We are seeking to recruit an innovative and progressive Consultant with an interest in General Internal Medicine (GIM) to join our Cardiology team. The appointee will cover our new hospital Midland Metropolitan University Hospital (MMUH) during the on call with outpatient clinics at City hospital Birmingham and/or Sandwell General Hospital. Applications are welcomed from candidates with CCT (or equivalent) with an interest in GIM who are on the General Medical Council’s Specialist Register in Cardiology or who will be within six months of obtaining their CCT at the time of interview. In addition, applicants should demonstrate within their application that they are fully trained in general Cardiology, can manage Cardiology oncalls and can perform GIM independently. This job is a substantive post.
The appointee will input first class Cardiology and GIM specialist opinions. Input into subspecialty (e.g. imaging) is encouraged. The candidate will also perform on-calls for Cardiology wards and general cardiology 1 in 10 (with internal cover).
The appointee will cover clinics (general Cardiology & specialty), ward rounds and administration duties and will also provide flexible ward cover. The post will be based primarily at MMUH for ward rounds, and oncalls. Imaging modality sessions will be either in MMUH, Sandwell General Hospital or Birmingham City Hospital. The Trust has reconfigured its services in preparation for the implementation of the Right Care Right Here Programme and the post-holder therefore is required have outpatient work continuing on at least one of the other sites.
The appointee will take equal responsibility with existing Consultants for the proper functioning of the clinical service, working with clinical and managerial colleagues towards achieving and maintaining national maximum waiting times and developing clinical pathways.
Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust (SWB) serves Birmingham and the Black Country – one of the country’s most culturally diverse areas. It’s a friendly and welcoming place – a place where you can belong, and a place where you can grow.
We care for our patients, we care about our population, and we care about our people.
Our values – Ambition, Respect and Compassion – are at the heart of who we are. They guide us every step of the way; how we work with each other, and how we look after our patients and their families; how we respect and value the rich diversity of our team and our community.
Our Trust has always aspired to be more than a hospital, more than a healthcare provider. Our purpose is to “Improve the Life Chances and Health Outcomes of our Population.” It is what inspires, drives, and unites us every day. It’s what makes us unique.
We want working at SWB to feel like more than just a job. We want our Trust to be a place where you can feel you belong. A place where you feel happy, safe, and rewarded. A place where you can develop your career in whatever way you choose. When we say we’re ‘with you all the way’ we want you to know that we mean it. Visit the SWB website to find out more about our ambitions and people plans.
Dr Vinoda Sharma is currently Specialty Lead for Cardiology; Dr Stavros Apostolakis is the Clinical Director for Admitted Care, of which Cardiology forms a part; Dr Chetan Varma (also an Interventional Consultant Cardiologist) is the Group Director for Medicine and Emergency Care. MMUH has Medical Admission Units adjacent to the Emergency Departments. The Trust runs a ward-based system for general medical patients.
Cardiology day time duties:
The cardiology consultants provide a seven day service for cardiology patients at MMUH. The appointee will participate in day time general cardiac duties as Cardiologist of the Week (COW) at MMUH Cardiology department on a 1 in 10 rota (8am-6pm weekdays), reviewing and managing Cardiology patients, and 8am -2pm on the weekend of the COW week. On the MMUH AMU, there is a daily consultant ward round on the acute medical unit (after initial assessment by the RMO and medical on-take team) in which patients needing prolonged specialist cardiac or catheter lab management are transferred the Cardiology A2 ward. In addition the post holder will also contribute to GIM on call weekend (1in 8), SDEC (1 in 52) and GIM weekdays (1 in 20).
All the patients requiring cardiology management are reviewed by the cardiology team with daily ward rounds on the cardiology wards, acute medical unit and ward referrals. All suspected acute coronary syndrome patients will be seen, as well as those with significant arrhythmias and those with heart failure. AMU Cardiology referrals in MMUH are covered by the Interventional Cardiologists who perform a 1:8 cover Monday to Friday from 08:00-12:30 noon. On call weekend interventional cardiologists do a Saturday morning list for acute ward patients.
Out-patient Clinics at Sandwell and City Hospitals
At Sandwell Hospital, the out-patient department is directly adjacent to the cardiology department and therefore access to exercise testing, echocardiography and rhythm management facilities. At City Hospital, the Birmingham Treatment Centre also provides out-patient facilities adjacent to the Cardiology Department. The appointee would have two cardiology clinics per week. There may be a requirement for the appointee to do outpatient work outside the hospital in line with the “Right Care Right Here” programme. At present there were a total of about 18000 outpatient attendances per year in the cardiology Dept. Modern IT systems (UNITY) support delivery of service to improve rapid turnover and communication with primary care and all our patient records are electronic.
