Consultant in Palliative Medicine

Job overview

We are delighted to offer an exciting opportunity to work as a Consultant in Palliative Medicine within the King’s College Hospital Specialist Palliative Care Service. This is a replacement post to join the team based at Denmark Hill. The palliative care team offers an advisory service to patients with palliative care needs and promotes excellence in end of life care across the Trust. We are seeking to appoint an enthusiastic individual to join our team who will support this busy dynamic multi-professional team and build on partnerships across the locality. It is envisaged that the appointee will contribute to the delivery and development of specific aspects of the service depending on their interests and experience, alongside supporting the general team activity. They will also contribute to teaching and training. The post will sit within a collaborative network across our Clinical Academic Group within King’s Health Partners. A wealth of opportunities exist to be involved in research via established links with the Cicely Saunders Institute.

Main duties of the job

· To provide senior palliative care medical leadership to support skilled decision making and support to patients, palliative care and Trust colleagues, particularly in cases of complexity.

· To lead, deliver and represent excellent palliative care through innovation, collaboration and education.

• To support 24/7 specialist palliative care advice across KHP. The On-Call commitment is for a 1:16 rota, which is classed as Category B. On call telephone advice is provided to health professionals across King’s, St Thomas’, Guys and Lewisham Hospitals and Guys and St Thomas’ community palliative care teams.

Working for our organisation

King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK’s largest and busiest teaching Trusts, with a turnover of £1.8bn per annum – and we are delighted you are considering a career with us.

Our teams provide services out of five hospitals across South East London and Kent, namely King’s College Hospital, the Princess Royal University Hospital, Orpington Hospital, Queen Mary’s Hospital Sidcup, and Beckenham Beacon.

We employ nearly 14,000 staff, who together treat over 1.5 million patients every year.

We provide a full range of local and specialist services, and our teams are nationally and internationally recongised for our work in liver disease and transplantation, neurosciences, cardiac, haemato-oncology, fetal medicine, stroke, major trauma, and emergency medicine.

Our Strong Roots, Global Reach strategy , published in 2021, sets out our BOLD vision, and commitment towards:

1. Brilliant People

2. Outstanding care

3. Leaders in Research, Innovation and Education

4. Diversity, Equality and Inclusion at the heart of everything we do.

At King’s, we are proud to serve a diverse range of communities, and our staff reflect the diversity of the communities we serve, with many people also travelling from all the world to start and develop their careers with us.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

This is an exciting opportunity to be a part of our dedicated workforce and join one of the largest and most successful Foundation Trusts in the UK with an international reputation for innovation and the desire to make a difference.

You must be fully registered with the GMC and hold a Licence to Practice and be on the Specialist Register, or within three months of attaining your CCT or equivalent to be eligible for interview. Informal visits are welcome.

The postholder will have regular contact with vulnerable adults and/or children (0-18 years), therefore 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 to check for any previous criminal convictions.

KEY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Together with other colleagues, to provide a high quality care service to patients. This includes all aspects of treatment and relevant management duties for the proper functioning of the Care Group.

2. Shared responsibility with other colleagues for providing 24 hours, 7 days a week cover for the Unit on a rota basis. Responsible also for covering colleagues’ periods of annual leave and short-term sickness as detailed in your contract.

3. Provide clinical supervision of junior medical/dental practitioners as a shared responsibility with other consultant colleagues.

4. Responsible for carrying out teaching, examination and accreditation duties as required and contributing to CPD and clinical governance initiatives.

5. Responsible for outpatient clinic commitments in peripheral hospitals as agreed with the Care Group’s management team where part of the service structure.

6. Contribute to the Care Group’s research interests in accordance with the Trust’s R&D framework.

7. Contribute to the audit programmes, Morbidity and Mortality, Clinical Governance programmes and Learning from Deaths.

8. Take an active role in the formulation, implementation and monitoring of the Care Group’s Business Plan. This may include assisting with discussions regarding service plans and developments with internal and external agencies.

9. Conduct all activities within the contracted level of service and operating plan for service(s).

10. Exercise professional leadership for all staff working in the specialty. This will include fostering and developing projects focused towards these ends and ensuring that the momentum of post-qualification professional education and other appropriate training is maintained.

