Consultant in Restorative Dentistry (Periodontal Service)

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The post will be based at Birmingham Dental Hospital, which constitutes the Dental Services Directorate of Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Trust. 

The post holder will provide appropriate specialist Periodontal care at Birmingham Dental Hospital.  Some ad hoc clinical activities may take place in local acute Trusts by prior arrangement and planning

Bearing in mind the training needs of junior staff within the Dental Hospital, only those patients with clinical needs requiring the expert skill levels of a Consultant will be expected to be treated directly by the Consultant rather than by junior staff under supervision.

The Consultant will be involved, as appropriate, in undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing education, in addition to the training of junior hospital staff and will contribute to the training programme for Specialty Registrars. There are currently two NHS Specialty Registrars, two honorary StRs and one Academic Clinical Lecturer (ACL) in Restorative Dentistry in training programmes. An appropriate Honorary Contract will be sought from the University. 

The incumbent of the post will work within their scope of practice and liaise with Consultants in other services on multi-disciplinary cases. This evolution will be planned in association with the Head of the Periodontal Service and the Clinical Director of the Dental Services. 

The post holder will be expected to develop a close working relationship with all colleagues in associated dental and medical specialties.

The post holder is responsible for fully complying with the Trust Control of Infection and Health and Safety Policies, bringing any matters of concern to the Line Manager.

The appointee will be required to agree a job plan with the Divisional Medical Director on commencement of the post.

The sessional commitment each week, in respect of a 1FTE consultant post, will normally be expected to be 7.5 Direct Clinical Care sessions, one of which is an undergraduate teaching session and 2.5 Supporting Professional Activities.  The exact timetable and distribution of these programmed activities will be subject to negotiation and agreement with the Divisional Medical Director of the Dental Hospital and will be influenced by service needs. (see appendix 1 for indicative timetable).

There will be no on-call commitment.

A condition of the award of this post will be that all clinical duties will operate within the existing financial constraints of NHS budgets generated from contract income.  Thus the development of special clinical interests of the appointee will only proceed on the basis of appropriate funding being available and by agreement with the Clinical Lead.  Clinical duties will develop therefore within the framework of Birmingham Community Healthcare Policy and the consequences of the developing workload will be kept under scrutiny.  The implications for the person appointed are that all clinical activity will be undertaken within a tight financial framework and subject to the availability of funding from contract income or service level agreement.

The Post holder will be managerially accountable to the Divisional Medical Director for the delivery of all aspects of the Dental Hospital service contracts as they affect the NHS specialty.  The appointee will be expected to work in collaboration with the Head of Service for Periodontology on all hospital departmental matters.  Appropriate office space, IT and secretarial support will be provided.

The appointee will be expected to participate in clinical audit at Birmingham Dental Hospital and to contribute to the Clinical Governance Programme which has been implemented.  He/she will be expected to attend and contribute to the regular Service senior team meetings, and to chair such meetings from time to time.  Issues relating to service and hospital matters which affect the Service are raised at these meetings.

Consultants will have their performance and job plan regularly reviewed by the Clinical Lead through the appraisal process.  Arrangements for the appraisal process for senior medical and dental staff within the Trust are the responsibility of the Medical Director who issues guidance in line with national model recommendations.

Please see the attached job description and person specification for more detailed information in regards to this post.