Cardiac Intervention/Pacing
MMUH is equipped with state of the art Siemens Artis Icono Biplane catheter labs adjacent to each other with a brand new third catheter lab which opened in March 2026 and is dedicated to pacing and devices. Cath lab coordination is supported using the dedicated Labyrinth @ IT system and dedicated nurse Cath Lab Coordinator. One cath lab runs routinely from 8am-6pm and Saturday mornings from 9am -12pm, with the second lab running 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday. Cath labs run mixed lists of acute and elective patients. The Trust has a longstanding PCI programme and has undertaken coronary intervention with off-site surgical support from neighbouring cardiac surgical facilities for over 2 decades. A primary angioplasty service for acute
myocardial infarction was established in the early 2000s, with 24 hours, 7 day service running since January 2005.
Bradycardia pacing has been carried out on the Trust sites for over 30 years and biventricular pacing (CRT) and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) implantation since 2006. We now have a dedicated subcutaneous ICD service run by Dr Shah and Dr Maher. Angiograms and pacing are supported using the Change Healthcare @ system, images being visible on any PC within the Trust at any time by the cardiology team as well as Cath reports and BCIS returns.
Cardiac Imaging
There are well-developed cardiac imaging services (CMR, echocardiography, stress echo and CTCA) at both City and Sandwell Hospitals and an established Heart Failure Service with strong links over both Sandwell and City campuses. With the demonstration of the great benefits of the specialist nursing service in Sandwell in avoiding excess hospital appointments and readmissions, the local Sandwell and West Birmingham CCG have recently funded 9 new specialist nurse posts to develop an equally good service in West Birmingham. Research is carried out into a number of aspects of heart failure.
Cardiac diagnostics is a busy department with 12 sonographers (8 with BSE accreditation), performing more than 12,000 TTEs. The department also performs more than 600 stress echocardiograms and more than 100 TOEs per year. We offer a range of stress echocardiography services including dobutamine stress echo, treadmill exercise stress echo and supine bike exercise stress echo.
A comprehensive nuclear cardiology service is well established on the City site under the direction of Dr A Notghi and Dr M Pandit.
Coronary CT is performed at Sandwell with a Siemens Somatom Definition Flash 256 slice scanners, capable of acquiring a full CT coronary angiogram in a single heartbeat with minimal x-ray exposure. The Cardiac CT programme is expanding rapidly, currently we do 2000 scans a year, but this is predicted to increase in Midland Metropolitan Hospital and with further implementation of the latest NICE guidance for the management and investigation of stable chest pain.
Cardiac MRI is performed with a Siemens Avanto 1.5 Tesla MR scanner at the Sandwell site. The service is on an expansion curve and it is anticipated the current list of approximately 500 scans a year to increase further in the next 12-18 months. It is anticipated that stress perfusion CMR will become incorporated into the normal workflow at MMUH. Participation in any of the imaging services would be welcome from a suitably qualified applicant.
The single-site Acute Hospital (MMUH) benefits from co-located specialist services which supports the new Emergency Department with dedicated imaging facility and Assessment Units. It provides state-of-the-art treatment and care for patients from Sandwell and across the region and will become the civic heart of the area and a point of pride for the community.
The working week for a full-time consultant is comprised of 10 programmed activities (PAs) each of which has a nominal timetable value of 4 hours with 1. 5 PAs for SPAs. Programmed activities that take place outside the hours of 7am and 7pm Monday and Friday or at weekends or on public holidays will have a timetable value of three hours rather than four. For this post direct clinical care (work relating directly to the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of illness) includes a minimum of 0.5 sub-specialty (e.g. imaging) session per week, emergency work (including whilst on-call), outpatient activities (minimum of 2 clinics per week), multi-disciplinary meetings about direct patient care, and administration directly related to the above. Supporting professional activities (that underpin direct clinical care), include participation in training, medical education,
continuous professional development, formal teaching, audit, clinical management and local clinical governance activities.
For more information on the job role and responsibilities, please refer to the Job Description attached.
For an informal discussion, please contact:
Dr. Chetan Varma, Consultant Cardiologist and Group Director for Medicine on 0121 507 5841, Email:
[email protected]
Dr Vinoda Sharma, Consultant Cardiologist and Specialty Lead on 0121 507 5841, Email:
[email protected]