11. Work in conjunction with clinical and other professional colleagues to ensure that the productivity of staff within the specialty is maintained and their job satisfaction is enhanced. This may include involvement in the appraisal process for peers and/or junior colleagues

12. Undertake Care Group management duties as agreed with the Care Group/Departmental Manager/Clinical Director.

13. Be aware of, and comply with, all Trust infection prevention and control policies, to include hand hygiene, personal hygiene, environmental and food hygiene.

14. Prepare for and undertake the protective interventions that you are responsible for in a manner that is consistent with evidence-based practice and maintaining patient safety.

15. King’s is committed to providing Consultant led 7-day services and in the event of future developments the post holder would be expected to contribute equally with other Consultant colleagues.

GENERAL INFORMATION

1. You have a general duty of care for the health, safety and well-being of yourself, work colleagues, visitors and patients within the hospital in addition to any specific risk management or clinical governance responsibilities associated with this post.

2. You are required to observe the rules, policies, procedures and standards of King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust together with all relevant statutory and professional obligations, including complying with statutory and Trust core training.

3. You are required to observe and maintain strict confidentiality of personal information relating to patients and staff.

4. You are required to be responsible, with management support, for your own personal development and to actively contribute to the development of colleagues.

5. The postholder has an important responsibility for, and contribution to make to, infection control and must be familiar with the infection control and hygiene requirements of this role. These requirements are set out in the National Code of Practice on Infection Control and in local policies and procedures, which will be made clear during your induction and subsequent refresher training. These standards must be strictly complied with at all times.

6. All employees must hold an 'nhs.net' email account, which will be the Trust's formal route for email communication. You are therefore required to check this regularly and to deal with such communication promptly.

7. The Trust is committed to the Health and Wellbeing of all its staff and offer a range of guidance and services to support them, including

8. Local occupational health support

9. Employee Assistance Programme which provides a wide range of support for work and personal issues, i ncluding relationship problems (personal and at work); anxiety/depression; finance/debt; work overload; legal matters; bullying; consumer issues; bereavement; pressure/stress; child care; and care of the elderly/disabled.

10. Wellbeing hubs

11. Proactive local organisational systems to support staff following a serious incident

12. Availability of local initiatives and resources to promote workforce wellbeing

13. Coaching and mentoring, peer review groups and participation

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria

• Registerable medical qualification
• MRCP, MRCGP or equivalent

Desirable criteria

• Other higher degree or diploma (e.g., MD)

Registration

Essential criteria

• Full Registration with GMC
• Name on GMC Specialist Register on date of taking up appointment

Training and Experience

Essential criteria

• Wide experience in all aspects of palliative care, culminating in award of CCT or equivalent
• Specialist training in Palliative Care

Desirable criteria

• Previous experience working in an acute Trust

Administration

Essential criteria

• Experience in day-to-day organisation of Palliative Care services in a busy Teaching Hospital
• Familiarity with information technology and general computer skills
• Familiar with current structure of UK National Health Service and conversant with recent initiatives and changes

Desirable criteria

• Familiar with current structure of Health Service and conversant with recent initiatives and changes

Management and Leadership

Essential criteria

• Able to demonstrate leadership capability within multi-disciplinary teams

Desirable criteria

• Management course and/or qualification

Audit and Quality Improvement

Essential criteria

• Thorough understanding of principles of medical audit
• Must have undertaken and completed audit projects

Desirable criteria

• Audit Publications

Research and Publications

Essential criteria

• Experience of conducting or supporting clinical research
• Keeps upto date with relevant palliative care and related research developments in the field

Desirable criteria

• Relevant research experience in one or more aspects of palliative care
• Publication of relevant review articles or case reports

Teaching

Essential criteria

• Experience of undergraduate and post-graduate teaching and exam preparation

Desirable criteria

• Teaching skills course/qualification

IMPORTANT

• Check your email account regularly as this is how we will communicate with you
• If you delete the job from any of your accounts, you may be prevented from accessing further communications
• To enquire about your application or inform us of any changes in your circumstances, please contact the named person on this advert
• Please provide email addresses for referees where possible
• Please review the documentation on our recruitment microsite, particularly the Trust’s criminal records checking policy
• All staff have a responsibility for safeguarding children and vulnerable adults and for ensuring they are aware of the specific duties relating to their role.
• Please note that the closing date is given as a guide. On occasion, we might close a vacancy early due to a high number of applications being received. You are advised to submit your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.

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