ARRS GP

Job responsibilities

JOB TITLE:ARRS General Practitioner

EMPLOYER:Wandsworth Primary Care Network Services Ltd

SESSIONS:Three sessions per week

ACCOUNTABLE TO:Clinical Directors - Dr Abid Shoaib & Dr Soleman Begg

PCN Operations Manager - Mr Tim Hodgson

PLACE OF WORK:The Junction Health Centre & Clapham Junction Medical Practice

CONTRACT:Fixed Term until 31 March 2026 with a view to change subject to national DES contracting.

The opportunity:

Wandsworth PCN is a forward-thinking Primary Care Network delivering care to a patient population of circa 54,000 across 6 practices:

• Chatfield Health Care
• Falcon Road Medical Centre
• The Begg Practice @ St John's Hill Surgery
• The Junction Health Centre
• Bolingbroke Medical Centre
• Clapham Junction Medical Practice

Our aim is to provide exemplary patient care, finding innovative solutions in general practice to deliver the best care we can to our patients.

Our PCN and practice teams have a positive and supportive working relationship, and this role is an opportunity to enhance our PCN services further. Due to the changes in the ARRS Scheme to introduce General Practitioners we are looking to expand our team by seeking to employ a newly qualified General Practitioner to work alongside our practice and PCN staff. The successful candidate will be assigned a mentor from within the network team, who will support them through the transition period of completion of training into full independence within General Practice.

Our PCN ARRS staff currently includes GPs, Clinical Pharmacists, Pharmacy Technicians, Social Prescribers, Physician Associates, First Contact Physiotherapists, and Advanced Nurse Practitioners.

Job Summary:

We are seeking a GP to support our health care service to continue to meet the demands over the winter period. The successful applicant will be expected to work from all 6 practices. There will be further scope to develop areas of personal interest with an aim to offer services that would have a positive impact on the network.

To perform as an autonomous general practitioner working independently with other health care professionals to assess, diagnose and treat the conditions of patients attending within a primary care setting. Provide expert professional advice to patients, carers and colleagues whilst maintaining clinical excellence. To be professionally accountable and responsible for all elements of clinical practice in accordance with the GMC code of conduct, ensuring the safety of patients and quality of their care is primary.

The post holder will need to be capable of independent travel across the network and work flexibly to meet the needs of the business.

This role is a fixed term position for 12 months with a view to extend subject to National DES contracting.

Main Duties and Responsibilities:

Clinical responsibilities

• In accordance with the practice rota, as agreed, the post-holder will be available to undertake a variety of duties including surgery consultations, telephone consultations and queries, visiting patients at home, checking and signing/authorising repeat prescriptions and dealing with queries, paperwork and correspondence in a timely fashion.
• Making professional, autonomous decisions in relation to presenting problems, whether self-referred or referred from other health care workers within the organisation.
• Assessing the health care needs of patients with undifferentiated and undiagnosed problems.
• Screening patients for disease risk factors and early signs of illness in consultation with patients and in line with current practice disease management protocols, developing care plans for health.
• Providing counselling and health education.
• Admitting or discharging patients to and from the caseload and referring to other care providers as appropriate.
• Recording clear and contemporaneous consultation notes to agreed standards.
• Collecting data for audit purposes.
• Expectation to complete a mandatory induction.
• Compiling and issuing computer-generated acute and repeat prescriptions.
• Prescribing in accordance with the practice prescribing formulary (or generically) whenever this is clinically appropriate.
• The post-holder will be required to visit patients during surgery time in an emergency if clinically indicated.
• The post-holder will undertake a fair percentage of enhanced access sessions as allocated on the network rota.

Generic Responsibilities:

All staff at this organisation have a duty of conform to the following responsibilities:

Quality

• To ensure that work is carried out within the clearly defined protocols, policies, and procedures of both practice and network.
• Recognises scope of job role and does not act beyond this boundary.
• Provide accurate information in a timely manner to patients and their carers/relatives

Quality and Continuous Improvement (CI)

• To preserve and improve the quality of our output, all personnel are required to think not only of what they do, but of how they achieve it. By continually re-examining our processes, we will be able to develop and improve the overall effectiveness of the way we work. The responsibility for this rests with everyone working within the practice to look for opportunities to improve quality and share good practice and to discuss, highlight and work with the team to create opportunities to improve patient care.
• At this organisation, we continually strive to improve work processes that deliver healthcare with improved results across all areas of our service provision. We promote a culture of continuous improvement where everyone counts, and staff are permitted to make suggestions and contributions to improve our service delivery and enhance patient care.
• All staff are to contribute to investigations and root cause analyses whilst participating in serious incident investigations and multidisciplinary case reviews.

Collaborative working

• All staff are to recognise the significance of collaborative working and understand their own role and scope and identify how this may develop over time. Staff are to prioritise their own workload and ensure effective time-management strategies are embedded within the culture of the team
• Teamwork is essential in multidisciplinary environments and the post holder is to work as an effective and responsible team member, supporting others and exploring the mechanisms to develop new ways of working, while working effectively with others to clearly define values, direction and policies impacting upon care delivery.
• Effective communication is essential, and all staff must ensure they communicate in a way which enables the sharing of information in an appropriate manner.
• All staff should delegate clearly and appropriately, adopting the principles of safe practice and assessment of competence.

Experience

Essential

• Experience of working in urgent care and/or a primary care environment. Experience of dealing with a range of clinical conditions. Experience of providing home visits.
• Proven ability to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of own clinical practice.
• Understanding of evidence-based practice.
• Evidence of working autonomously, with some support and supervision.

Desirable

• Experience in triage.
• Knowledge of public health issues in the local area.
• Awareness of issues within the wider health arena.
• Knowledge of health-promotion strategies

Clinical knowledge and skills

Essential

• Ability to effectively triage, assess and diagnose
• Requesting pathology tests and processing the results; advising patients accordingly
• Assessing and managing acute deterioration/exacerbations of long-term conditions
• Understands the importance of evidence-based practices
• Ability to assess and manage patient risk effectively and safely
• Broad knowledge of clinical governance
• Ability to work within own scope of practice and understanding when to refer to senior GPs

Desirable

• Knowledge of public health issues in the local areas
• Knowledge of health promotion strategies

Qualifications

Essential

• Newly qualified GP (within 2 years and not having had a substantive post) with full GMC registration and license to practice.

Desirable

• Experience of working in a GP training practice using EMIS

Personal Qualities

Essential

• Polite and confident, flexible and cooperative.
• Motivated, forward thinker with ability to use own judgement and common sense.
• Problem solver with the ability to process information accurately and effectively, interpreting data as required.
• High levels of integrity. Sensitive and empathetic in distressing situations.
• Ability to work under pressure / in stressful situations.
• Effectively able to communicate and understand the needs of the patients.
• Commitment to ongoing professional development.
• Punctual and committed to supporting the team effort.
• Observance of strict confidentiality.

Other Skills

Essential

• Excellent communication skills (written and oral) including recording of accurate clinical notes.
• Strong IT skills and competent in the use of Microsoft Office and Outlook.
• Effective time management (Planning, organising and prioritising), with excellent problem solving and analytical skills.
• Ability to work autonomously and as part of a multi-disciplinary team.
• Ability to listen and empathise whilst being honest and caring.
• Ability to follow clinical policies and procedures with an understanding of the audit process.

Desirable

• Knowledge of General Practice clinical systems, e.g. EMIS

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.

UK Registration

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