Consultant Geriatrician with an interest in General Medicine

Job Overview

Here in Jersey, we have our own Health Care system, separate from the NHS. We are looking to develop and improve our healthcare services towards a modern, fully digitised, and future-proof system, in advance of our new hospital (planned to open in 2029). To do so we need fresh eyes, new ways of working and the next generation of Consultants to make our healthcare system the best it can be. We aim to provide high quality, safe and effective care to the 110,000 people living on the Island and those who visit. The hospital benefits from a fantastic educational centre with a full SIM lab and dedicated time for all to learn.

Aligned to the Wessex Deanery, we support and develop Foundation trainees as well as Clinical Fellows and SAS doctors. We encourage all our Consultants to fully engage with the education and training of our future generation of medical leaders.

Health and Care Jersey are seeking to appoint an enthusiastic and dynamic substantive Consultant in Care of the Elderly to join our welcoming consultant body.

Jersey is easily accessible from most regional airports in the UK and has good links with NHS tertiary centres , particularly with Southampton and London, which affords the successful candidates the ability to maintain links within the NHS. To support your transition to Jersey, we can provide a generous relocation and remuneration package, which is benefitted by lower taxation than within the UK.

The Government of Jersey is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of vulnerable people (to include children) and requires all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. As this position will work with vulnerable people, the selection process will involve safeguarding measures and include an enhanced DBS check.

For any recruitment related queries, please contact Sol Bradbury, HR Consultant, by emailing S.Bradbury@gov.je directly.

Interview dates for this post will be confirmed shortly and published within this advertisement. As part of the selection process, shortlisted candidates will be invited to attend a formal face-to-face interview and a stakeholder panel. Candidates will also be expected to be on the island the day before their interview to take part in an engagement day, providing an opportunity to meet and engage with a range of key stakeholders. Further details, including confirmed dates, will be published as soon as they become available. Please check this advertisement regularly for updates.

Please be advised that we are unable to consider CV's submitted by recruitment agencies. All applicants must apply directly.

The Post

This post is an exciting opportunity to join the Geriatric and Frailty Department. The role will mainly focus on the development of frailty services for the island of Jersey as well as having inpatient ward commitments.

The role will be integral to the development of a frailty service, as well as interfacing secondary care with primary care. The role may have a rotational commitment for rehabilitation as well as outpatient clinical sessions.

For newly appointed consultants a mentor will be allocated to support their induction to the post.

We aim to provide a suitable office space, and secretarial time will be provided as part of the Hospital investment in this appointment.

Duties

Contribute to development of the Geriatric Medicine service in Jersey -to build and develop a frailty service which ensures integration between primary and secondary care

Provide with the other Consultants a system of mutual out-of-hours cover for General Internal Medicine and cover for annual, study and professional leave.

Provide a consultation and advisory service to medical colleagues in other specialities in Health and Care Jersey.

Liaise with medical staff in other specialities and participate in the regular clinical meetings and other post-graduate activities of the hospital.

Take part in the continuing medical education programme. Health and Care Jersey will provide study leave expenses in line with national terms and conditions of service.

To undertake outpatient clinics for both frailty & geriatric medicine.

To set-up, lead, participate and attend relevant MDTs.

To liaise with tertiary referral centres as appropriate to provide patient centred care and service improvements.

On Call Rota

The appointee will take part in the General Medicine on-call rota which is currently a one in eight. During the on-call period the consultant will cover all medical inpatients in the event deterioration or medical emergencies and will work in parallel with an acute medicine consultant to manage acute medical admissions (the medical take). At present the Acute medicine consultant leads he take between 8 AM and 7PM with additional support if needed from the general medical consultant in the afternoon.

The general medical consultant is responsible for covering the take on a non-resident basis, supervising a resident registrar grade SAS doctor and resident team.

At weekends, and public holidays the on-call consultant will conduct inpatient ward reviews as requires to support with a normal time commitment of around 8 - 1300

safe patient management and flow. Weekday on-calls operate 8 AM – 8 AM the following day.

Weekend on-calls operate from 8 AM on Friday to 8 AM Monday.

The Specialty

In patient care is based on medical wards in Jersey General Hospital. The post holder will be expected to deliver consultant led care on that ward with a focus on Geriatric Medicine but including a proportion of general medical adult patients of all ages.

There are currently no subspecialty outpatient clinics, and this provides an opportunity for the newly appointed consultant to develop a speciality outpatient service in discussion with the care group and chief of service.

Management Structure

Health and Care Jersey are a directorate of the Government of Jersey that is responsible for the delivery of specialist health care and the running of the general hospital. The directorate is led by a Chief Officer, who leads an executive team. Health and Care Jersey is organised as a series of Care Groups, each with a leadership team led by a Chief of Service as detailed below. This post is set within the Medical Care Group.

