Consultant in Geriatric Medicine

This is a full-time substantive consultant appointment (10 PA), though a part time appointment can be offered to suitable candidates. An interest in a geriatric medicine subspecialty will be encouraged.

The appointee will join a team of 7 existing consultants who provide sessions in both the acute hospital and the community. We currently provide:

1. Care of older hospital inpatients on a 32 bedded ward at West Suffolk Hospital plus suitable patients outlying on surgical wards
2. Weekly ward round and MDT of intermediate care beds in Newmarket and Bury St Edmunds
3. Review of older in-patients under other specialties
4. Outpatient clinics in general geriatric medicine and falls
5. Early specialist "frailty" assessment of patients in ED and the acute admissions unit 5 days a week from 9am until 7pm
6. Weekend post-take ward rounds on a rotational basis (1 in 7)

This post will be both inpatient and community-based.

Please See Full Job Description attached for details

Main duties of the job

West Suffolk Foundation NHS Trust are seeking a Consultant Geriatrician to join our Care of the Elderly Team. We are a small, mighty and passionate group of consultants that are looking for the newest member of our team.

This role isn't just about seeing patients in the acute facility; our Geriatricians also see patients in the community and are actively involved in admission avoidance for both frail and elderly patients. Our consultants complete outpatient clinics and work with Community Matrons to make sure patients receive the best possible outcome without needing to be admitted to an acute setting. We are also keen to teach the next generation of Geriatricians through engaging teaching exercises and a supportive environment.

The successful applicant will be joining an established team of Consultants within a very busy acute hospital environment. These are exciting times to be joining the Care of the Elderly Team as we continue to explore new ways of delivering our services in a pro-active and systematic way to care for patients with often complex needs.

1. Consultant support for Ward G4 (12 patients)
2. Weekly ward round
3. Review of older in-patients under other specialties
4. Out-patient Clinics in General Geriatric Medicine and falls
5. Support the active case management of frail older patients as part of the acute Frailty assessment unit
6. Weekend post-take Ward Round on a Rotation (1 in 7)
7. Weekly MDT's with Community Matrons

About us

#BeKnown at West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust. By us. By our patients. By our community.

We are a busy, friendly, rural NHS Trust providing high-quality care and compassion to more than a quarter of a million people across west Suffolk. We care for, treat and support people in hospital, at home and in various community settings.

The West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds provides acute and secondary care services (emergency department, maternity and neonatal services, day surgery unit, eye treatment centre, Macmillan unit and children's ward). It has 500+ beds and is a partner teaching hospital of the University of Cambridge.

Adult and paediatric community services, provided in collaboration with West Suffolk Alliance partners, include a range of nursing, therapy, specialist, and ongoing temporary care and rehabilitation, some at our Newmarket Community Hospital.

We do our utmost to achieve outstanding clinical outcomes for patients, and our values of fairness, inclusivity, respect, safety and teamwork guide how we work and behave as a team.

With nearly 5,000 staff from all over the world, we strive to make our organisation a great place to work. Whatever your role or ambition, we want to help you be the best you can be.

We promote a diverse and inclusive community where everyone's voice counts and you can #BeKnown for whoever you are.

Join us. What will you #BeKnown for?

Job responsibilities

We are a team of geriatricians looking to expand our services further across the hospital and into the community to enable more older people to benefit from specialist geriatric assessment. We provide acute in-patient services on an elderly care ward, ortho-geriatric services, medical and surgical liaison services, front door assessment and out-patient clinics at the West Suffolk Hospital site. In addition, we provide a falls clinic at a community hospital in Sudbury and oversee care of intermediate care beds in the community hospital at Newmarket and in a nursing home in Bury St Edmunds.

Our priorities for the next 2 years include the establishment of an acute frailty assessment unit to take direct admissions from the community, establishing falls and frailty clinics in peripheral sites, developing models of closer working with community matrons and advanced clinical practitioners in frailty to enable patients to receive comprehensive geriatric assessment closer to home, establishment of a virtual ward and using new technology to provide remote assessment of patients in care homes.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• Entry on the GMC specialist registers in General Internal Medicine and Geriatric Medicine or be eligible for entry (within six months of attaining Certificate of Completion of Training) at the time of interview and hold a licence to practice
• Full GMC registration with a licence to practise
• MBBS or equivalent

Clinical Expertise

• Clinical training and experience equivalent to that required for gaining UK CCT in General/Geriatric Medicine.
• Ability to offer expert clinical opinion on a range of problems in adult medicine
• Ability to take full and independent responsibility for clinical care of patients

Management and Administrative Experience

• Ability to manage and lead a multidisciplinary team
• Ability to contribute to development of services
• Experience of clinical governance
• Ability and willingness to work within the Trust and NHS performance framework and targets

Teaching Experience

• Experience of supervising junior trainees
• Ability to teach clinical skills to students and trainees
• Experience of teaching basic clinical skills to undergraduates
• Experience of teaching other professional groups

Research Experience

• Ability to apply research outcomes to clinical problems
• Experience of conducting research projects
• Publications in peer-reviewed journals

Knowledge

• All applicants to have demonstrable skills in written and spoken English that are adequate to enable effective communication about medical topics with patients and colleagues which could be demonstrated by one of the following:- - PLAB 1 - PLAB 2 If applicants believe that they have adequate communication skills, but do not fit into one of the examples they need to provide evidence.

Other Attributes

• Ability to work in a multidisciplinary team
• Good inter-personal skills
• Enquiring, critical approach to work
• Caring attitude to patients
• Ability to communicate effectively with patients, relatives, GPs, Nurses and other agencies
• Commitment to Continuing Medical Education and the requirements of Clinical Governance and Audit
• Ability to commute to rural areas.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

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 (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Depending on experience Pro Rata Per Annum