There has never been a more exciting time to join our pioneering and innovative Department of Older Persons’ Services (DOPS). Applications are invited for enthusiastic Consultants in Geriatric Medicine to join our expanding team of senior medical staff, including Consultants and SAS doctors.
On joining the department, you will become part of a well-established, friendly team and will help us to evolve existing services and develop novel ones. As a senior member of the team, you will play a key part in the delivery of training and supervision to our junior colleagues.
As a Trust, we put a genuine emphasis on supporting the health and wellbeing of our staff and we have recently won a national award in recognition of the programme. Through this programme, you will be offered a wide variety of support to help you maintain your health and wellbeing and to help colleagues maintain theirs.
Are you looking to start your career as a Consultant or are you an existing Consultant looking for a new and exciting change where you can really make a difference? Either way, we are a supportive and cohesive team who are focused on providing outstanding care to our older patients, and we would love to welcome on board like-minded physicians.
The duties outlined below are not definitive and may be changed in accordance with the needs of the service.
Clinical duties
Multidisciplinary team working is a key component of working within the Trust and involves regular MDT discussions with colleagues.
Providing evidence-based care for patients in a multidisciplinary setting.
Continuing responsibility for the care of patients in your charge, including all administrative duties associated with patient care (with secretarial support). It is anticipated that responsibility for a cohort of circa 20 patients will be shared between two consultants, providing a daily ward/board round input. Each ward is generally supported by a minimum of two doctors in training and a Registrar/Associate Specialist.
Development of sub-specialty interests that fit in with division needs and the strategic direction of the Trust, including active participation in audit.
Responsibilities for carrying out teaching, examination, and accreditation duties are required, and for contributing to undergraduate and post-graduate and continuing medical education activity.
Provision of cover for Consultant colleagues’ periods of leave in accordance with arrangements agreed within Trust policy.
Participation in clinical audit and in continuing medical education.
Undertaking ward rounds as appropriate.
The post holder will participate in an out of hours consultant rota, detailed within the job plan section.
Our STAR values are at the heart of everything we do. You can expect to see them in the way we act and the way we treat each other. Our values make us who we are. We will expect your values and behaviours to reflect the STAR Values of the organisation:
Service We will put our patients first
Teamwork We will work together
Ambition We will aspire to provide the best service
Respect We will act with integrity
We are continually looking to develop flexible and creative ways of working and would relish the opportunity to explore the skills and ideas potential candidates could bring to our steadily expanding team. We always promote professional development and are keen to nurture the personal interests that candidates may have in any field of geriatric medicine.
The DOPS team is in the Betjeman Centre, located on the ground floor of GWH. This is home to the department’s outpatient clinic rooms and office space for the consultant team and their secretarial support. There are currently 9 consultants/SAS doctors within the department who manage inpatients on our three main geriatric medicine wards (Jupiter, Woodpecker, and Teal), orthogeriatric patients on the Trauma ward, as well as covering our 15 bed Older Persons’ Short Stay Unit (TOPSSU). There are also rehabilitation services for orthogeriatric and stroke patients. We are also developing and expanding a very successful acute geriatric service at the front door, consisting of geriatricians, advanced clinical practitioners (ACPs) and therapists working closely together to provide comprehensive geriatric assessments and help support timely discharges. A full complement of outpatient services is provided, including clinics in general geriatrics, stroke, falls, syncope, orthogeriatrics, and movement disorders.
Over the last few years, we are proud to have implemented many great improvements within our department. This includes the establishment of a 15-bedded Older Persons Short Stay Unit and an acute front door geriatric service, the refurbishment of our first dementia friendly ward, as well as the successful recruitment of three new consultants, six ACPs and two Admiral Dementia Specialist Nurses. Recently, our Admiral Nurses won the National Parliamentary Award in Nursing and Midwifery in recognition of their outstanding care and dedication to our patients. During this time, we have also won national recognition and accolades for our orthogeriatric service and frailty pathways. Older Persons’ Medicine at our Trust was rated as ‘Good’ in our latest CQC inspection in March 2020. Our track record demonstrates that we are an ambitious and progressive team who are motivated to develop our services in order to provide outstanding care for our local population.
We aim to help support and maintain a work-life balance by offering an innovative and sustainable 1 in 7 General Medical on-call rota. The appointed candidate will participate in this rota along with 19 other consultants, to enable us to reduce the frequency of this commitment for all.
Candidates are required to be within six months of CCT at the time of interview or currently hold CCT or equivalent in Geriatric and General (Internal) Medicine. As such, the post holder should be trained in all aspects of General Medicine and Geriatric Internal Medicine. Special interests are encouraged and will be supported. We would welcome applications for either full-time or part-time work. We are truly flexible.
Futher details can be found on the attached job description and person specification.
