Spinal dysraphism
There is a daily 8:00 a.m. combined clinical and radiology meeting; a weekly tumour MDT, fortnightly skullbase MDT, weekly epilepsy and movement disorders MDT, regular journal clubs and an academic teaching program. The successful applicant will have the opportunity to participate in departmental teaching and would be expected to participate in clinical governance and audit activities.. The out of hours commitment is a hybrid rota (consisting of 18 doctors) of four tiers of middle grade doctors depending on their experience in neurosurgery with the senior most tier providing support as non resident on-call. The emergency neurosurgical work will be from the same catchment population. There is a separate rota of complex spine surgery consultants (drawn from both neurosurgical and orthopaedic spinal units) who support the on-call registrar.
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
Desirable
- Higher Research Degree
- NHS Experience
Experience
Essential
Desirable
- Experience with stereotactic neurosurgery
- Demonstrate interest in functional disorders
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
Desirable
- Higher Research Degree
- NHS Experience
Experience
Essential
Desirable
- Experience with stereotactic neurosurgery
- Demonstrate interest in functional disorders
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.
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).
Additional information
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.
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).
