Consultant Community Paediatrician with Paediatric Neurodisability

OBJECTIVES OF THE POST

1. To contribute to the Paediatric Neurodisability (PND) Service including Special Inclusion School Clinics.
2. To contribute to city-wide Child Protection Services.
3. To contribute to City Wide Growth and Nutrition services.
4. To contribute to the specialist training of paediatric trainees and the undergraduate teaching programme.
5. To develop the newly introduced Foundation Training programme in Community Paediatrics.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE POST

The Consultant will be part of the team based at the West Children's hub and Child Development Centre, based in Wortley Beck Health Centre, Leeds.

The following are the Clinical responsibilities for the post holder:

Paediatric Neurodisability Clinics

The consultant will be a part of the Paediatric Neurodisability Team, working within West Child Development Centre. The Team supports children with complex neurodevelopmental conditions through a multidisciplinary approach. The responsibilities include initial assessment, support, and follow-up of these children, keeping the child and family at the Centre of care. The clinics are based on the Hubs, but some can also take place from Special Inclusion Schools.

There are excellent opportunities to develop services and pathways in conjunction with the wider PND team. The consultant will be covering an outreach clinic in Yeadon as needed.

Child Protection Service

The Consultant will deliver Child Protection clinics as per the agreed Rota and cover arrangements. Child Protection is a medically led and delivered daytime service for children and young people providing assessment and medical reports for acute referrals for physical abuse and neglect.

The clinic is supported by highly trained nurses and health care support workers. Appropriate training and support will be provided, including robust supervision and peer support. It is backed by regular Clinical Governance activities and reviews. There is no out of hours on-call for this post, but the postholder will work closely with hospital-based colleagues including the Consultant of the Week at the LTHT regarding the admission and discharge of his/her complex patients.

Growth and Nutrition Clinics

The consultant will be a part of a multidisciplinary Growth and Nutrition Clinic that supports children with complex feeding difficulties. The multidisciplinary team consists of highly trained specialist Health Visitors, Dieticians, Speech and Language Therapists, Clinical Psychologists, and Paediatricians. The post holder will complement the team and provide medical advice and support to the child as a part of the multidisciplinary team. The clinics and the multidisciplinary discussions take place in St Georges Health Centre.

Other Clinics

The post holder might be required to cover other services like Community Paediatric Clinic, Audiology service, Initial Health Needs Assessments as per need, and after appropriate Job plan review, and with adequate support.

Clinical Governance

The Trust has an active Local Hub and city-wide Clinical Governance programme. Paediatricians are also encouraged to attend and contribute to the Leeds Teaching Hospital teaching programme as relevant. The Consultant will ensure that they are involved in clinical governance activities and is expected to maintain and foster improvements in the quality and standards of clinical services, with a focus on evidence-based practice.

The Consultant is expected to participate in audit and to contribute to and support research with the department as appropriate.

Multi-disciplinary Working

The postholder will work closely with paediatricians and allied health professionals within ICAN, the Children's and Specialist Business Unit. There is active multi-disciplinary working with colleagues from Nursing, Dietetics, Therapy, Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Social Services, and Education Services, to improve the health of children living in Leeds.

Education and Training

The Consultant will contribute to training and supervision of ST2-8 trainees within the Department and contribute to medical student teaching and training. There is an excellent opportunity to develop the Foundation Training Programme that is newly introduced in Community Paediatrics.

Support

1. Paediatric Neurodisability: The clinician will be supported by the wider Child Development Team including physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language Therapy, and Specialist Health Visitor. The clinics are supported by Clinic Nurse.
2. The child protection service is normally based at St Georges Centre and has nursing and administrative support and is well equipped with colposcopy and medical photography equipment.
3. The Growth and Nutrition Clinics are supported by Dieticians, Specialist Health Visitor, SLTs, Psychologist, nurses, and dedicated administrative staff.
4. Office accommodation, with personal access to IT and the Internet, and access to the secretarial pool will be provided.
5. The Hub and Central Administrative team support the clinical administration as required for the clinics and post-clinic administration.
6. Clinical cross-cover is provided by Consultant and Associate Specialist Community Paediatrician colleagues.
7. The Consultant will be responsible for liaising with the Consultant of the Week for the inpatient care of their patients, with the assistance of junior and middle-grade staff as appropriate.
8. Consultant Paediatricians in Leeds have excellent opportunities for Continuing Professional Development with local postgraduate meetings of excellent quality.
9. There is active support for medical professional development and for the development of medical leadership within the Trust.