Consultant in Paediatric Emergency Medicine

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Clinical: The postholder will, together with consultant colleagues, be responsible for the provision of Emergency services to the Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust to include:

(a) Diagnosis   and   treatment   of   paediatric   patients   presenting   to   the   Emergency Department.

(b) Continuing clinical responsibility for the patients in your charge, allowing for all proper delegation to, and training of, your staff.

(c) Liaise with the clinical  teams of  the Evelina London  Children’s Hospital  to optimise patient care.

(d) Be responsible for the care of children for up to 24 hours in the CSSU.

(e)  Work in partnership with the Children’s Acute Paediatric team in Evelina London to develop and deliver ambulatory models of care.

The  appointee  will,  together  with 21 other  whole-time  consultant  colleagues  in  Emergency Medicine  and  6  consultants  in  Paediatric  Emergency  Medicine  be  responsible  for  the provision Emergency Medicine services to the Guy’s & St Thomas’ Hospital Trust to include:

Teaching:

All  consultants  are  expected  to  take  part  in  undergraduate  teaching  during  their  normal clinical work.

Consultants taking on additional teaching responsibilities will have time allocated for these in their job plan.

Training: All consultants will be expected to contribute to the training and support of doctors in training, including the role of Educational Supervisor in the educational contracts for junior staff in the speciality.

The post holder will be expected to take an active part in undergraduate and postgraduate students.  In particular the post holder will be expected to:

(a)  Take responsibility for the training and direction of junior staff allocated t o him/her and is the designated educational  supervisor in the Education Contracts for these junior staff.

(b) Be  instrumental  in  the  training  of   Emergency  Medicine  Specialist   Registrars, Emergency Department ST2/3 or CT3 doctors in training and Primary Care trainees in Emergency Medicine.

(c) Train  year  4  medical  students  during  their  Emergency  Medicine  and  supervise students undertaking Special Study Modules (SSMs).

 Research: Consultants  are  encouraged  to  become  involved  in  clinical  research.    Clinical  research undertaken  as  part  of  the  trust  research  and  development  programme  will  be  allocated specific time in a consultant’s job plan.  Consideration will be given to the support required for any research agreed as part of the job plan.

There  is  an  active  research  programme  in  the  Emergency  Department  with  the  added expectation of the Department developing an academic base for Emergency Medicine in the future. Full support for the research is available within the directorates of Acute Medicine and Paediatrics.   There are close links with GKT Medical School, which is part of King’s College London. College facilities include full text access to biomedical journals on-line, statistical and database  software and  support,  statistician support and a full  local  and multi-centre ethical review boards.

Clinical Governance: All consultants are expected to take part in clinical governance activity, including clinical audit, clinical  guideline  and  protocol  development  and  clinical  risk  management.    They  will  be expected to produce evidence of their contribution in these areas and their audit of their own clinical work as part of their annual appraisal.

Clinical Management: All  consultants  are  expected  to  contribute  to  the  management  and  development  of  their clinical service.  Additional clinical management roles will be recognised in the consultant job plan.

Consultant staff are expected to lead on the investigation and compilation of reports relating to any complaints or critical incidents involving staff and patients as directed.

The appointee will be responsible for the departmental  clinical  administration including staff rotas as part of their contribution to the smooth running of their Department as required, in particular  the  policies,  standing  orders  and  financial  regulations  of  the  Trust  must  be observed.    They  are  expected  to  assist  their  Clinical  Lead  in  delivering  the  Corporate Objectives.

The post holder will  be managerially and professionally responsible to the Clinical Lead for Emergency Medicine.

Appraisal: All consultants are required to undertake annual appraisal.

The appointee will be expected to appraise junior staff as directed by their Clinical Lead

Provide High Quality Care to Patients

The post holder must be medically qualified and maintain GMC specialist registration and hold a licence to practice

To develop and maintain the competencies required to carry out the duties required of the post.

To ensure prompt attendance at agreed direct clinical care Programmed Activities.

To  ensure  patients  are  involved  in  decisions  about  their  care  and  to  respond  to  their views.

 Research, Teaching and Training

 Where  possible  to  collaborate  with  academic  and  clinical  colleagues  to  enhance  the Trust’s  translational  research  portfolio,  at  all  times  meeting  the  full  requirements  of Research Governance.

 To provide high quality teaching to medical undergraduates and members of other health care professions as required by the Clinical Director.

To act as educational  supervisor and appraiser as delegated by the Clinical Director to ensure external accreditation of training post.

 Performance Management

To work with medical, nursing and managerial colleagues to ensure high performance in the following areas:

Clinical efficiency e.g. LOS reductions, reducing cancelled operations and DNA rates.

Quality of outcomes e.g. infection control targets, reducing re-admission rates.

 Financial  management   e.g.   identification,   implementation  and  achievement   of   cost improvement programmes and participating in efforts to ensure services are provided cost effectively e.g. managing locum agency spend, monitoring and managing the drug budget to target, ensuring accuracy of clinical data for the team.

Operational efficiency e.g. day-case rates, waiting list activity and demand management.

Medical Staff Management

 To work with colleagues to ensure junior doctors’ hours are compliant in line with EWTD and New Deal.

To  ensure  that  adequate  systems  and  procedures  are  in  place  to  control  and  monitor leave  for  junior  medical  staff  and  to  ensure  that  there  is  appropriate  cover  within  the clinical areas, including on-call commitments

To participate in the recruitment of junior medical staff as and when required.

 To participate in team objective setting as part of the annual job planning cycle.

To be responsible for the annual appraisal of all doctors in training, Trust doctors, Clinical Fellows   and   non-consultant   grades   as   delegated   by   the   Clinical   Director/General Manager.

Governance

 To review clinical outcomes in designated area using external benchmarking data where appropriate, to identify and advise variances to the Clinical Director.

Participate in clinical audit, incident reporting and analysis and to ensure resulting actions are implemented.

To work closely with the Directorate, Patient and Public Involvement panels in relation to clinical and services developments as delegated by the Clinical Director.

Participate in ensuring NICE requirements are reviewed and implemented and monitored in the speciality areas.

To  ensure  clinical  guidelines  and  protocols  are  adhered  to  by  junior  medical  staff  and updated on a regular basis.

To keep fully informed about best practice in the speciality areas and ensure implications for practice changes are discussed with the Clinical Director.

To role model good practice for infection control to all members of the multidisciplinary team.

 Strategy and Business Planning

 To participate in the business planning and objective setting process for the directorate and Trust where appropriate.

 To represent the Trust at appropriate clinical networks/other external clinical meetings, as delegated by the Clinical Director.