Medical Care Group

Chief of Service: (Interim) David Hopkins
General Manager: Gaurika Kapoor
Assistant General Managers: Karen Gardner, Natalia Miller and Gordon Barrett
Lead Nurses: Alice Rait and (Interim) Joann Morse

Medical Care Group

The Care of the Elderly Department sits within the Medical Care Group which comprises the following range of services:

Acute Assessment Unit
Cardiology
Clinical Investigations Department
Diabetes
Emergency Department
Frailty
Gastroenterology & Endoscopy
Haematology
Medical Day Unit
Medical Outpatients
Medical Wards - Plemont, Corbiere, Bartlett and Rozel Wards
Neurology
Oncology
Palliative Medicine
Pathology
Renal Medicine
Respiratory
Rheumatology
Sexual Health
Stroke

Medicine in Jersey is fully age and specialty integrated. There are 4 medical wards, Plemont, Rozel, Bartlett and Corbiere. A 5-bedded Enhanced Care Area is sited on AAU, a 25 bedded unit. There is a separate intensive care unit led by intensivists.

SAS doctors are responsible for the day-to-day management of their patients on the wards with the help of clinical fellows, and foundation trainees.

On call, the SAS doctor is responsible for seeing patients referred by the Emergency Department and reviewing patients admitted to the AAU by GPs in conjunction with the Acute Medicine team. A core responsibility of the Medicine Care Group is the provision of a safe acute medical service. The Care Group always provides named Consultant supervision for non-Consultants and ensures that prompt review and treatment is provided for acute medical emergencies referred by General Practitioners or the Emergency Department.

Consultants are responsible for producing and updating guidelines for the management of acute medical emergencies in their specialist area.

Care Group Statistics:

There are 87 medical beds. 12-20 acute medical admissions on average during each 24-hour period on call within a range of approximately 6-24. There are approximately 4,500 medical admissions annually.

In addition to outpatient clinics and 4 general medical wards containing 83 beds, the Medical Service Care Group is involved in the management of several specialist facilities. These include:

20 bedded Acute Assessment Unit (AAU)

5 bedded Enhanced Care Area (ECA)

A well-equipped Clinical Investigations Department providing echocardiography, exercise ECG, respiratory assessment and GI physiology.

An endoscopy suite providing a full range of endoscopy and bronchoscopy services.

Diabetes Centre providing outpatient care for the diabetic population of Jersey, including retinal photography and specialist nursing support.

Renal/Dialysis unit, providing emergency, acute and longer-term renal support as well as management of transplanted patients and assessment and treatment of renal conditions.

6 bedded isolation area for infected or neutropenic patients.

This job description is intended as a guide to the general scope of duties and is not intended to be definitive or restrictive. It is expected that some of the duties will change over time, and this description will be subject to review in consultation with the post holder.

Proposed Job Plan

All consultants have a 10 PA contract for public work; this is not negotiable. The final job plan will be agreed with the Chief of Service for the Medical Care Group and ratified by the Medical Director. The post holder’s job plan will be reviewed annually and will be appraised according to the current guidance.

Provision will be made for a lunch break between morning and afternoon sessions if both are clinical.

The Job Plan can be discussed at the time of employment but will broadly be based on the provisional timetable outlined below. The Job Plan will be authorised by the Chief of Service and is subject to annual review. However, it should be noted that this service requires a flexible approach.

The final job plan will be agreed with the Consultants in the Department, with the Chief of Service and ratified by the Medical Director. The post holder’s job plan will be reviewed annually with the Chief of Service and Medical Director and will be appraised according to the current guidance.

Qualifications and Skills

Essential:

Primary Medical Degree
Full Registration and specialist registration with the General Medical Council (GMC) with a current License to practice (for overseas candidates it is mandatory that a license is obtained prior to appointment).
Higher Specialty qualification: MRCP & FRCPath or equivalent Qualifications for Specialist Registration
Applicants that are UK trained, must ALSO be a holder of a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT), or be within six months of award of CCT by date of interview.
Applicants that are non-UK trained, will be required to show evidence of equivalence to the UK CCT
Inclusion on the GMC Specialist Register/Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) or equivalent in the relevant Specialty (or be within 6 months of obtaining this at the date of the interview - documentary evidence of this must be provided to support your application) or equivalent

Desirable:

Relevant experience at a consultant level in a similar setting
Higher Degree MSc, MD or PhD or equivalent

General Experience

Essential:

Experience in GIM and Geriatric Medicine
Participation on a general medicine on-call rota at a consultant level
Evidence of successful interface between secondary and primary care

Desirable:

Enthusiastic Teacher
Management Responsibility / Leadership Experience
Participant on the on-call consultant rota partial resident-on call on weekend ward rounds

Specialist Experience

Essential:

Experience in prevention and management of frailty

Desirable:

Experience working in an acute frailty unit

Clinical management of rehabilitation patients
Treatment and management of patients with delirium

Leadership and Management Skills

Essential:

Ability to work flexibly with colleagues to develop & provide Care of the Elderly services
Ability to Work Effectively with a Multi-Disciplinary Team, motivating and influencing others through their enthusiasm.
Ability to communicate effectively with colleagues, patients, relatives, GPs, nurses, management and other agencies.
Highly motivated
Able to work within a team
Experience of Teaching, Training & Supervision of Resident Medical Staff and undergraduate students
An understanding of and ability to demonstrate your ability to:
Empower others
Lead through change
Influence strategically
Collaborative working
Drive for Improvement
Integrity

Personal Attributes

Essential:

Able to work flexibly in a changing health service
Hepatitis Vaccination